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Mining Publication: Assessing the Safety Culture of Underground Coal Mining: Results and Recommendations
Keywords: Safety culture
This page is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being maintained or updated.
Original creation date: February 2014
Authors: C Kosmoski
Conference Paper - February 2014
Download PDF Document (0.41 MB)
NIOSHTIC2 Number: 20045053
2014 SME Annual Meeting, February 23 - 26, Salt Lake City, Utah, Preprint 14-029. Englewood, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2014 Feb; :1-14
In recent years, coal mining safety has attained national attention due to several highly publicized disasters. Despite these threats to worker safety and health, the U.S. relies on the mining of coal to meet its need for electrical power, with 42% of electricity in the U.S. generated through the burning of coal. (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2012b; United Mine Workers of America, n.d.). Furthermore, the production of coal continues to increase and reach record levels every year (National Mining Association, 2012; U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2012a). For this reason, the coal mining industry must continue to find ways to protect its workers while maintaining productivity.
One potential approach to protecting workers while maintaining productivity is through improving the safety culture at coal mines. In order to achieve this culture, operators, employees, the inspectorate, etc. must share a fundamental commitment to safety as a value. This type of culture is known in other industries as a "safety culture," and can be defined as the characteristics of the work environment (such as the norms, rules, and common understandings) that influence facility personnel’s perceptions of the importance that the organization places on safety.
Fundamental to improving safety culture within an organization is understanding the existing safety culture; improvements cannot be made without first elucidating areas that require improvement. This manuscript details the process undertaken by researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) to assess the safety culture at five underground coal mines across the United States. The purpose of this manuscript is to present the aggregated results from those five safety culture assessments conducted at underground coal mines. Additionally, some general recommendations for areas where coal mines might focus their attention as part of their attempts to improve safety culture are offered.
An image of the first page of the conference paper.Conference Paper - February 2014
Download PDF Document (0.41 MB)
NIOSHTIC2 Number: 20045053
2014 SME Annual Meeting, February 23 - 26, Salt Lake City, Utah, Preprint 14-029. Englewood, CO: Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc., 2014 Feb; :1-14
See Also
An Analysis of Trainers' Perspectives within an Ecological Framework: Factors that Influence Mine Safety Training Processes
Assessing the Safety Culture of Coal Mining
Identifying, Assessing, and Analyzing Data to Improve Miners' Health
Safety Culture Assessment in Underground Coal Mining
Utilizing a Human-Centered Design Approach for Mine Automation
Page last reviewed: August 18, 2015
Page last updated: August 18, 2015
Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Program
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