Understanding safety culture among fly-in fly-out mine workers

What is shaping mining

Mining operations depend on a social licence from nearby communities as much as on permits. Safety culture, workforce welfare and transparent CSR shape how companies are seen locally and by regulators.

• Community trust can make or break an operation
• Safety culture is measured by behaviour, not policies
• CSR spending is increasingly evaluated for real impact

A mid-tier mining company, working in Western Australia & Queensland. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

A mid-tier mining company

Sector

Mining

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Quantitative research, Qualitative research, Reporting & insights

Safety statistics looked stable, but internal reviews suggested near misses were under-reported, particularly among contractors on fly-in fly-out rosters. The company also faced growing concern about fatigue and wellbeing on long rotations.

• Deliver on the brief: understanding safety culture among fly-in fly-out mine workers.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of employees.
• Measure how widespread each pattern is, and explain the reasons behind it.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 9 weeks.

The work focused on 1,600 employees.

• employees1,600

Audiences we typically reach in mining

Host communitiesMine workers and contractorsLocal leaders and officialsRegulatorsCSR beneficiaries

Coverage: Western Australia & Queensland. Market: Australia.

• Australia

A mixed-method design: structured research measured how widespread each pattern was, and qualitative conversations explained why.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Anonymous online and tablet survey
3. 3Crew interviews
4. 4Insight

We ran an anonymous survey available on tablets at site camps and online during rest days, covering safety leadership, reporting confidence, fatigue, roster pressure and wellbeing. Researchers then held confidential interviews with crews from different shifts and contractor firms, away from supervisors. Results were reported only for groups large enough to protect anonymity.

Quantitative researchQualitative researchReporting & insights

employees

1,600

• Business respondents were screened on role, company size and involvement in the decision before being invited.
• Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
• Qualitative participants were recruited purposively to cover the full range of experiences that mattered, rather than for statistical representation.

• The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.
• Interviews and discussions were led by experienced moderators using a guide agreed with the client.

• Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
• Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
• Review of open-ended answers
• Recordings and transcripts for every session
• Re-screening of qualitative recruits
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered
• Thematic coding of interviews and discussions
• Journey and decision mapping

• Contractors were less confident that reporting a near miss would be welcomed, and fatigue was highest in the final days of long rosters.
• Contractor firms were included in safety leadership meetings for the first time.

Safety culture is only as strong as the experience of the least-heard worker on site.

• Build on the core insight: safety culture is only as strong as the experience of the least-heard worker on site.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: contractors were less confident that reporting a near miss would be welcomed, and fatigue was highest in the final days of long rosters.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The company introduced a single reporting system for employees and contractors, recognition for near-miss reporting and changes to roster patterns at two sites.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Interview summaries and key verbatims

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: where is safety culture strong or weak?