Before FIFO

For those not conversant with mining industry acronyms, FIFO is fly in, fly out, DIDO is drive in, drive out and then there is always residential.

I started my working life in 1985 as an apprentice in an engineering trade, after completion of my four-year trade in 1989, I moved straight into the mining industry where I toiled for on and off for nearly two decades, that means sometimes heading down to the city to work on mining equipment that was being repaired before sending it on its next assignment. I would end up back on site after my short break working in the city, it was never long enough but I made my choices.

Back then, FIFO wasn't really well known, they flew you to site and you pretty much stayed there for 12 - 16 weeks on average, I did a couple of 30+ weeks stints in the late 1980s. If they were upset with you and you got your marching orders, their obligation was to drive you off-site and dump you on the side of the road.

Fortunately I had plenty of supervisory and managerial experience in construction, mining and tourism. That gave me the foundations to become a director of a start-up entrepreneurial business and a director of a self-managed superannuation fund - the mining life gave me opportunity and for that I am truly thankful.

As a sub-contractor, the problem with working in mining and construction in Western Australia was you had to work on remote mine sites through-out Western Australia and you were not on roster. WA is a big state and you spend a large amount of time working away in almost uninhabited and remote locations.These days they work on fixed rosters, they do things like 8/4 and 9/5 and 2/1, that is 8 days on and 4 days off or 9 days on and 5 days off. You know your roster for the whole year - easy to plan your life. I have never done those rosters in my life although I did work towards the end of my mining career on 2/1, that's 2 weeks on and a week off.

Seriously, these days I hear how hard it is working away. Even working on a 14/7 roster you fly in on the first day and fly out on the 14th day, that's really 12 days being away from home and you still get a full 7 days at home. They provide pretty good facilities these days, not like before when it was pretty rough. Oh yeah, they fly you there and fly you back during work hours - I can't believe how soft people are becoming.