Work

Digging for gold and coming up blue: a health survey in the mining industry

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: A comprehensive health screening was conducted with 591 workers from a gold mine in Western Australia to inform company health promotion programs. We investigated lifestyle and work related health risk factors using a specifically designed survey, screened for depression, anxiety and stress using the DASS-21 questionnaire and for alcohol consumption using the AUDIT. Results show that rates of smoking, diabetes, depression and anxiety were higher than respective national rural and remote state figures. Frequent and high levels of work related stress and personal stress were significantly associated with harmful drinking, depression, anxiety and stress, even after adjusting for a number of independent variables. The results suggest that the psychosocial working environment in the WA mining industry is challenging and may be responsible for the high rates of mental health issues observed in this study.

Source: Charles Sturt University Research Output (CRO)

Authors: Fredrik Velander, Andreia Schineanu, Wenbing Liang, Richard Midford

Institution: Curtin University

Language: English

Topic: Workplace Health and Well-being

Subfield: Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2599692143

FWCI:

Cites:

Cited by: 15

Related to: 10