BHP is poised to join other big miners with major changes to workforce rosters and fly in, fly out (FIFO) arrangements, despite state and territory governments agreeing on Friday to streamline movement of "essential'' resource industry workers across borders.

Big miners like Fortescue Metals, Northern Star and Saracen Mineral have confirmed they will lengthen, in some cases almost triple, the duration of shifts performed by their mine workers in a bid to reduce the volume of travel they undertake amid the coronavirus pandemic.