Interpreting MSHA Citations Through the Lens of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems: Investigating Their Impact on Mine Injuries and Illnesses 2003–2010

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, the U.S. Department of Labor has considered regulating a systems approach to occupational health and safety management. Recently, a health and safety management systems (HSMS) standard has returned to the regulatory agenda of both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Because a mandated standard has implications for both industry and regulating bodies alike, it is imperative to gain a greater understanding of the potential effects that an HSMS regulatory approach can have on establishment-level injuries and illnesses. Through the lens of MSHA's regulatory framework, we first explore how current enforcement activities align with HSMS elements. Using MSHA data for the years 2003-2010, we then analyze the relationship between various types of enforcement activities (e.g., total number of citations, total penalty amount, and HSMS-aligned citations) and mine reportable injuries. Our findings show that the reduction in mine reportable injuries predicted by increases in MSHA enforcement ranges from negligible to 18%. The results suggest that the type and focus of the enforcement activity may be more important for accident reduction than the total number of citations issued and the associated penalty amount.

Examining Factors that Influence the Existence of Heinrich's Safety Triangle Using Site‐Specific H&S Data from More than 25,000 Establishments

“…Previous ratio research has not explicitly included a consideration of generalizability in relation to organizational size. Consistent with previous studies that model the impact of predictor variables on OSH incidents over time, (1,15,26) it appears relevant to include a multiple logistic regression model that controls for the consideration that an increased number of hours worked during the year at a given establishment can influence the probability for a fatal event to occur within the same establishment. However, given that mine size is also likely to influence the lower severity OSH incident predictors (perhaps unequally), its inclusion as a control could act as a suppressor variable and impact the ability to adequately interpret their relative effects.…”

“…As a result, each OSH incident in the AII database was classified as: (1) a fatality; (2) an injury that resulted in a permanent disability; (3) an injury that resulted in lost and/or restricted days (herein referred to as a days lost injury); (4) an injury that resulted in medical treatment beyond first aid, but did not result in death, days away, or restricted duty/job transfer (herein referred to as a reportable injury); and (5) a reportable incident that did not result in an injury (herein referred to as a reportable noninjury). 1 Dummy variables were created for each of the degree categories and each reported OSH incident was then coded within the AII database. We also reserved the variables pertaining to lost and restricted days per incident for subsequent analysis related to research question number 3.…”

“…Although effective interventions are most often context specific and unique to a given process, technology, and organization of work, at the organizational level they are increasingly seen to fit into a generalized management system designed to identify, assess, and control idiosyncratic risk. (1) A prominent component to the unique derivation and ongoing management of health and safety management systems is the use of historical OSH incident data to identify and assess the risks for which interventions need to be tailored or altered.…”

Looking ahead to significant improvements in mining safety and health through innovative research and effective diffusion into the industry

“…Research is required to identify technology enablers that inspectors could use to help them succeed fully, and research is needed improve inspection protocols. Another productive line of inquiry would be to examine MSHA's ''investment'' in a mix of enforcement activities, using similar methods to those for examining the value of a company's investment in a mix of safety and health activities (for example, see [4]). Do each of their enforcement activities yield a measurable benefit, or are some activities more directly correlated with positive safety and health gains?…”

Imminent danger: Characterizing uncertainty in critically hazardous mining situations

“…Previous research has shown that analyzing MSHA citations can offer insight into practices that companies and their health and safety leadership can use to improve mineworker health and safety (Yorio, Willmer and Haight, 2014). In their study, Yorio, Willmer and Haight analyzed MSHA citations through a health and safety management system lens to determine the impact on subsequent-year mine-level injuries and illnesses.…”