Rio Tinto on human tragedy Covid-19
Rio Tinto chief executive J S Jacques said “Covid-19 is a human tragedy and we all have to play our part as the pandemic spreads. Rio Tinto’s first priority remains the health and safety of all of our employees and communities. During these uncertain times, we continue to deliver products to our customers supported by our global sales and marketing teams.
“We have taken extensive measures across the business to help protect our people and communities, and have increased these as the pandemic spreads, in line with guidance or directives from governments and advice from international health organisations on best practice.
“At this point in time, most of our assets continue to operate, with health and safety as a first priority, and I am proud of the way our employees have raised to the challenge to keep themselves, their colleagues and communities safe.
There are many examples of our operational teams continuing to run their businesses as they provide support to local communities, from manufacturing hand sanitiser, to giving protective equipment to hospitals and funding local community response initiatives. In order to support global grassroots community Covid-19 preparedness and recovery, we are pledging a further $25 million. This takes our total estimated voluntary global community contributions to around $60 million for 2020.
“For us the focus is to maintain a business as usual approach with many safeguards, at a very unusual time. We are not at all complacent. Safety and health comes first as we keep delivering for our customers, our host governments and communities”.
