The strongest evidence for tai chi no longer sits at the margins of medicine. The largest analysis of exercise for depression ever published, a network meta analysis of 218 randomised trials covering 14,170 participants in The BMJ in 2024, found tai chi and qigong reduced depressive symptoms with a moderate effect, alongside walking, strength training and yoga. The authors noted that confidence in the underlying trials is low across the whole exercise field, and we quote the finding with that qualifier attached, because that is how we intend to run this program: honestly.
Here is the fact that matters most. As of 30 August 2026, there is no published trial of tai chi or qigong in a FIFO, mining or offshore workforce anywhere in the world. You cannot be the first to do something that has already been done. The evidence is strong, the setting is untouched, and Cameron Facilities intends to be the company that brings the two together: the first structured, properly measured tai chi wellness program delivered inside a mining camp.
A note from our Managing Director
“Imagine you are a chief executive, and you implement this wellness program, and you help a member of your staff overcome the fear of walking alone through a car park at night to get to their car. You have helped them build up their confidence and self esteem. What do you think that person will do? They will never leave your company. They will become your most loyal staff, they will work harder, and they will bring their good friends and family to come and work for the company, because you have helped them change their lives for the better. This is what I would really like to help people do in the mining industry.” Sherif Sulejman, Managing Director, Cameron Facilities.
That is the program we are designing. Not a poster campaign, and not an app nobody opens after week two, but a real practice, taught in person, in the camp, in the evening hours when isolation bites hardest.
The evidence, stated straight
An Australian led umbrella review in the British Journal of Sports Medicine in 2023, covering 97 systematic reviews, 1,039 trials and 128,119 participants, found physical activity produced medium sized improvements in depression, anxiety and psychological distress across healthy adults, people with mental health conditions and people with chronic disease.
For sleep, a randomised trial published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2017 found tai chi statistically noninferior to cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia, the recognised first line treatment, in 90 survivors of breast cancer, with the benefit maintained at 15 months. No equivalent trial exists in shift workers, and we say so plainly.
For cognition, a randomised trial of 318 older adults published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2023 found tai ji quan improved global cognition in people with mild cognitive impairment or memory concerns. And on the practical question of whether this kind of practice can run inside a real workplace at all, a cluster randomised trial of 282 office workers found ten minute qigong sessions twice a day could be delivered across a working office for 12 weeks with good uptake and no loss of work performance.
Every outcome above belongs to the named study and its population, not to us. These results come from older adults, cancer survivors, office workers and clinical groups. No trial has yet been run where we intend to run one, and that is precisely the point.
The return on investment case
Since 2022, this is a compliance question
Psychosocial hazards are now a work health and safety duty, not a welfare gesture. In Western Australia the duty sits in regulations 55A to 55D of the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022, supported by WorkSafe WA’s code of practice on psychosocial hazards in the workplace from August 2022 and the 2019 code of practice on mentally healthy workplaces for FIFO workers, which names accommodation, connectivity and life in the village as psychosocial matters. In Queensland, resources operations sit under Resources Safety and Health Queensland, which requires psychosocial risks to be identified, assessed, controlled and reviewed through the site safety and health management system.
When RSHQ audited 61 resources operations in 2026, it found psychosocial hazard risk assessments had been completed at only 51 percent of them. A structured, documented wellness program that can be written into the safety and health management system is a control measure an operator can put in front of an inspector. At half of the operations the regulator audited, that document did not exist.
The cost of the problem, in the government’s own numbers
The Western Australian Government’s MARS Landmark Study surveyed 2,550 WA mine workers and reported in March 2024. Nearly four in ten reported feeling burnt out at work. One in three reported regular emotional exhaustion. Nearly one in three said they were likely to look for a job with another employer within twelve months. Earlier research commissioned by the Mental Health Commission of Western Australia with Curtin University, covering more than 3,000 FIFO workers and partners, found 33 percent of FIFO workers reporting high or very high psychological distress against 17 percent in the benchmark group, and found loneliness significantly associated with mental health and wellbeing.
Every operator knows exactly what it costs to recruit, mobilise and train a replacement for a departing FIFO worker. Take that number, apply it to nearly one in three of the workforce, and the business case writes itself. We will not put a return figure on this page, because no published study supports one for this practice in this industry, and a promise we cannot evidence is worth less to a chief executive than arithmetic they can do themselves.
Evidence that intervention pays
The strongest causal evidence in workplace mental health is not a wellness poster. It is a cluster randomised controlled trial at Fire and Rescue NSW, published in The Lancet Psychiatry in 2017, in which four hours of mental health training for managers led to a measurable reduction in work related sick leave among their employees. In mining itself, the MATES in Mining program combined with supervisor training was evaluated across eight Australian coal mines: help seeking confidence and willingness to talk about mental health improved significantly, and roughly half the workforce at program sites engaged with at least one component. That last figure is the honest benchmark for uptake in this industry, and it is the benchmark we will design against and report against.
What we intend to build
The program we are designing is a delivered component of a psychosocial risk program, not a standalone class. Voluntary group tai chi sessions run in the camp, in the evening hours, timed to roster patterns, as a genuine alternative to the wet mess. That directly supports the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of WA industry alcohol guideline, which asks camps to actively promote a culture of moderation and provide real alternatives. It follows the World Health Organization’s 2022 guidelines on mental health at work, which support leisure based physical activity for workers as one component of a comprehensive program led by organisational measures and manager training.
It will be written into the site safety and health management system, weighted toward supervisor involvement in line with the Lancet Psychiatry evidence, and measured on what published mining programs have actually moved: participation, repeat engagement and referrals into existing support pathways. We will commit to uptake, delivery quality and honest reporting. We will not commit to clinical outcomes, because no responsible provider can.
What the research does not show
A page that intends to be believed should say this part out loud. There is no published trial of tai chi or qigong in a FIFO, mining or offshore population anywhere in the world, so every result on this page is an extrapolation from other populations, and each one is labelled with its population. The falls prevention evidence for tai chi comes from older adults living in the community and licenses no claim about workplace slips, trips and falls. Effects in the mental health trials are moderate, trial quality is mixed, and most outcomes are self reported.
The most quoted sceptical study in this field, covering 46,336 UK workers across 233 organisations, found participants in individual level wellbeing interventions no better off than colleagues who did not take part. That study is cross sectional and cannot prove causation, but we take its lesson seriously. It is the reason this program is built into camp life, work design and supervisor capability rather than sold as a standalone fix.
Frequently asked questions
Is there real scientific evidence behind tai chi?
Yes. The largest network meta analysis of exercise for depression, published in The BMJ in 2024, covered 218 randomised trials and 14,170 participants and found tai chi and qigong reduced depressive symptoms with a moderate effect, with the authors noting low confidence ratings across the exercise trial field. Trials in other populations also support benefits for sleep and cognition, each attributed to its own study population.
Has a tai chi program ever been trialled in a mining camp?
No. As of 30 August 2026 there is no published trial of tai chi or qigong in a FIFO, mining or offshore workforce anywhere in the world. That is why Cameron Facilities intends to be the first to deliver one inside a mining camp and measure it properly.
Is managing psychosocial hazards a legal duty for mining operators?
Yes. In Western Australia the duty sits in regulations 55A to 55D of the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022, supported by two WorkSafe WA codes of practice. In Queensland, resources operations must manage psychosocial risks under legislation administered by Resources Safety and Health Queensland.
What outcomes would the program commit to?
Participation, repeat engagement, delivery quality and honest reporting. Published Australian mining programs have moved help seeking confidence and engagement, with roughly half the workforce taking up at least one component. No clinical or health outcome is promised, because no published evidence supports promising one in this population.
Where this fits
Cameron Facilities is a Perth based integrated facilities management company. This program sits alongside our mining camp management services in Western Australia, our mining and remote camp facilities management and our wellness and mental health program. For more on wellbeing in camps, read our article on mining camp wellness programs in Western Australia. To talk about bringing the first tai chi program into your operation, contact us.