Respectful Workplace Communication on Site: A Practical Guide for FIFO Supervisors

FIFO supervisors set the tone for what's acceptable on a crew faster than any policy document can. A supervisor who lets a comment slide, or who jokes along with borderline banter, signals to the whole crew that the written standard doesn't actually apply. This guide covers what supervisors can do day-to-day to build a respectful crew culture - not the legal theory, but the practical moves that work on site.‍ ‍

Why supervisors carry more weight than policy

Workers take their cues from behaviour, not from posters in the crib room. If a supervisor consistently shuts down disrespectful comments, crews adjust quickly. If a supervisor is inconsistent - cracking down in front of management but letting things go day-to-day — crews learn the real standard is whatever gets past inspection. This is why supervisor training needs to be different from general crew training: supervisors aren't just avoiding harassment themselves, they're responsible for the standard the whole crew operates under.

Five things supervisors can do this roster

1. Name it in the moment, briefly and without drama. A quiet "that's not how we talk to people here" said immediately, in front of the crew, does more than a formal warning delivered later in private. It doesn't need to be a lecture - brevity actually makes it land better, because it signals the standard is obvious rather than up for debate.

2. Separate "banter" from what's actually landing badly. Crews often have genuine, mutually enjoyed humour that outsiders might misread - and also comments that one person is laughing along with because objecting feels riskier than tolerating it. Supervisors who know their crew can usually tell the difference by watching who's laughing and who's gone quiet, not by applying a blanket rule against joking.

3. Make the reporting pathway a known, spoken thing - not just a poster. Most workers can't recite where the harassment officer contact details are, even if they walked past the poster a hundred times. This matters more than most sites realise: national survey data shows only 18% of people who experience workplace sexual harassment make a formal report at all (AHRC, 2022). A supervisor who says out loud, during toolbox talk, "if anything happens on this roster you're not comfortable with, here's who to call, and it's not just me" normalises the pathway before it's needed, and helps close that reporting gap.

4. Watch for isolation, not just incidents. A worker who's stopped eating in the mess with the crew, stopped joining social activities, or seems to be avoiding a particular person is often showing early signs of a problem well before any formal complaint. Supervisors who check in early - casually, not as an interrogation - catch issues before they escalate.

5. Follow up after a complaint, even informally. If someone raises a concern, even a minor one, checking back in a few days later ("how's it going since we spoke") shows the concern wasn't filed and forgotten. This single habit does more to build trust in the reporting system than any amount of policy language.

‍What not to do

‍ Avoid minimising complaints as "just banter" or telling a worker to "let it go" for the sake of crew harmony - this is one of the most common ways supervisors unintentionally shut down reporting before it starts. Avoid handling serious complaints entirely informally without escalating to HR or the appropriate officer; supervisors have a duty to escalate, not just to manage things quietly on site. And avoid discussing a complaint with the rest of the crew, even to "get to the bottom of it" - this virtually guarantees the person who reported feels exposed and regrets coming forward.‍ ‍

Building this into your site's culture

None of this requires supervisors to become HR specialists. It requires clarity on where the line is, confidence to act on it in the moment, and a genuine understanding of why the reporting pathway matters - which is exactly what targeted supervisor training, rather than generic crew-wide modules, is designed to build.

Source: Australian Human Rights Commission, Time for Respect: Fifth National Survey on Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces (2022).

We Are Consulting delivers supervisor-specific training as part of our Respect, Boundaries & Workplace Communication program, built for the realities of FIFO crew leadership. Find out more.