People

We attract and retain skilled people, ensure their wellbeing and work to be a valued employer, neighbour and partner, and publish a Health, Safety, Environment and Communities policy.

Our commitment to health and safety

At Rio Tinto Aluminium we are committed to protecting our people from harm and seek to eliminate hazards, incidents and injuries from the workplace.

Rio Tinto Aluminium engages employees about health and safety to create a workplace culture where employees believe all incidents and injuries are preventable. Behavioural observations and regular discussions at safety or 'toolbox' meetings are used to promote safe practices.

Site-based safety committees and a Rio Tinto Aluminium safety executive committee work to improve safety performance by raising safety awareness, improving safety skills through training, and implementing systems that assess the risk of situations and operational hazards.

Our long term health improvement strategy focuses on eliminating occupational illness by reducing workplace exposure.

Our managed operations identify health risks and implement programmes that address these risks. We have programmes in place to reduce manual handling exposures and work continues to remove work related occupation hazards. The Wellness Programme across Rio Tinto Aluminium operations enables employees and contractors to assess and manage their individual lifestyle related health risks.

Our commitment to communities

We aim to develop lasting, mutually beneficial partnerships with all our local communities around the world.

We believe it is important that our communities understand the business and can participate in an open, honest dialogue. To understand community expectations we consult with regional and local stakeholders, conduct research and form partnerships where appropriate.
Our operations have established community relations programmes to ensure that ongoing business priorities remain relevant and consistent with those of the communities within which we operate.

As part of our community relations programmes, we support projects and activities that contribute to the long term sustainability of communities. The programmes cover areas such as infrastructure, education, recreation, biodiversity/environment and healthcare.

Partnering with other organisations can deliver long term benefits to our host communities and help us to strengthen relationships critical to the sustainability of the business.

Our commitment to employees

Currently, Rio Tinto Alcan employs approximately 73,000 people, including the joint ventures.

Attracting and retaining employees in today's labour market is difficult as the minerals metals industry is extremely competitive. To reduce turnover at our operations, we closely monitor and analyse data collected in employee surveys and exit interviews and review remuneration to ensure we remain attractive and competitive.

We also invest significant time and effort into recruiting graduates, trainees and apprentices by attending career forums, advertising nationally and internationally for available positions and participating in other initiatives to attract potential employees, such as scholarships and vacation employment.