Mining app Camp Connect aims to boost female safety as industry grapples with fixing sexual harassment

A WA fly-in, fly-out worker who has been a victim of sexual harassment has created an app to not only help female workers in an emergency but also feel safe and able to cope with the isolation of mine site life. Camp Connect founder Erin Bell has caught the attention of some of the country’s biggest players and is already helping thousands of FIFOs at a WA gold mine and a precious metals site. Aimed at boosting female safety, the app comes with an SOS-style panic button, medical and physiological support, and reporting options and resources. Panic buttons can be set to alert on-site security, medical professionals, or other app users in the immediate area. The growing uptake of the app comes amid revelations of systemic sexual misconduct in the nation’s resources sector, exposed in an investigation by The West Australian. While growing numbers of women are seeking a career in the resources sector, Ms Bell said the vast majority were still in field positions or contractors who didn’t have access to computers so an app was necessary to reach everyone. “It’s aimed at workers who are most at risk and normally targeted for this reason,” Ms Bell said. “They have less job security, our app gives on-hand access and a reporting link that sends straight to HR for all workers.” The ex-surface blaster and HR professional said dedicated features to help women was just one of the many benefits to the industry. It can help link workers with COVID-19 messages, cyclone warnings, flight updates, on-site events, and mental health services. Ms Bell said it was also designed to combat on-boarding issues after she felt “lost and outcast”, was skipping dinner in fear of embarrassment and crying in her donga each night on her first two-week swing. She said “really disheartening” entry experiences were common and fixing poor communication issues around services, facilities and available social interactions was crucial. “I was almost going to quit after the first week. It’s a really big wake-up call. I didn’t have any friends. I didn’t go to dinner for the first two weeks,” she said. “I remember just crying in my room thinking, ‘What have I done? I’ve left a job I was really good at’. “I actually spoke about it at a Woman in Mining event we held as a launch and six people came up to me after and said they had the exact same situation. “You just need to remind yourself; you’re doing it for your career, and then you start to make some friends.” The app can also allow for network building opportunities for women, to create a community around them. One client has introduced peer support channels and regular “Women’s Wine Wednesdays”. “If people haven’t got support, they’re more inclined to tolerate poor behaviour because they don’t want to ostracise themselves from their only work group or they’re only friends,” she said. Ms Bell said the app, which took three years of development, would also be ideal for the construction and defence industries. “My aim is one solution for everything for everyone so that contractors and full-time employees are getting the same information. And so, they’re integrating instead of it being a ‘them vs us’ mentality,” she said.