Safety Culture in Mining - My article posted on Novamining blog

Events of the last weeks have shown that mining accidents have an uncanny ability to return. Thus far Chinese mines were the ones to receive notorious distinction in terms of the number of fatalities. More than 2000 deaths were reported in the last year, and these numbers are expected to be higher given the kind of control government agencies have on the local newspapers. The last month’s event of 153 miners trapped in flooded workings didn’t help the image of the Chinese mines, even though more than a hundred were saved and the local media went on to describe the incident as a miracle rather than a disaster. It was indeed miraculous that miners trapped underground in flooded shaft were rescued, but it was nonetheless a disaster of significant magnitude, which took lives of more than 25 people. However, more alarming was the news of explosion in the US coal mine killing 29 miners. When it comes to discussing mine accidents in the US, it is generally taken to be something that happens only in the underdeveloped countries. This accident in the Upper Big Branch mine is likely to change that assumption.

Now whether economics played a role in compromising on safety standards at this mine can be established only after a thorough investigation. If it did, then that certainly is criminal. Fatalities in mines are not about statistics, there are people and their families behind. Hence, an intentional compromise to save a few dollars has to be treated strictly.

Going back to the issue of safety in mines, it can be concluded that leadership team is ultimately responsible for provision of systems and processes, as also encouragement to safety culture in an organization. Strong and consistent leadership – one that means and does safe working and zero fatalities – can create continuous improvement in safety procedures and lead to fatality-free production.

Investigations in mine accidents have time and again proven that complacency built on the past success in arresting rise mine accidents are one of the key reasons that can create blind spots for management. The leadership and management team need to maintain a sense of vulnerability at the mine workings. Best practices in safety management need to be adopted whole-heartedly rather than scornfully as waste of time and effort. Safety culture needs to be imbibed with every member of the organization working towards elimination of fatalities. Safety needs to be the top priority. People need to be trained to have an eye for spotting unsafe practices and rebuke behaviours even bordering on such practices.

Generally accepted elements of safety risk management in mining are:

1. Strategic vision
2. Risk identification
3. Analysis and evaluation
4. Mitigation mechanisms
5. Communication
6. Review and improvement

Strategic vision is set by the leadership team to establish priorities for safety and following up with appointing right people for the jobs – those who have capability, skills and attitude for working and working safely. Risk identification is the process of keeping an eye for practices and behaviours that may compromise on safety, and then classify them appropriately for analysis and evaluation. Analysis and evaluation have to lead to the reasons for such practices and behaviours, their frequency of occurrence, and impacts. Then the mitigation mechanisms need to be derived, which may involve process re-design and re-engineering. These elements then need to be communicated to all stakeholders for their information, comments, feedback and acceptance. Upon implementation of the measures, the processes need to be reviewed and improved continuously. It may be noted here that the elements of safety form a continuum and are not just one time affair. The adoption of safety culture essentially means doing these elements of safety again and again without taking a pause, even when fatalities have been eliminated for years.

Trust the leaders in the mining industry will heed to call for safety and the sector will not have fatalities when there is so much need for growth.