Behavioural Approaches to Safety Management in Underground Mines

Mine accidents and injuries are complex and generally characterized by several factors starting from personal to technical, and technical to social characteristics. This paper is therefore sought to examine the role of behavioral factors on the occurrence of mine accidents and injuries through a case study. Data were collected from two neighboring underground coal mines operating under a large public sector organization of Inner Mongolia. High-low plots and t-test were done to explore the differences between behavioral characteristics of accident involved and noninvolved workers. How these differences could cause accidents/injuries in mines was estimated through structural equation modeling. The case study results show that accident group of workers are more job dissatisfied, negatively affected, and highly risk taking compared to the non-accident group of workers. Apart from direct influences to work injuries, negative emotions and job dissatisfaction make workers to take more risks and behave unsafely.