FIFO Physio Jobs

Can you get FIFO physio jobs with no experience?

Biosymm's FIFO ads asked for "A minimum of 12 months clinical experience". WFR wanted two years of full-time clinical work. The Flying Physio wanted 24 months and said its positions "are not suited to new graduates". Mining Health Solutions wanted three years, and someone "comfortable working autonomously".

A FIFO physio wrote in an online forum that a new graduate would be lucky to get one of these jobs. On site, they said, you're usually the only physio, and even with nurses and paramedics around, the call on a diagnosis, and on whether a worker is fit to go back, is yours.

A new graduate's way in is a clinic job first. Biosymm's Bunbury job, split between its clinic and a client's site in the South West, listed no minimum years, so it's one to ask about if you're newly registered. That job is Monday to Friday, not FIFO.

FIFO physio jobs do not need occupational experience first

Biosymm's ads said "Experience in Occupational Physiotherapy is not a pre-requisite", because it would "provide you with all the appropriate training to upskill you". It added monthly professional development sessions, a structured clinical program and a training allowance of up to $1,500 for outside courses.

WFR called onsite occupational experience "highly desirable" rather than required, and promised mentoring and training from senior physiotherapists.

How do you become a FIFO physio, step by step?

From a physiotherapy degree, in Western Australia

1. Get the degree, then register with AHPRA, and renew the registration each year. Both were in every ad.
2. Get at least 12 months of clinical work, or two years for more of the jobs (what the ads ask for).
3. Have a national police check and a White Card ready, because some providers want them before you start. Every course asks for your USI (Unique Student Identifier), a free number you make online.
4. Base yourself in Perth, or be ready to move there (interstate applicants).
5. Apply to the providers directly, not just through the boards (who hires).
6. Once you're offered the job, expect a medical and drug test, then the provider's training in the occupational side (how the training works).
7. On site, the work is treating injuries early, assessing jobs and lifts, and training workers (what the work involves).
8. Later, you can become a titled occupational physiotherapist through the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA), or move into injury management or safety work (where it leads).

Outside WA, or trained overseas

In Queensland, Biosymm advertised the same FIFO physio job out of Brisbane. Mining Health Solutions hired a physio for a construction project near Cloncurry, on a 2:2 roster (two weeks on, two off) with charter flights from Brisbane or Townsville. A physio's video showed one more Queensland route: an 8:6 roster at the Weipa bauxite mine, flying from Cairns.

Physio registration comes under one national law that applies in every state and territory, so it moves with you. The Flying Physio, based in South Australia, flies its practitioners from the major cities, and Biosymm's careers page lists FIFO physio work from Perth, Brisbane or Adelaide.

Trained overseas? The Australian Physiotherapy Council assesses your qualification before AHPRA will register you, and the visa is a separate application (the registration steps ↗ (opens in a new tab)). Biosymm's ads welcomed visa applicants.

What are FIFO physio jobs, and who hires?

Biosymm, which calls itself the largest employer of occupationally trained physiotherapists, advertised FIFO physio jobs in WA and Queensland. WFR, a workplace wellbeing company, ran its onsite mining job on a DIDO roster.

The Flying Physio takes expressions of interest for site work, and Mining Health Solutions, an emergency response provider, advertised one site physio job in Queensland.

The roles in the ads

• Onsite and occupational physiotherapists
• Injury management coordinators and advisors
• Health and wellbeing coaches, one of them FIFO
• Massage therapists, osteopaths and chiropractors, in one provider's call for site staff
• Psychologists, social workers and counsellors, as on-site consultants
• Exercise scientists, at WFR

FIFO physiotherapy: what the ads call it

The titles were "FIFO Physiotherapist", "Physiotherapist - Onsite / Occupational" and "Site based Physiotherapist (FIFO)". One ad titled "FIFO/DIDO" was for aged care homes, not mines, and some regional ads were residential, such as a Karratha medical centre job with relocation support.

What do you need to be a FIFO physiotherapist?

Most ads asked for:

• A physiotherapy degree
• Registration with AHPRA
• Clinical experience, from 12 months up

Some added:

• For The Flying Physio: a White Card, a police clearance, a dry needling qualification, and your own Australian Business Number (ABN) and insurance, because its physios are contractors
• For Mining Health Solutions: a White Card done before the job started
• For WFR: living in WA already
• For Biosymm: a manual car licence, "desirable but not mandatory"

No physio ad mentioned a medical, but the mine's rules apply to everyone on site. Roy Hill's fitness for work procedure ↗ (opens in a new tab), for one, has its own staff do a pre-employment medical and a drug and alcohol test, and requires its contractors to run similar checks.

The police check and the White Card are on the tickets page, with what each costs.

FIFO physio rosters: 7:7, 4:3 and 8:6

Biosymm's ads gave three rosters: 7:7 (a week on, a week off), 4:3 (Monday to Thursday) and 8:6 (eight days on, six off). WFR's DIDO job was 8:6 too. The rosters page explains how each pattern works over a year.

FIFO physio jobs WA and Queensland: where they fly from

Biosymm's WA ad said "The successful applicants will work on a mine site in regional WA", flying from Perth, with close support from its own team and the client's workforce. Its Queensland jobs flew from Brisbane, and WFR's was a drive to the South West. The Perth page covers the flights from Perth.

FIFO physio jobs Australia: interstate applicants

Biosymm's ads said "Interstate and visa applicants welcome to apply!", and it helps with part of the cost of moving to Perth or Brisbane. So the job is a roster from one of those cities, even for someone from another state. WFR's job was only for people already living in WA.

What is the FIFO physiotherapist salary?

Only ads that stated a figure are in the table. Most don't.

Both are salaries: Biosymm's ads called its pay "not commission-based", and WFR's package included bonuses. The pay calculator turns any salary and roster into an hourly rate, and the FIFO salary page compares pay across FIFO jobs.

What does a FIFO physio do day to day?

A FIFO physio does injury management and risk prevention

Biosymm's ad listed the services: "onsite physiotherapy, injury management, risk assessment, job dictionary, office and vehicle ergonomics, training services and FCE's". An FCE is a functional capacity evaluation, a test of what a worker can physically do. A job dictionary is a record of what each job on site demands of the body.

Biosymm's Queensland ad also listed pre-employment medicals and telehealth physiotherapy, so the physio is often the one doing other workers' medicals.

A typical day for a FIFO physio

In a podcast interview, a physio who worked a 7:7 roster at two Rio Tinto mines in the Pilbara described 12-hour days, up at four or five and working until about five. About half the work was occupational and half hands-on treatment. The first couple of swings were with a team leader, and after that the physio worked alone. Their room was basic but air-conditioned, with its own bathroom, and the meals were free.

In a company video, a Biosymm team leader described the field side: a couple of patients in the morning, then time out watching people work. That meant the workshop where the big trucks are serviced, a blast, or a seat in a digger. No two days were the same, and off shift the site had a gym, a pool and golf simulators.

What is FIFO physiotherapy really like?

SEEK's salary guide put the average physiotherapist job at $95,000 a year in both WA and Queensland in October 2026, and Perth clinic ads on SEEK that month ran from $77,000 to $150,000.

Physios don't agree on the money. A physio who spent a year on Pilbara sites said in a podcast that the pay looks thin by the hour, over 12-hour days, but very good over a year, with half the year off and free meals. Their advice was to do a couple of years and save, though the occupational half of the job interested them less than hands-on work as time went on.

An experienced physio said in an online discussion that no FIFO job they'd seen paid better than their own contract work in Melbourne, and a Queensland physio wrote that there's money in FIFO work, but the conditions can be gruelling. A FIFO physio in another online thread said sites vary too: some are busy all week, and on others a physio barely sees anyone.

What one physio wants new FIFO physios to know

In an Instagram video for physios about to start, one said the job isn't just treating injuries. Managing the risks of site work is a big part of it, and knowing what each job asks of the body matters as much as the injury itself.

Getting to know the supervisors, the health and safety team and the workforce makes you more effective, they said, and your advice has to make sense to the people who'll carry it out. The roster, the time away and camp life take a while to get used to, in a place that works very differently from a clinic.

If a long swing gets dark, Lifeline is 13 11 14, and the mental health page covers it in more detail.

Where does a FIFO physio job lead?

Biosymm pays the fees for physios who want occupational physiotherapy titling with the APA, and its list of moves included hygiene roles. A drilling contractor advertised a health and injury management advisor on a 4:3 roster, alternating between Perth and site, and an equipment hire company a health and safety advisor on an 8:6 FIFO roster in the Goldfields.

Northern Star Resources' injury management coordinator job in Kalgoorlie-Boulder asked for three years in occupational health or injury management, a workers compensation and injury management certificate, and a C class licence.

Is a FIFO physio job right for you?

Three honest questions

1. Do you want occupational health work? The services in the ads were about managing and preventing injuries, not a full clinic caseload.
2. Do you have the experience? The ads wanted clinical years behind you.
3. Does a mining roster fit your life? The rosters were 7:7, 4:3 and 8:6, with flights from Perth or Brisbane.