Fatalities
Any fatality at operations is unacceptable. We regret that there were two fatalities at managed Rio Tinto operations in 2005. The first incident occurred when an experienced electrician employed by Rössing Uranium died after sustaining burns from an electrical incident. In the second incident an employee at Richards Bay Minerals died when he was engulfed in a slump of sand whilst replacing a winch rope for one of the mining dredges at the crest of the mining face.
These two incidents were thoroughly investigated, with lessons learnt shared around the Group. Businesses are required to take corrective action, in line with the lessons learnt, appropriate to their operations within 90 days of the lessons being published.
Rio Tinto has a procedure for the notification and investigation of fatal and critical incidents. The procedure covers timeframes and accountabilities for:
- notifying relevant parties;
- carrying out an investigation, including appointing an incident investigation team;
- recommending and carrying out any remedial actions required to prevent a similar incident from occurring; and
- communicating causes and lessons learnt.
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