Safety

On a daily basis, many Rio Tinto Coal Australia employees operate heavy machinery and equipment, work at heights and drive trucks and light vehicles.

Safety is a key value and priority for Rio Tinto Coal Australia.  Our commitment to protect our people from harm and eliminate work place injuries and illnesses has won numerous awards. However, we are committed to continually improving our performance and striving to achieve our goals of zero injuries.

Our approach

We set high standards, implement a range of management initiatives and make sure 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.

Managing Director's Golden Rules

1. Never work on equipment without first applying your personal isolation lock(s) in accordance with isolation procedures.
2. Never work above 1.8 metres without fall protection and fall prevention.
3. For underground mines 
   • never position yourself under a suspended load
   • under an unsupported roof without falling object protection.
4. For open cut mines never position yourself
   • under a suspended load
   • within 10 metres of the toe of highwalls, lowwalls, or operating faces without  falling object projection unless authorised to do so.
5. Never approach within 50 metres of 'operating' heavy equipment in a light vehicle without making positive contact with the operator.
6. Never park heavy equipment in a manner that will allow for an unplanned movement. Never assume brakes will hold. 
7. Never work on electrical circuits above 32 volts AC or 110 volts DC before 'testing for voltage'.
8. Never enter a confined space unless trained and authorised to do so.

These rules are designed to protect those who work for us from serious injury or death. Accordingly, they are reinforced by a complementary regime of discipline:
*The circumstances of any breach will be investigated and considered. Any person who has been trained to recognise the Golden Rules and breaches any of them will risk termination of employment. As a minimum, discipline will involve recorded counselling.
*Any leader who fails to correct a breach or anyone who knowingly condones a breach will be regarded as having committed the breach themselves.

Read more about Coal & Allied's approach to safety.

Results

Rio Tinto Coal Australia measures safety performance by tracking the number and severity of work injuries sustained. Our lost time 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 more of our results in the 2006 Sustainable Development Report.