Rio Tinto has pledged to sharpen its focus on critical safety controls following the deaths of three workers across its global operations over the past year.
Speaking at the company’s 2026 annual general meeting, Rio Tinto chief executive Simon Trott said the fatalities showed the miner was “not where [it needed] to be on safety”, describing safety as the foundation of the business.
The fatalities occurred at Simandou in Guinea and Kennecott in the US between August 2025 and March 2026.
“As a leadership team, we are focused on understanding what happened, learning the lessons and being clear about what must change,” Trott said.
“We are renewing our focus on the critical controls for safety risks in our business, so they are clearly understood, consistently applied, and personally owned by all of us as leaders.
“… we will do everything in our power to prevent harm and protect our people, whose incredible capability and expertise drive this business forward.”
Rio Tinto chair Dominic Barton also addressed the fatalities, speaking about Mohamed Camara, who died at Simandou in August, and Brian Cameli, who died at Kennecott in March. A second worker who died at Simandou in February was not named at the request of the worker’s family.
“As a board and as a business – we have a clear focus and an accountability: fatalities must be eliminated and everyone must go home safe, every day,” Barton said.
Barton added that safety and productivity must operate together, with the company focused on creating workplaces where employees can “contribute and perform at their best”.
The comments came as Rio Tinto outlined broader efforts to simplify operations and improve execution across the business.
Trott said the company was embedding “stronger, sharper and simpler” ways of working, including clearer priorities, more disciplined execution, faster decision-making, and less complexity.
The safety remarks formed a key part of Rio Tinto’s AGM addresses, alongside updates on major projects including Simandou, Oyu Tolgoi and lithium operations in Argentina, as well as the company’s long-term production growth strategy.
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