The entire staff at the operation are attending a series of lectures on health and wellbeing, called Toolbox Talks, where they are addressed by registered nurse Tammy Farrell on issues that may affect their health and wellbeing.

Farrell told International Longwall News the lectures so far have covered heart disease, diet and menopause and were met with great interest from the mining crews.

"After the heart disease lecture I had a few of the men come up and say they had seen their GP after recognising they might be suffering from some of the signs and symptoms," Farrell said.

"That's the kind of response we're after. Just raising awareness and giving the crews some information so they can take steps to take better care of their health."

She said the latest topic discussed, - menopause - was of particular interest to the miners: a large number of them had a wife, mother or relative who had experienced symptoms; and many claimed their sex life had been affected as a result.

The lecture encouraged the miners to explore their menopausal partner's body and explained the physical, emotional and psychological changes that their partner might be dealing with.

"It was important to have the workers - men and women - understand the changes that a woman goes through during menopause and why it happens and how to deal with it," Farrell said.

Xstrata Coal communications manager James Rickards said the program was running well and that he had noticed improvement in some workers with their general attitude towards work.

"Generally if a worker is happy at home they're more likely to be happy at work and the Toolbox Talk program is talking about everyday issues - relationships, fatigue, diet, health, sex - things that the guys are dealing with every day," Rickards told ILN.

"Having Tammy come in as a registered nurse, she's able to provide information and answer questions and give our teams some information that they can use to follow up on if they have any further concerns."

Rickards said he had noticed a "spring in the step" of some workers after the recent lectures and said future topics to be discussed include depression, relationships and fatigue.