Like mother, like son

A mother-and-son duo are among eight Rio Tinto workers from the Pilbara to be recognised for their long-term volunteering efforts in the organisation’s emergency response team.

Hayden and Donna Pollard, pictured, were acknowledged at a ceremony last month celebrating members of the mining company that had completed either five or 10 years of volunteering.

The awards night, held last month at the Frank Butler Community Centre in Bulgarra, commemorated the hard work and commitment by Rio Tinto Emergency service officers and the work they provide to the community.

Eight people received the long-service awards, acknowledging members who had reached five and 10 years as part of the team.

Mrs Pollard said she joined the emergency response team 10 years ago.

“The main reason I joined up was to provide a service that could help the crew if anyone got hurt,” she said.

“The awards are only new; we have some good ESOs on site, some good leaders on site and new ERT members that are putting some care-factor into what we do.”

Mr Pollard said he was inspired to join the team after seeing the value and skills his mother took from it.

“I wanted it for the skill sets I could take out of work for my day-to-day life,” he said.

“I thought I could use that with mates, and I’ve been with it for five years now and got some really good knowledge out of it.”

Mr Pollard said the skills he had learned included rope rescue and medical training.

“They gave us the opportunity to sit through a certificate IV course on pre-hospital care; those skill sets we got out of that you can use every day,” he said.