23 / 2020-03-01 03:29:29

Analysis of emotional intelligence and safety-specific transformational leadership in Health and Safety (H&S) management systems of mining organizations

safety training,emotional intelligence,transformational leadership,health and safety management,behavior-based safety

Mining is considered a high-risk industry in terms of health and safety. A majority of mine operations in Canada are located in remote regions where employees regularly work on fly-in and fly-out schedules. Because of the extreme conditions of the subarctic environment, coupled with long working hours, ongoing organizational change, and competitive mining industry, many employees face personal challenges that undermine their health and safety performance on-site, such as stress, anxiety, social isolation, and more. The effects of psychological and psychosocial factors on Health and Safety (H&S) management systems in mining organizations have been thoroughly investigated and reported in the literature. Mining companies in Canada place greater emphasis on the well-being of their employees, seeing them as key assets for sustainable mineral resource production. One of the most widely used H&S management system in mine operations is Behavior-Based Safety (BBS), which is an interdependent process of evaluating and identifying activities that could potentially lead to accidents causing injury and death on sites. A useful application of the BBS process is seen in the transportation of mined material, where road conditions, equipment, and driver’s fatigue are evaluated thoroughly beforehand. The BBS process requires an interaction between employees trained to conduct on-site safety reviews and mine operators. Alt-hough BBS processes have been proven to be highly efficient in managing external mining environments, such as geotechnical stability, reliable use of equipment, and the physical health of operators, human errors continue to occur due to intrinsic psychological and psychosocial factors that majorly influence employees’ H&S-related attitudes and behaviors. It has been shown that emotional intelligence and transformational leadership complement the BBS process and other H&S management systems in high-risk industries, for instance, petroleum and construction, considerably. Emotional intelligence is a set of psychological and psychosocial competencies, e.g. self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and interpersonal skills, allowing one to manage a high-level of stress and actively care for others’ safety. These competencies can help mine employees increase their physical and mental awareness before undertaking a task, objectively follow technical procedures, effectively communicate safety principles to others, and respond mindfully to emergencies, particularly in the event of fire hazards. Safety-specific transformational leadership is a set of competencies such as excellent interpersonal skills, deep-rooted safety values, and a pro-active safety attitude that can all potentially strengthen the overall mine safety culture. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the importance of the competencies of emotional intelligence and transformational leadership, adapted to H&S management systems in mine operations. Relevant safety-engineering practices in mining will be discussed as examples of how these newly acquired skills and competencies can be integrated. In this research, several accident reports in mining industries are investigated to analyze human factor including emotional intelligence and safety-specific transformational leadership.