Occupational health results
Rio Tinto's goal is to eliminate new cases of occupational illness. The target is to achieve a 40 per cent reduction in the number of new cases by 2008. Success requires ongoing commitment to sound processes for the assessment and management of health risks and compliance with regulatory or internal standards, whichever is stricter.
People vary greatly in their sensitivity to workplace conditions; some may develop an illness at very low exposures, most only after high exposures. Hence, protection against new cases of occupational illness requires both understanding and control of workplace exposures and detection of the more sensitive worker, often by periodic health monitoring. Our reporting focuses on three main areas:
- New cases of occupational illness. There were 168 new cases of occupational illness in 2005, equating to a rate of 54 new cases per 10,000 employees.
- Exposures in the workplace, such as noise, dust and radiation, provide a leading indicator of whether operations are being managed to prevent new cases of occupational illness. Higher rates of workplace exposures have been reported in the last two years. This is most likely a result of increased monitoring of workplace conditions, as required by the occupational health standards.
- Management systems for occupational health.
There were fines from two operations, totalling US$58,100 for infringement of occupational health regulations reported in 2005. The majority of this total (US$57,200) resulted from completion of proceedings related to the contamination of potable water at the Ranger operation that occurred in 2004.
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