FIFO work
 

Been FIFO for nearly 3 years now, and before that I was DIDO, spending 1 weekend out of 3 at home. It's hard at times, but we're doing it for a reason, so you won't hear me complain as its entirely my choice, my wife would support me any time I wanted to knock it on the head. My particular job is pretty specialized and I get a fair bit of travel elsewhere too. I love my job too, in the 2 months I've been in Malaysia my team and I have achieved the unachievable, so it looks like Vietnam, Thailand and China may be on the cards too. The one thing that concerns me is losing touch with the wife and kids, I do find it hard at times, as do they. Are there any other FIFO guys and gals in here? I'm reaching the stage where I'm itching to spend more than 3 months a year at home, but at the same time I'm a total suckered when it comes to going above and beyond at work.

Thoughts anyone? Toughen up princess ain't an option, Chuck Norris is a girl compared with me ;);)

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Not FIFO but ROMFT was in the RN until 2012, so most our time together was spent apart as he was either away on board ship, or working either in Bath,Plymouth or Faslane. When he was shore based, he tended to work Mon - Thurs/Fri and come home for weekends. When he was ship based, time away ranged from 10 days to 7 months I think was the longest. It is hard, especially when you have young ones. But I'm not sure that ROMFT found it as hard:sneaky: With the advent of email, Skype etc, working away is much easier IMO as you can have regular contact.

Do you have a time limit for FIFO? IE, have you a plan forwhen you will finish? Perhaps setting a timeframe and then re-evaluating it then might help. So maybe say, carry on FIFO for the next 18 months and then see how you feel. I would imagine the financial rewards help to ease the pain too :lol: If you are going to be working in some of the places you mentioned, how about getting the wife/family to join you for a week or so at a time?

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No experience of DIDO but I witnessed the effects of FIFO over a few years.

Seen it:
make and break marriages.
make and break dreams.
make men of wimps and crackpots of the sane.
give a family to those without.
drive people to drink and drugs until they're caught.

As I'm sure you already know there aint any fit-all about it.
No way of knowing who or how a person will handle it.

It's a career to some but I found most thought they were using it as a stepping stone. Some to better jobs but most to wealth.

Some actually reached their perceived goal but what did they do then? That was often a dilemma.

If you have reached a satisfactory level of comfort and attained enough of your targets my advice would be to rearrange the work life to better balance the home life. Your family grows at a pace and is soon gone and you said you want a bit more of it.

I aint no expert in anything at all and am just a scribble from the ether, but that's my opinion mate. :nod:

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Cheers guys, I guess what's triggered this is that I was looking odds on to miss my flight from Penang this arvo and it proper sent me into a panic, almost to the point of tears. I did get there in time but I was in a right mess. I've been offered a job in sydney which I'm thinking about, but then I'd be letting my current boss down, which I won't do. My poxy work ethic causes me much misery at times haha
I'll keep ya posted, not sure whether this is just a down day or more long term. The things we do for the ones we love eh?

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Hi Steve - Scouse has spent a good deal of his life working away from home. Through the 80s, when there was no work to be found in Liverpool (UK), he'd travel anywhere and everywhere to work.

Sometimes he'd be lucky and get something that allowed him to drive home for the weekends, but more often than not it'd be months at a time in Germany or similar.

He moved over to Oz in 1990, and almost immediately got taken on FIFO work on offshore oil and gas rigs. I didn't know Scouse's first wife (obviously!), as she died before Scouse and I met. But as I've gradually got to know her friends, they've talked a fair bit about it, and of course Scouse and I have had conversations.

His swing was 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off. He retired last year, but prior to that I had 6 years as the girlfriend, then live in partner, then wife of a FIFO worker. Did we miss each other? Yes, like crazy. But we spoke on the phone every night (several times usually, he'd only hang up when one of the Maori riggers threatened to batter him for hogging the phone). I'd cry when I dropped him off at the airport, every single time.

But! The excitement I felt every time I'd go to the airport to pick him up! I'd get all done up and be waiting for him as he came into Arrivals - oh my, the reunions we had! :p

From talking to Scouse and friend's of his first wife, the only 'downside', and certainly not an insurmountable one, was that the partner at home gets used to doing things a certain way, at a certain time, particularly when there's kids involved. For example, a couple will usually work out together the house rules for the kids, and the consequences for stepping outside those boundaries.

With one partner away regularly, it falls to the other to be the sole voice of authority, and if their way is very different to the other's, it has the potential to be a bit disruptive. But that's nothing that two sensible people can't sort out.

There's no doubt that you'll miss some of the milestones/achievements of the kids, ie school assemblies, sports days, concerts etc (though some would view this as a blessing!) And of course, you and the trouble and strife will always miss each other.

My take on it is you're both working hard to secure your future, and yes, sometimes some sacrifices have to be made for that. If two people keep communicating honestly and sort any niggling things out before they become huge obstacles, then they have every chance of making this work.

On the other hand, if the absence of one is putting a huge strain on either - then it might be time to rethink priorities.

Well - I've just written a whole load of stuff that's probably crap, but hopefully there's something you can glean from it.

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So far from being crap you wouldn't believe, thank you for taking the time. Hopped straight on a train to the Gong, should be home in a couple of hours, at bloody last :). I think there's gonna be afew conversations on this subject over Christmas, it's doing 6 week stints that is destroying me, hopefully next year will bring a 21/7 that stays 21/7. They'll always flog a willing horse I suppose, just gotta be a bit firmer and say no. Ta bird, I'll let you know the score :)

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:heart::heart: (you and the missus, working it out) xx

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Back to work tomorrow, don't want to:thumbdown: oh well, can't have everything we want I suppose

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Scottish lady I know in OZ, shocked me one day by saying they were up and leaving, sold business, house - a couple who had dedicated everything to running that successful little business.

The reason?. She said they had seen too many friends around their age ( mid 50's ) start to get sick or die while working all hours to get enough money to start enjoying life when they retired!

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Are we back to multiple posts and no replies then or is yer net going to be better this time? Don't just fly put and vanish again :lol::sneaky:

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haha, no it's ok I'm off to Port Hedland to build a railway for the lovely Gina, should be able to post a stream of bollocks :)

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:thumbsup:

We wait with baited breath...:sneaky:

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:lol: that's why it's all about! ;)


By the way if you have had enough of FIFO. Loads of construction work coming up in Sydney Steve, I can put you in touch with the hubby if you want , he knows more about it than me.

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Say hello to my mob in Hedland for me.

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I'm planning to start FIFO later this year, hopefully for 5 or so years then retire.

That's the plan, we'll see if it happens though...

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What game you in fella? I'm toying with the idea of going maintenance when the construction fizzles out, 2 and 1 roster....very much in 2 minds though, as FIFO has lost it's appeal for me somewhat

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Hi, I've got 10 years firefighting and emergency management experience and am studying the Cert IV Mining Emergency Response Officer so am hoping to get into that. I have quite a few mates who do it so believe I have the all important inside contacts.

I've got Cert. IV Trainer/Assessor too.

I'll only be interested in a "family friendly" roster like 8:6 though.

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FMG amd RTIO offer this roster for their operations people

I was recently offered a FIFO roster of 5:2:4:3 in Newman. I turned it down as I found something locally. Luckily in my game you can earn as much, or more, in Perth as you can get FIFO

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The only trouble is that the money is in construction for the most part, I would love the idea of 8 and 6 but that would be working direct for the mine/operator I would imagine. In my experience you can have longevity (maintenance), or big bucks(construction) but rarely both.

Rent boy????:eek: Newman is a rat hole, now Tom Price would get my attention, lovely place

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That's what you do on site! Hopefully it's a good gig for you

Agree about Tom Price. Never been to Newman and have no great desire to go

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It brings in the extra few quid I need to finance the Nags Head :lol:

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Funny you should mention that as when I first came across Renth it was the first thing that came to my mind. :egyptian:

To be honest in my early days his wit, sarcastic and otherwise, really got to me to the extent that he was top of my "bop on the nose" expats list for a while. :boxing:

However I soon realised it was a flavour to be savoured and enjoyed like a rich and heavy Merlot. :drinkwine:.....and besides he's only a tutor and fireman. :lol:

I would still like to know what Renth means though..... if anything.:p

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Who you working for Steve - JHG?

I could have done the FIFO on the RoyHill job with BGC, but we were having a baby as it was about to start, I ended up on a residential job in South Australia. I think I would find it hard doing FIFO. I know some do, and I know others who love it. They like that they get real 'off' time. Whereas I tend to have my phone beeping all weekend with work emails and take the odd call, so probably don't get a real break.

I take my hat off to those that manage to do it.

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Thanks, (I think).

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I'll be working along side Hollands, but not for them, decent bunch of lads, worked with them all before. FIFO's not for everyone, the main thing is to not get reliant on the money, so you need to carry on past when you want to do it. Seems that there's been a glut of suicides lately too, which is never nice. A year to go for me, and that's it unless I go to maintenance :thumbup:

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Suicides? Why would that be.

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A lot of people's relationships with wives/girlfriends/families breakdown with FIFO also my understanding is there is a lot of bullying and a "toughen up, princess" attitude.

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There are a mass of reasons really, these definitely amongst them. You'd be amazed at something as simple as shit camp food can affect someone. Keep active, and avoid stewing in your Donga if you don't like your own company, avoid the wet mess at all costs

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There has been a spate of suicides on mine sites but is it really higher than in the overall population?

Apparently the suicide rate among young men (who make up the majority of FIFO) is the highest of all groups in the western world

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You're right, it's no higher from what I understand, it's only that these guys all had FIFO in common, 12 last year just on one company's sites..See numbers like that and everyone shouts up about it.

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We're a fifo fam maybe a double act next yr! It's not the best conditions but as far as I'm concerned everyone has a price! I think you have to always remember the reason you took the fifo position in the first place for us it works but I know it doesn't for a lot of families.

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I totally agree, it's still working to a fair degree for us but the end is nigh. We'll have new bathrooms, new kitchen and half off the mortgage, which I'm seeing as a result TBH, specially as my marriage is still intact. I'm working with some guys who've been doing FIFO upwards of 10 years, they're virtually institutionalised. The trick is to know when the personal price is starting to outweigh the financial gain.

The hardest time for me is down time, that's when I start missing home, as I could just as easily be doing sod all there :lol:

Ooh and living AND working together??? best of luck with that :)

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Have been FIFO for years as it goes with the nature of my role - exploration. Was international from the UK to South America and Asia. Since moving to oz have done everything from 8:6 in WA to 7:1 (weeks) in Africa.

Although I would take a fifo role again - currently unemployed - I am pretty over it. Have seen an awful lot of marriages destroyed by it. A lot of kids go off the rails by one of their parents not being there and a lot of guys lament that they have missed an awful lot of their families key points.

When I was first starting out in my career, I shared an apartment at a site in China with a guy who had spent 20+ years doing it. We were chatting one night and he had a daughter getting close to Uni age. I asked - all enthusiastic as I was in them days - if he was going to encourage her to come into the industry. He turned to me and in perfect seriousness said "he will put her in a short skirt and get her to stand on a street corner before he let her into this game". At the time I thought he was mad. Now, many years later, I know where he was coming from.

The future for me has been decided for me, as no work for what I do. But, to be honest, that is a blessing in some ways.

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Don't get your hopes to high on mining. As you know, I have been a manager in a number of mines for a long time. I have also been members of the ERT teams and even captained one team. I was also a member of the emergency co-ord team at my last mine. That is the senior managemt team that meets in a crisis to co-ord everything from production to press releases and gives orders to the ERT team in an emergency. There are a number of companies that provide the training in this to managers and that might be a better option for you. It's also great fun - the most realistic and best training I have ever done. If slightly "callus".

Most mines only have one full time member of staff in ERT. The rest are volunteers who give up their free time and some departmental release to be a member. The full time member will normally have a combination of the experience you have along with a number of years mining experience. Usually in the specific mine where they work as knowing the mine intimately is vital. Also, knowing and understanding how mines work very thoroughly is vital. A lot start as site medics.

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Thanks for the heads up. I do actually have 6 month experience working on a remote mine site and the mob I'm doing my training with, apparently places you with an employer at the end of it. We'll see though. If it does happen I'll dovetail the first few swings of my new job with 8 day blocks of long service leave from my existing one. So if I can't hack it, no harm done!

My fire brigade buddies who do it are encouraging me to go for it so I'll give it a crack and see what happens!

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I have to agree with stormy, the ERT is run by a group of skilled volunteers that also have other jobs within the EOHS teams.

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I plan on being the boss at work too! :thumbsup:

Poor bloke even I'm starting to feel sorry for him :lol:

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Just be careful and don't put eggs in the basket.

Particularly at the moment as all mines are desperately trying to cut costs - about 30% of oz mines are buring through cash as currently running at loss.

Sadly, one of the areas that is being cut is safety. All mines will deny this, but many are reducing massively budgets for areas such as ERT. I know a number who have scrubbed ERT entirely recently. A very bad decision but the thinking is that they simply have no cash.

There are a lot of technical / academic papers in most mines. These are important as they will detail issues you can take to interview such as geotechnical areas of known instability. Understanding the rock types and the problems they create can be a huge issue - happy for you to pm me on these.

To be honest, there is no way way I would employ someone in an underground mine without a couple of years in that mine as a minimum. Just too many variables that only being in the mine. For example, I worked in a mine that was 1.3km deep. Some areas would, in the event of a fire be fine - no vent cross over. While other areas a team at the bottom could be dead in minutes from a fire at surface. The ERT proffessional needs to be instantly know how the mine will perform in that emergency. The vents, the rescue chambers - which can be moved daily between sites and even the people.

Then the differences in things like gas play a huge part. In coal this can mean not even considering sending a team down. To gold, where it may be fine whee it can be deadly in one part but safe in another. The ERT proffessional needs to know which.

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Specially for you Steve......... its gonna get windy....

http://britishexpats.com/forum/flood.../#post11537473

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That's going to mess up my schedule totally, brilliant :lol: