Safety
On a daily basis, many Rio Tinto Coal Australia employees and contractors operate heavy machinery and equipment, work at heights and drive trucks and light vehicles.
As a result, safety is a core value and key priority at Rio Tinto Coal Australia and our goal is zero injuries. This means creating a workplace where everyone - employees and contractors - go home safe and healthy each day. As part of the Rio Tinto group, Rio Tinto Coal Australia has developed a safety management system to meet this goal.
Our commitment to protect our people from harm and eliminate work place injuries and illnesses has won numerous awards. However, we still have work to do and are committed to continually improving our performance and striving to achieve our goal of zero injuries.
Our approach
Our safety management system includes a range of components in order to meet our goal:
- Actively involving employees in safety management, through safety interactions
- Training leaders who champion safety improvements and demonstrate genuine commitment to safety
- Thoroughly investigating and reporting all incidents
- Ensuring all employees are familiar with the Managing Director's Golden Rules, which establish clear expectations for behaviour particularly aimed at preventing exposure to risk of serious injury or death
- Actively promoting safety in the communities surrounding our operations.
Results
Rio Tinto Coal Australia measures safety performance by tracking the number and severity of work injuries sustained. Our all injury frequency rate has been steadily trending downwards in recent years but there is still much work underway to ensure every employee and contractor returns home safely at the end of each shift.
Read our 2007 results.
Read our features on safety:
