What drives SAFEmap’s services from a psychological standpoint?

Our philosophy is that a company’s culture has a greater influence on safety than its system. Culture is a constantly changing dynamic that exists in people’s perceptions and behaviors. To measure culture, we use an anonymous survey with a forced choice technique, which often reveals surprising insights for organizations.

What are some of the major safety concerns in deep underground coal mining?

Coal miners face more risks, hazards, and dangers than other underground miners due to the environment’s volatility, such as rock falls and roof collapses. Methane and dust hazards also lead to greater risk tolerance. The risks of underground mining equipment such as continuous miners with shuttle cars require appropriate rock engineering and pillar sizes. However, introducing proximity alert systems may lead to overconfidence and more significant risks.

How can an organization change its safety culture?

Leadership’s vision of safety is crucial to a culture of safety, and it must be shared with everyone in the organization. We often find that employees perceive their company’s safety goals differently from their actual intentions. Creating a safety culture requires understanding and addressing employees’ perceptions and beliefs.

What is the role of discipline in safety?

Discipline should be reserved for willful risk-taking behavior, not unintentional mistakes caused by cognitive errors. Safety programs that overly constrain business through prescriptive task procedures may limit innovation and performance improvement. Balancing risk-taking behavior and compliance is a significant philosophical difference with most safety philosophies, which tend to focus on risk avoidance.

How will automation impact safety?

Automation and artificial intelligence can reduce exposure to risk, but they cannot replace moral decision-making. Complex technology creates new risks and vulnerabilities, and in the long term, the concept of tight coupling could lead to catastrophic events.