A bombshell report detail mining giant Rio Tinto's plans to use all sorts of high tech monitors - including drones - to keep an eye on workers on the jobs and in company-run mining camps.

The Guardian newspaper reports that Rio Tinto enlisted the French company Sodexo - which also runs Australian prisons - in a ten year contract to "monitor" the workers that haven't been replaced by automation.  This includes surveillance on work places, and places were workers are supposedly off the clock - the list encompasses three ports, six towns, three aerodromes, 15 operational sites, 42 accommodation sites, 134 town assets, 336 commercial buildings, and 3,259 residential properties.

Sodexo vice president Keith Weston is the honcho for this project.  He describes one platform as streaming all sorts of data and information from Rio Tinto's Pilbara assets to a monitoring station in Perth staffed by 50 people.  "It gives us actionable, real-time insights and metrics on equipment and people movement, customer satisfaction, even retail spending," Weston wrote to the Guardian.  "Our goal is to get to the point where we can capture individual insights on where employees are spending their time and money and improve the quality of their lives.  Over time, Sodexo plans to add sensors to light poles and rubbish bins, and we already have plans to start experimenting with drones."

Drones?  Yeah, drones.  They'll be just part of a web of sensors and monitors laced throughout the infrastructure, checking up on all aspects of what's going on. 

The paper says that "sources within the corporation's workforce say workers have not been informed or approached for consent".  Earlier this year, the Western Mine Workers' Alliance raised concerns about CCTV cameras that popped up without warning.  The Union workers realized they were being watched after overhearing bosses bragging of their new ability to "zoom right in" on workers. 

"It will lead to unwanted psychological stress which will lead to extra pressure and loss of focus on the job," said one Rio Tinto worker who chose to remain anonymous (maybe for one of the last times).  "How focused can you be knowing there's drones or cameras constantly watching you everywhere you go?  We are exposed to a dangerous job, let's not forget it."

The pressure is increased knowing that 500 redundancies were announced just last month, bringing the two-year total to more than 2,000.

"Being monitored can decrease this sense of autonomy and control," said Sue Crock, the coordinator of the mining sector mental health service This Fifo Life, part of Western Australia's Mental Health Commission.  "Some people like the sense of security it gives them by having clear rules and monitoring.  For others it can feel invasive and an infringement of their rights."

She continued, "For our wellbeing it is important we feel we have autonomy over our lives, decisions we make and how we live."