Rio Tinto temporarily suspends operations at its Gove bauxite mine for safety concerns

According to a recent report, the Anglo-Australian mining corporation, Rio Tinto, has temporarily suspended the operation at its Gove Operations bauxite mine last week after Electrical Trades Union (ETU) delegates discovered improper lighting condition at the ship loading facility.

ETU Northern Territory organiser David Hayes said that on investigation they found inadequate lighting throughout the whole area and that was the reason why they asked Rio Tinto to stop loading the ship until the installation of new lightings.

"It's absolutely extreme that we would have to go there with a company like Rio Tinto, who is a massive multinational organisation, who would put their workers in a high-risk work environment, and have them trudging around with no lights on, or very little lighting," commented David Hayes.

Earlier, in May, workers and union officials at the site had reported that the company was cutting corners with safety in order to meet increasingly arduous production targets. They had also said that although the production levels over the past two years increased by 35 per cent, the size of the workforce remained largely unchanged.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union’s NT organiser Lloyd Pumpa said union members had been reporting about the steady safety decline at Gove Operations.

However, the company said in a statement: "Safety is Rio Tinto's first priority, "while adding that "all of our people are authorised to stop work when they see unsafe practices."

A spokesman said Rio Tinto temporarily stopped its operation on June 12 so that it could undertake works to improve lighting within a stairwell near essential production infrastructure.

Copyright and Exemption Declaration :¢ÙAll articles, pictures and videos that are marked with "China Aluminum Network" on this website are copyright and belong to China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn). When transshipment, any media, website or individual must list the source from "China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn)". We seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÚArticles that marked as copy from others are for transferring more information to readers, do not represent or endorse their opinions or accuracy and reliability. When other media, website or individuals copy from our website, must keep the source. Anyone that changes the articles' sources will hold the responsibilities for copyright and law problems. We also seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÛIf any articles copied by our website concern the copyright and other problems, please contact us within one week.