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.
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