The origins of safety culture in coalmining: "top-down" versus "bottom-up"

Abstract

This article examines the origins of safety culture through an Australian coal mining company. Five mine sites demonstrated substantial and persistent differences in their OHS performance. Several characteristics of these sites are identified as being associated with the formation of a "bottom-up" safety culture. These findings have significant implications for the implementation of "top-down" corporate OHS initiatives, and may be relevant to other industries that share similar characteristics.