Karratha sits at the centre of the Pilbara's iron ore and LNG industry, home to major processing and export operations that generate an extraordinary amount of output relative to the town's population. The contractors, engineering firms and logistics providers based here exist to keep those operations running.

FIFO drives the local economy in a way few other Australian towns experience: workforce accommodation, rostering, freight and parts supply all operate on FIFO timetables, and businesses need to plan around swing changes and remote logistics as a matter of course.

The pressure that follows is consistent: skilled trades are hard to secure this far from major population centres, resources clients set an unusually high compliance bar, and safety, scheduling and reporting work keeps climbing. That is exactly the kind of repetitive, high-stakes work well-governed AI is suited to, set up around the business rather than dropped on top of it.