Implementation of the occupational health standards requires the recognition and control of workplace conditions and medical monitoring. Implementation of the standards commenced at the end of 2002 and since then we have seen improvements in both monitoring and reporting; however, this is still variable across the Group. We expected that this increased awareness of occupational health may, in the short term, increase the recorded numbers of new cases of occupational disease and lead to an apparent deterioration in reported workplace exposures and this has been evident in 2003. We are targeting full compliance with the occupational health standards by the end of 2004. Auditing against the standards is planned to commence in early 2005.

In the 2002 S&E review, ICF Consulting found that 'Operations are not consistent in the way they are reporting occupational health incidents, such as noise induced hearing loss. As a result, within the performance section of the 2002 S&E review these "significant" health incidents are not consistently reported and discussed as "incidents", although they are included in the tabulation of new cases of occupational disease'. At this stage, the most relevant performance indicators for occupational health are those described here: new cases of occupational disease and exposures in the workplace. Therefore, due to the data quality issues raised, and because they are not currently key performance indicators for Rio Tinto, occupational health "incidents" as referred to by ICF have not been reported in this 2003 S&E review.