Numerous allegations of sexual assaults on Western Australian mine sites this year has dominated local headlines and led to a government inquiry.

New BHP Nickel West asset president Jessica Farrell said she believed all mining leaders were "deeply upset" about the issue.

Fortescue Metals Group CEO Elizabeth Gaines said the issue impacted workplace culture and trust.

FMG has launched a workplace integrity review, which will survey its fly-in, fly-out workforce in an effort to improve safety on sites.

"I don't think it works very well to sit in Perth and tell people who work FIFO in the Pilbara that we know the answers," Gaines said.

Newmont Australia senior vice president Alex Bates said the mining sector could not hide from the issue.

"If we see that thread dangling, we absolutely need to yank it and find out what's underneath," he said.

Bates pointed to statistics that showed that many cases of sexual harassment and assault went unreported, meaning the real figures in the mining sector were likely much worse than recorded.

He said he ideally would want to recommend a career in the mining industry to any female in his family.

"I'm not convinced that's the case at the moment and that's personally disappointing and shameful."

Newmont has stamped out terms like "manpower" and "manned trucks" to make workplaces more inclusive to women.

Gaines said she had watched how the AFL had dealt with instances of racism with interest.

"It's not enough to say you're not a racist - you have to be anti-racist," she said.

"It's the same with sexual harassment."

Gaines also urged more people to speak up if they saw instances of harassment in the workplace.

"There needs to be a broad groundswell of people saying ‘that's not acceptable'," she said.

Farrell said changing and evolving workplace training could help, but urged the sector to collaborate.

"It's a safety issue and safety is non-competitive so we need to work together," she said.

Rio Tinto Australia managing director Kellie Parker said the company had been conducting "listening sessions" with staff in seven different languages.

Parker was appointed to her role earlier this year with the main objective of rebuilding Rio's reputation following the Juukan Gorge blast last year, another issue which had a "seismic" impact on the industry.

"We broke that trust last year," she said.

"There are excellent people who work for Rio Tinto and they were thrust into an awful situation last year.

"We caused deep hurt and shame - and I felt that shame last year."

Parker said the key to rebuilding Rio's reputation with workers and its external stakeholders was listening and making the time to check in with people.

"When people are proud to put on the uniform again, that will be a reason to celebrate," she said.

Farrell said a current pressing leadership issue at BHP was the topic of mandatory vaccination.

In July, 700 workers at Newmont's Tanami mine in the Northern Territory were locked down on site for two weeks after a positive COVID-19 case.

"We've taken some really detailed learnings from Newmont," Farrell said.

BHP is weighing up mandatory vaccination and has not made a final decision on the issue.

Farrell said the leadership team had different views, but were working through the issue and receiving health advice.

"The one thing we're clear on is that the safety and health of our workforce is paramount," she said.

"This isn't something there's a textbook on, managing a global pandemic."