Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

Denise Goldsworthy – Managing DirectorRio Tinto Dampier Salt & HIsmelt

APOSHO 26 Australasian Safety Conference 2011

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.

22 November 2011 Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector

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Mental wellness as an objective

22 November 2011 Proactive Management of Mental Health in the Resources Sector 3

• 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.

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


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 appropriate access to support services


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


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


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


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.


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:

1. Identify the hazards2. Decide who might be harmed and how3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precautions4. Record and implement findings5. Review the assessment and update it


10http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/index.htm.

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.


11http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/index.htm.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/support.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/control.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/support.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/relationships.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/role.htm

http://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/change.htm

Absolute vs relative performance

34.3%

34.3%

20.0%

11.4% Key Doing very well - need to maintain performance Represents those at, above or close to the 80th percentile † Good but needs improvement. Represents those better than

average but not at, above or close to the 80th percentile †

Clear need for improvement. Represents those likely to be below average but not at, below or close to the 20th percentile † Urgent action needed. Represents those at, below or close to the 20th percentile †


• UK-HSE Survey carried out for Lake MacLeod as a pilot.

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.


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.


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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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