New mobile realities in mature staples-dependent resource regions: Local governments and work camps

Abstract

In resource-dependent regions, work camps have reshaped workforce recruitment and retention strategies and relationships with communities as they are increasingly deployed within municipal boundaries. This has prompted important, but controversial, questions about local government policies and regulations guiding workforce accommodations to support rapid growth in resource regions. Even as mobile workforces become more prevalent, however, few researchers have examined the development, operations, and decommissioning of these work camps. Drawing upon the experiences of local governments in Australia, Canada, Scotland, and the United States, this research examines how mobile workforces are shaping the opportunities and challenges of planning and local government operations through work camps integrated in mature staplesdependent resource regions. Our findings reveal that while some industries have taken the initiative to implement new protocols and operating procedures to improve the quality and safety of work camp environments, local governments have underdeveloped policy tools and capacities to guide the development, operations, and decommissioning of work camps. Failure to purposefully address work camps as a land-use issue, however, is significant for mature staplesdependent towns that ultimately fail to capture taxation revenues while incurring the accelerating costs for infrastructure and services associated with large mobile workforces.

Long-distance commuting and dispersed socio-economic benefits of connectivity

“…Nonetheless, worker mobility, and particularly FIFO and DIDO in the resources industry, has attracted the most interest, much of which is negative, provoking extensive research scrutiny over the last decade. For a variety of reasons, the key features that most excite angst in regional community leadership is where and how LDC workers are accommodated, and the lack of investment in host communities by mining companies and their employees (Miller, Van Megen, & Buys, 2012;Rolfe & Kinnear, 2013;Ryser, Halseth, Markey, & Morris, 2017). There have been several government and public enquiries (Department for Child Protection and Family Support, 2013; Western Australian Legislative Assembly Education and Health Standing Committee, 2015) into the impact of LDC on individuals, families and communities.…”