Behavior-Based Safety in a Coal Mine: The Relationship Between Observations, Participation, and Injuries Over a 14-Year Period

ABSTRACT

Safety is an important topic in the inherently dangerous mining industry. The creation of a behavior-based safety program and improved employee-management relationships reduced incident rates by 50%. The safety program focused on employee observations and oversight from steering committees. This case study suggests that participation rates of 30% could produce mine-wide safety improvement and considers possible explanations in the context of current literature and anecdotal reports.

KEYWORDS:

• Behavior-based safety
• incident rates
• observations
• union