Broad focus for mining health

THERE’S a growing awareness in the mining industry of the important role played by health and wellness in the sector’s overall safety dynamic.

Most health professionals believe fitter workers are better workers, and the mining industry is starting to hear the call. Mining companies are hiring external health providers to not only reduce on-site injuries, but also cater to individual employee health and wellbeing.

According to Body Active Consultancy owner Mark Armstrong, too few companies are addressing health issues such as smoking, cholesterol, diabetes and obesity, all of which are long-term problems for the mining industry.

“The health of the industry is not in very good shape,” Mr Armstrong said.

“The ageing workforce won’t be able to meet the demands of the job. High blood glucose levels and cholesterol are walking time bombs for this industry. Smoking and alcohol and they way they [workers] don’t eat correctly is a huge problem.”

Prime Health Group manager of occupational medical services Julie Carr said some companies were beginning to take a holistic approach to health.

“Cholesterol and blood tests were mostly used by management or executive staff but now we’re seeing mine companies say: ‘Let’s do it right down the line’,” she said.

“We do a full screen and check general health and do fitness appraisals. From that we can identify that 50 per cent may have high cholesterol or 20 per cent have poor lower back function, and from that we can build a program.”

A positive for the mining industry in recent times has been a significant reduction in lost-time injuries (LTI).

The Department of Minerals and Energy’s safety performance in the WA mining industry report for 2000-20001 shows that, while there has been a reduction in LTIs, there is still room for improvement.

Mr Armstrong said as mining companies became increasingly aware of health promotion and education, the number of lost time injuries would decrease.

“One guy came to see me last week who had been putting up with a back condition for six months. He has had one treatment and he’ll have another and will be right,” he said. “Why didn’t he get it looked at six months ago? It’s that ‘she’ll be right’ mentality; we encourage people to get on top of the problem straight away.”

Placer Granny Smith risk management adviser Colin Rushby said the increased focus on health promotion and injury prevention was driven by a combination of cost-savings and the need to attract good workers.

“Safety systems are getting better and these days they need to be. You get better productivity and a better workforce,” he said.

“If we injure people on the job they’re not going to be too happy about that.”

Mr Rushby said many mining companies had started educating their miners about risk management issues and were promoting a healthy lifestyle.

“With fly-in fly-out situations people work long hours, and when they return home they might not be very active,” he said. “A lot of companies are putting in fitness programs and using external providers.

“We have a small gym and we have an aerobics instructor who comes out every second week. The alternate week someone comes in to work on preventing injuries.”

Ms Carr said pre-employment screening also was becoming more important.

“Pre-employment screening is becoming more important and combining musculo-skeletal and physical assessments with the health check. We check the lower back, flexibility and range of movement. It can identify pre-existing conditions and we can educate them on how to manage it,” she said.