The goal is safety for all

A convoy of exploration vehicles going to a diamond exploration site in India was stopped by police. They were responding to reports from villagers that the occupants of the cars and trucks were being held against their will. The occupants were in fact merely wearing shoulder restraint seatbelts.

So while wearing seatbelts may be a critical everyday safety standard at Rio Tinto, in some places it is an unknown practice.

Rio Tinto sets high standards for safety. There are no exceptions, wherever it operates. Moreover, everyone is involved. There are regular audits by experts from other Group businesses or external agencies, and "stretch" targets for improvement are set at the start of a project, based on background factors such as similar projects elsewhere in the Group or the results that local contractors have achieved previously in the area.

This was true for Rio Tinto's ilmenite project, which started construction in 2006 in Madagascar, a country lacking development, infrastructure and precedents for industrial safety. Rio Tinto's commitment to Madagascar is to buy local supplies, employ local labour, spread opportunities, provide skills training and develop the infrastructure. All of this has to be achieved while still introducing and adhering to world class safety standards.

Employees are sourced from local communities. Project managers then select and grade candidates for employment based on their abilities, and ensure their medical fitness and capability to work. New employees are introduced to personal protective equipment and are instructed how to use it. Key messages about the need for self discipline in the workplace, the importance of following instructions and working as part of a team are impressed upon them, as is Rio Tinto's policy of zero tolerance of drugs or alcohol in the workplace.

Supervisor training includes embedding leadership skills and responsibility, risk assessments and the right to refuse to do a task if it is seen as not safe. "Safety is the best way to maximise an employee's contribution through improved communication and mutual understanding," says Chris Beaumont, general manager of construction.

Borrowing a practice successfully used at Richards Bay Minerals in South Africa, another ilmenite producer in the Group, safety is reinforced by means of industrial theatre. Performers enact simple messages in the employees' own language, using local humour to get the safety messages across.

Management, for its part, "walks the talk", getting out in the workplace, talking to people, recognising and rewarding safe behaviour, and discussing and correcting unsafe practices.

Contractors on the construction site have shown themselves to be eager to participate in cultivating safe practices. They see the advantages and are willing to change the way safety is handled in their own organisation, setting new standards as an example to others.

Andrew Mackenzie, chief executive Industrial Minerals, who also has a safety role on the executive committee, says industry needs to believe that people can work in an injury free environment regardless of the task or location and to convince society of this. "Safety is Rio Tinto's highest value", he says. "It builds teams that compete and win in business. It is a pathway to better health. And demonstrating its benefits to the outside world is one of the privileges of working with a large international company.

"Pockets of safety excellence are created, and these then spread and join up - first employees, then contractors, then society at large. We cannot be safe without making the world safe," he says.

Chris Beaumont adds that to achieve zero injuries in the workplace "we need to have a greater influence on society. In Madagascar, for example, we are working with local police, demonstrating training and equipment, and are going to schools to provide information sessions on safety."