SAFETY CULTURE AND HIGH RELIABILITY ORGANIZATIONS: CONVERGENT APPROACHES FOR SMARTER MINE SAFETY MANAGEMENT

摘要

Mining is an important contributor to the social and economic fabric of many developed and developing countries. However, it continues to be regarded as one of the most hazardous because of the industry's inability to achieve zero harm or sustain high levels of safety performance. In add, fatalities and serious incidents in the industry continue to be attributed to the same factors, suggesting that the sector is failing to learn lessons from the past, or on emerging theory on organizational performance. More innovative solutions are required. Since the 1980s safety culture and high reliability organizational approaches have been part of the safety management arena, but which have yet to be seriously embraced by many mining companies. This paper reviews and synthesizes published literature on these strategies, with the aim of identifying opportunities they provide for smarter mine safety management.