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Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector. Denise Goldsworthy – Managing Director Rio Tinto Dampier Salt & HIsmelt APOSHO 26 Australasian Safety Conference 2011. Background.

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Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

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  1. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector Denise Goldsworthy – Managing Director Rio Tinto Dampier Salt & HIsmelt APOSHO 26 Australasian Safety Conference 2011

  2. Background • Rio Tinto provides support for existing employees and their families when suffering from a mental illness through a range of policies. • ‘The Way We Work’ sits at the centre of policy, and ensures that all people are given opportunities for training and success in their role, free of discrimination and harassment. • The strategy to date has been primarily reactive. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  3. Mental wellness as an objective • Mental wellness by comparison is a new consideration. • Mental health: • can significantly affect safety, employment costs and productivity, both directly and indirectly; • is a continuum, ranging from healthy, through a range of debilitation to an individual who has become essentially dysfunctional; • some illnesses are temporary, while others are lifelong. • With many causes and symptoms, need to establish an approach that has the flexibility to deal with an infinite range of situations. •  We recognise that our employees may suffer stress or reduced resilience due to the challenges of work, family and modern day life. This reduced resilience can impact their ability to cope with genetic or environmental factors that can result in mental illness. • Rio Tinto therefore recognises the benefits of improving the health and mental wellbeing of our workforce by broadly and proactively considering both the organisational and the individual approach to determinants of health and mental wellbeing. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  4. The aim: • Through a mental health strategy (MHS) enable a much more holistic approach to mental health care which is integrated into corporate policies, practices and structures, and complements existing training programs. • This process is NOT about: • Awareness without support • Training without changing the business processes • Diagnosis and rehabilitation without changing the causes Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  5. The four guiding principles: • Prevention – maintaining personal health and an effective work/life balance • Promotion – awareness of mental health issues and support services available • Protection – against organisational factors that increase risk to mental health • Intervention – providing adequate and appropriateaccess to support services Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  6. The Expectation: • The workplace will be much more “mental health friendly”, employees will be well versed about mental health issues, employees can better access support when needed, and mental health problems in workmates can be better recognised. • The pilot Dampier Salt Limited (DSL) - Lake MacLeod participate in an initial intervention development program with the view to full implementation over a three year period from 2011 Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  7. Target Condition: Develop a holistic mental health strategy that incorporates the following: • Education and awareness around mental health issues • Appropriate training for key medical and human resources personnel • Fatigue Management Program • Health Risk Assessments (addressing mental and physical health) • Leadership Program • Employee Assistance Program • Policies concerning: • Fitness for Work • Bullying and Harassment • Discrimination • Performance Management • Annual leave, special leave etc • Cultural Awareness Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  8. Target Condition (cont’d): •  Increase awareness, promotion and utilisation of existing support services (internal and external) • Develop a measurement and monitoring process to determine effectiveness of the strategy •  Reduce the stigma associated with the term ‘mental health’ by creating a health friendly workforce that is aware of elements and support for mental health and is not afraid to talk about it or seek assistance • Integrate with the existing Health and Wellness Program and ‘Active Caring Culture’ (address mental and physical health) • Identify workplace organisational issues that increase the risk of workplace stress – identify high risk roles / individuals and provide appropriate support • Establish appropriate intervention and support processes Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  9. The barriers: • General lack of awareness and understanding across the communities. • General lack of understanding by line leaders. • Predominantly male, and sometimes “macho” culture. • Lack of timely access to medical professionals, especially specialist occupational therapists and clinical psychologists, in regional Australia. • Tight labour market leading to: • line leadership with less experience; • teams compensating for high vacancy rates; • peer pressure to succeed. • Data privacy and confidentiality concerns – unable to share ‘wins’. • Lack of leading and lagging indicators / data for decision making. • Piecemeal approaches have no history of sustainability. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  10. UK HSE management standards • Companies generally work more effectively with data to determine the risks and control effectiveness. This strategy can also be applied to work related stress. • The UK-based Health and Safety Executive (UKHSE) has developed a risk assessment template based on five steps: • Identify the hazards • Decide who might be harmed and how • Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions • Record and implement findings • Review the assessment and update it http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/index.htm. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  11. UK HSE management standards • Key areas of work design that can either reduce resilience to non-work triggers, or can in extreme cases be a trigger for a mental illness: • Demands– this includes issues such as workload, work patterns and the work environment. • Control– how much say the person has in the way they do their work. • Support– this includes the encouragement, sponsorship and resources provided by the organisation, line management and colleagues. • Relationships– this includes promoting positive working to avoid conflict and dealing with unacceptable behaviour. • Role– whether people understand their role within the organisation and whether the organisation ensures that they do not have conflicting roles. • Change– how organisational change (large or small) is managed and communicated in the organisation. http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/index.htm. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  12. Absolute vs relative performance • UK-HSE Survey carried out for Lake MacLeod as a pilot. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  13. The next steps: • Analysis of data by Australasian Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health. • Mental health training for workforce, with additional training for specialist support roles. • Increase awareness and engagement of line leadership. • Use site employment engagement committee to start to suggest recommendations to address weaknesses as identified in the data. • Engagement of community specialists with the draft strategy. • Influence other regional stakeholders to achieve community support. • Integrate with periodic medicals and other wellness initiatives. • Identify key business processes for change. • Formalise integrated strategy. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  14. Why this has a good chance of working • A relatively stable workforce exists at Lake MacLeod. • Carnarvon is a relatively small, close-knit community. • Senior leadership and operational management is on side. • Existing health and safety initiatives such as ‘Wellness’ have synergy with the MHS. • There exists a very enthusiastic working team. • The organisation is willing to look at itself to potentially improve. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

  15. The challenge: A business that has a net positive impact on employees health. Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

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