Thematic analysis of key recommendations from commissioned occupational Health and Safety Reports in mining

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to review the commissioned occupational health and safety (OHS) reports in mining, over the past 50 years, in a two-step approach. The objective of the initial phase was to determine if there were any recommendations that were stated in more than one of the evaluated commissioned reports, that spanned the 50-year timeframe. The reports were selected through a review of the literature and in consultation with experts in OHS and mining. A multi-stage analysis was conducted on the recommendations, and identified 6 overlapping themes, and 49 sets of specific overlaps. In the second phase, a seeded analysis using a qualitative data analysis software, was completed to understand how safety culture was discussed in the reports. This was accomplished by completing a review of the literature to define safety culture, and to build the dictionary, which was seeded into the software. The analysis highlighted the use of various terms for safety culture throughout the 50-year history, with a particular emphasis on the fact that the term safety culture was not directly referenced in the selected reports until 1997. Keywords: Mining; Occupational Health and Safety; Accident Investigation; Commission Recommendations; Leximancer;