Incident investigations

Rio Tinto Coal Australia is committed to creating an injury and illness free workplace where everyone goes home safe and healthy every day. Thoroughly investigating safety incidents and determining their root causes is key to improving our safety performance.

Descriptions of safety incidents ranked as 'significant' are currently communicated across the Rio Tinto Coal Australia business, with the primary objective being to identify root causes and share key learnings across the organisation.

In 2008 a strategy was implemented to extend this approach to include reporting on incidents ranked 'moderate' and 'low'. This included the development of a common system used to manage health and safety data, known as TapRooT 'Lite'.

The strategy aims to increase the awareness and skill level in incident investigation, provide a tool for use on 'low' and 'moderate' ranked incidents and apply a consistent method to all incidents that are investigated.

This will enable increased analysis and reporting capability and an opportunity to act on findings with a view to reducing the potential for incidents, particularly those of a recurrent nature.