Lean Mining, Productivity and Occupational Health and Safety: An Expert-Elicitation Study

Ali Nemati,Sylvie Nadeau,Barthélémy Ateme-Nguema

doi:10.4236/ajibm.2019.911134

Abstract

The implementation of lean tools in the Canadian mining industry is still in its beginnings. To the best of our knowledge, published information and articles on this subject are scarce. Consequently, the impacts of using lean tools on productivity and workers’ health and safety in this field are still unclear and need more investigations to better integrate the technical aspects of lean with Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). Therefore, this study aims to provide insights about lean mining in Canada. The objective of this paper is to propose a preliminary road-map for lean implementation considering OHS concerns in Canadian underground gold-mining. To meet this objective, a set of lean tools (i.e. VSM, 5S, Kaizen, TPM, SMED and LIC) as independent variable, and OHS indicators (i.e. “struck by an object” and “body reaction” risks) and an economic indicator (i.e. daily advance rate) as dependent variable were selected. An expert-elicitation study was conducted recruiting 7 experts from academia and practitioners active in the mining sector. Results show that the majority of experts agreed on a possible positive impact on a mine’s daily advance rate after implementing 5S and TPM, and a reduction of the risk rate of “struck by object” among workers by implementing Kaizen.

Highlights

Lean manufacturing is originating from Toyota Motor Company
Bhamu et al (2014) [5] and Hodge et al (2011) [7] summarize that tools such as five S (5S), Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Kaïzen, Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) were mostly used and cited in the literature to implement lean in the manufacturing sector
By conducting an expert-elicitation study with 7 Canadian experts, a preliminary road-map was created to show the possible links between lean mining and productivity and workers’ safety in Canadian underground gold mining

Summary

Introduction

In the past three decades, many companies from different sectors have tried to implement lean management into their production platforms after witnessing the major success of lean at Toyota (Flynn et al, 2015; Bhamu et al, 2014) [4] [5]. To this effect, companies around the world and from various industrial sectors started using different tools to implement lean and eliminate or reduce seven stages of waste in their daily activities (Sternberg et al, 2012) [6]. Bhamu et al (2014) [5] and Hodge et al (2011) [7] summarize that tools such as five S (5S), Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Kaïzen, Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) were mostly used and cited in the literature to implement lean in the manufacturing sector

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion