Challenges Faced by Mining Organisations in Implementing Digital Solutions for Improving OSH Compliance

Abstract

The study aimed to identify key challenges faced by mining organizations in implementing digital solutions for improving OSH compliance. This study deployed a mixed-methods approach with a crossectional survey desing in which case data were collected across the randomly selected major mines from different sources. Primary data were collected using online surveys from 198 top managemnt and 586 employees who were proportionately randomly selected, and semi-structured interviews with 20 key informants. Secondary data were collected from official documents and previous studies. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in term of composite means scores, and Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) method. All statistics and plots were generated by R version 4.3.2. Qualitative data were analysed using the thematic analysis methods following the The Braun and Clarke (2006) six stages.

The study found that challenges including the lack of employee digital skills, and the lack of OSH subcommittees, cut across all major mines regardless of the digital implementation maturity level. The other two challenges namely financial constraints and lack of commitment are highly associated with major mines with low and medium digital implementation maturity.

However, the challenge of financial constraints, the lack of commitment, and technical limitations affect adoption decisions mainly at the entry and early phases of digital implementation. However, the lack of employee digital skills and OSH subcommittees jeopardize the potentiality of digital tools. These two challenges seem to affect the usage of digital tools, and the overall involvement of the workers in a more decentralized manner.