Safety is paramount concern for giant mining firm BHP Billiton Ltd and more so in ensuring that people working on the company's project sites are kept from being harmed.

This has been emphasised by BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser during the resource company's annual general meeting on Tuesday, where he also admitted that the five fatalities that occurred on BHP's mining sites in Australia and under his watch were simply not acceptable.

While not exactly proud of the company's dismal safety results for the past year, Mr Nasser firmly assured his audience that BHP is wholly committed in improving the current state of its safety track record.

He also emphasised that safety is one of BHP's fundamental values as he expressed regret that despite the seeming improvements undertaken by the company in the area of safety precautions, "the fact that five people lost their lives while working for us in the last year is simply unacceptable."

Mr Nasser added that workers' safety is very important for BHP and its strict observance is duly integrated into the workplace system of the company.

However, Unions WA Secretary Simone McGurk is still hoping, despite the assertions made by BHP on its safety precautionary measures, that the mining giant would do more beyond lip service.

Aside from admitting that deaths within the realm of its workplace, Mr McGurk said that labour unions have yet to see concrete modifications on BHP's safety policies and actions, which should at least convince workers that the resource firm is bent on making its employees feel some semblance of comfort while on-duty on its numerous project sites.

Mr McGurk suggested that BHP needs to adopt practical measures that encourage its workers to come forward and boldly raise issues of safety concerns when warranted with the attending assurance that "people are not going to be unfairly dealt with by management if they stick their head up and raise unpopular issues in the workplace."