Life in the oil sands fields affects the mental health of commuters, according to a U of A study

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A study from the University of Alberta found that workers commuting in tar sands have poorer mental health and more work-related stress than the general population.

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Mental health advocates in the Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo area say the report supports what they have been arguing for for years.

The preliminary report included 72 participants who were interviewed between late 2019 and early 2020, before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most lived in Alberta and Canada, working 10-12 hour shifts during rotations lasting six to 21 days.

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The research team, led by sociologist Sara Dorow, found that mistrust of employers regarding mental health treatment was common. Any available support will not solve this crisis if current attitudes toward mental health continue, Dorow said in an interview.

“I didn’t expect mistrust to come up as often as it did, but it kept coming up,” he said. “Prevention of mental health must be integrated into the culture of safety. Everyone is proud of the safety culture in the oil sands industry, but the industry has not done enough around psychosocial safety. “

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Workers Report Cautious Regarding Mental Health Supports

Half of the workers with medical care at the site said they were unlikely to use it. They did not believe that confidential matters could be kept private and feared that the services would damage reputation, wages or employment. Half of the participants felt that employers did a poor job discussing mental health supports and showed little interest in minimizing stress.

About 35 percent of the participants sought mental health services, such as counseling, medications, or information. This is twice the rates in the general population.

Dorow describes suicide among travelers as an “open secret” in the industry. Many of these deaths are not considered workplace deaths because they occurred in the home. However, the causes are often related, directly or indirectly, to the stress of being a transient worker in the oil sands.

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One in seven men reported having thoughts of hurting themselves. Two-thirds of the women reported incidents of discrimination based on gender or sexual harassment. More than three-quarters reported working when ill and one-third reported working with injuries.

Life in the camp itself was stressful for 77 percent of those surveyed, 58 percent reported poor morale, and 51 percent felt respected. Traveling was described as stressful by 70 percent of workers, especially if they were driving. But, only 17 percent rated this stress as intense.

Most felt trapped if they couldn’t get out of the camps. Many also felt that some camps had awful food and made it difficult to lead a healthy lifestyle. Many workers, particularly women, reported sleeping problems in the camp.

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Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of workers found it difficult to be away from family and friends. Many participants felt that the transitional lifestyle was lonely and that it strained relationships, particularly when important events were missed.

Some recommendations are simple, like healthier foods or more recreational activities. Others are complicated, like a buddy program that matches workers or more control over rotation schedules. But major improvements can only come after a change in attitude toward asking for help.

“There needs to be secure third-party ways to report discrimination, mental health stress, and a wide range of psychosocial safety issues,” he said.

Dorow did not believe that banning traveler camps and forcing transient workers to live in Fort McMurray was a mental health solution. She acknowledged that many travelers have successfully settled in the region and live happy lives, and she was sympathetic in encouraging people to settle locally.

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But Dorow also heard from people who preferred an everyday lifestyle to living in Fort McMurray, including from people who gave life in the community a chance.

“Some just prefer to live in their home communities and also their families,” he said. “Not everyone is prepared to leave their extended relatives, their particular cultural community or their existing support networks. Those are important. “

Safety culture must include mental health

Valerie O’Leary of Critical Incident Stress Management for Communities (CISMC), who also helped with the report, agreed solutions will work only when changes are made to workplace culture. She felt her concerns were ignored by the industry as she responded to suicides and sudden deaths among transient workers.

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“I see security, security, security all over the site, which is great. I see the posters everywhere, ”he said. “But if someone is mentally struggling while at work, what is the point of having these other security measures in place?

Jason King, CEO of Some Other Solutions, said the mental health organization doesn’t see many farm workers because they often use the services back home. But they’ve worked hard enough to see that lifestyle has contributed to relationship breakdown, domestic violence, and anxiety in children.

“There is a problem and it is unknown, he was very quiet,” he said in an email. “This is a critical study and mental health for FIFO (mental health in general) needs to be raised.

Dorow hopes the report will lead to more research on mental health issues among oil sands travelers, which she says is lacking in Canada. This kind of research among workers in Australia’s mining industry “is light years away from everything we’ve done,” he said.

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