Corporate OSH management architecture in the Australian coal mining industry

Abstract

AbstractManaging occupational safety and health is a substantial challenge for the Australian coal mining industry. Since the 1990s, the industry has made considerable efforts to improve its occupational safety and health performance, and the rates of fatal and other reportable injuries have declined. This decline in fatalities and injuries coincides with the development by mining companies of a variety of instruments, mechanisms and strategies that in combination form their ‘occupational safety and health management architecture’. Based on both qualitative and quantitative data, this paper examines the corporate safety architecture of five Australian coal mining companies. A key finding was the high degree of convergence of corporate safety tools and strategies to the extent that, ultimately, all five companies had a common architecture. This involved: agenda setting; systems, standards, rules and procedures; core arrangements (occupational safety and health risk management, investigation, major hazards ...