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Community and Camp “We are in this together”

Community and Camp “We are in this together”. Dianne Hunter City Manager, Fort St. John BC Energy Conference. Presentation Focus. Definition of mobile workforce Types of “communities” Benefits and Impacts of Mobile Workforce on Communities Types of “camps” Benefits and Impacts of Camps

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Community and Camp “We are in this together”

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  1. Community and Camp“We are in this together” Dianne Hunter City Manager, Fort St. John BC Energy Conference

  2. Presentation Focus • Definition of mobile workforce • Types of “communities” • Benefits and Impacts of Mobile Workforce on Communities • Types of “camps” • Benefits and Impacts of Camps • Issues relating to communities and camps

  3. Definition of Mobile Workforces • You are a member of a mobile workforce when you call some other community ‘home’ • Mobile workforce can be • fly-in/fly-out (FIFO); • drive-in/drive-out (DIDO) • Live in community but do not consider that community as ‘home’ • Live in temporary accommodations

  4. Mobile Workforces What do we know? • The use of mobile workforces will continue to grow in the foreseeable future • This means beneficial and adverse implications for both the home, host and camp communities

  5. Types of Communities • “Home” community is defined as the source community or the community that the worker considers to be “home”. • “Host” community is defined as the community to which the worker travels to for work. • “Camp” community is defined as a self-contained community with the focus to provide accommodations for workers.

  6. Benefits and Impacts on ‘Home’Community • Benefits: • Allows workers to provide for their families without uprooting families • Allows workers/families to live in community of choice • In some cases, allows extended families to remain intact • Allows for a standard of living that may not be achievable in the home community • Allows community to retain strong tax base with less pressure of services • Impacts: • Stress on families due to a parent being away for extended periods • Communities lose a significant “volunteer” base • Less diversity in the home community (seniors, women and children) • Strain on the social fabric of a community

  7. Benefits and Impacts on ‘Host’ Community • Benefits: • Creates diversity within the community when the workers live in the community • Creates economic opportunities for property owners through rentals • Provides a workforce for the primary industry • Often introduces the community to the worker who ends up staying in the host the community • Impacts: • Strain on social services and enforcement services • Tensions between permanent residents and mobile workforce (parking, noise, traffic concerns, standard of care to property) • Can result in “fly-over” impacts with little economic impact

  8. Benefits and Impacts to ‘Camp’ Community • Benefits: • High degree of employer control • Self-contained and provides all required amenities to support a focused workforce • Allows workers the freedom to live else where. • Impacts: • Artificial lifestyle • Significantly reduced “work/life” balance • Restrictions of choices associated with normal lifestyle – food, neighbours, activities • Expensive for the employer

  9. Fort St. John Fort St. John is all three: • We are a home community • Many of our residents work out in camps • We are a host community • Many mobile works reside in Fort St. John • We are a camp community • High number of hotel units and rental units with single family homes becoming ‘dorm like’

  10. Types of Camps • In-Community Camps • Hotels, RV parks, rental accommodations, illegal secondary suites, single family homes becoming worker dorms • Out-of-Community Camps • Self-contained units providing sleeping, eating, safety and some recreational activities

  11. In-Community Camps • Benefits: • Return on Investment for property owners • Taxes to the community • Can support affordable housing • Community services are used • Impacts: • Noise, • Parking i.e. number of vehicles, lack of on-site parking • Property maintenance • Illegal suites are not regulated and can be a health and safety concern • Change in established neighbourhoods • Sense that the community is ‘less safe’

  12. Out-of-Community Camps • Benefits: • Highly regulated and controlled • Close proximity to worksite • Reduced traffic • Ease of accommodation • Impacts: • May look to local communities for some services (water, sewer, policing, recreation) but outside municipal jurisdiction • Fly-over effect with little or no benefit to local communities • Social issues often arise within the community versus camp • No one “approving agency” so very disjointed • Municipalities are not part of the approving process • Artificial community with strain between workers

  13. Shifts • Industries can operate 24h/day 7day/week – with shifts based on 12 hours • 12 hour shifts are criticised by communities for • Employee fatigue & mental health • Inability to participate in local community activities • Erosion in family life • Choice to move away from residential to camp work • Driving hours home after a shift

  14. Shifts Possible Solutions: • Variable Shifts • Local or remote workers • Different workers prefer different shift types • ‘Bus-in, Bus-out’ only policy • no car parking on site

  15. Community Engagement • Home and host communities are often reliant on volunteers for the delivery of basic services • A decline in volunteering = decline in social and emotional investment people are putting into local communities • Decline in community engagement can be caused by • FIFO workforce • 12-hour shifts

  16. ‘Us versus Them’ • Lack of integration between resident and mobile workers • Key concern for host communities = lack of respect shown by mobile workers towards the town • Solutions • social contracts • provide more positive opportunities for interaction • Strain between home and host communities

  17. Conclusions • Home Communities with mobile workforces are finding that: • community image, identity and social cohesion are declining and there is a marked divide between residents and mobile workers • community safety is declining • engagement in community life is declining, in part due to the pressure of 12-hour shifts • in drive-in, drive-out (DIDO) regions, road safety is of serious concern with a mounting accident and death toll

  18. Conclusions • Local governments must be involved at an earlier stage of the planning process – to successfully navigate the complex array of challenges between camp and community • Local governments are key stakeholders in the management of the impact of mobile workforces on communities • Home and Host communities want to see the continued growth and sustainability of the resources sector; however they also want to remain communities

  19. References • Cancer of the bush or salvation for our cities? Fly-in, fly-out and drive-in, drive-out workforce practices in Regional Australia. The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. Feb 2013. • Fly-in/Fly-out: Implications for Community Sustainability. Keith Storey. Open Access Sustainability Journal. April 2010. • Policy, Communication , Capacity: A Time to Lead – Scoping the impacts and benefits of work camps in the Peace Region. PRRD: Beamish Consulting, June 2013 • Understanding the State of Industrial Camps in Northern BC. Northern Health. Oct 2012.

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