Abstract

Workforce health and well-being is as an essential component to occupational safety. There is increased research on the prevalence and incidence of musculoskeletal and psychological issues as these are at the main drivers of lost time and chronic injuries at mine sites. Given elevated workforce turnover rates, decreased retention, and a protracted shortage of highly skilled employees, companies are focusing on potential solutions to maximize wellbeing, which in turn can be expected to minimize absenteeism, improve job commitment, and optimize production.

It is axiomatic that many mine related duties are extremely strenuous and require considerable physical and mental resources. Moreover, shift work, long hours, remote work, and poor access to health services further elevate the risk of health-related absenteeism. While the human and financial risks of employee illness or injury are significant, they have been traditionally been conceptualized as ‘the cost of doing business’. This is both an unfortunate and unhelpful approach.

Repetitive strains account for 40% of reported injuries and the most common lost time injury in the industry (WSN, 2019). Similarly troublesome are the human and financial costs of poor mental health, which also account for a significant proportion absenteeism. Not only are mental health issues costlier for organizations from a disability management point of view, they also lead to longer periods of absence and fewer resources are available to treat them.

Introducing health and well-being solutions is a process that begins with managing existing injuries and focusing on high-risk departments with the assistance of experienced professionals who understand the mining industry. To that end, there is a growing need to efficiently triage injured and ill workers by using evidence-based assessments and protocols. This will allow targeted interventions for issues that are most likely to facilitate a successful return to work. Fortunately, there is now strong and recent research that has identified these predictors. Creating a proactive culture of wellness can deliver quick wins by way of in-person interactions, authentic conversations, seamless integration into the day-to-day operations of a site, management buy-in and participation are all areas that must be considered while implementing a program of this kind. Recent findings from both the scientific literature and front line interventions will be presented with the goal of sharing actionable interventions for participants to introduce in their workplaces.