Culture: The Missing Control in Mining’s Safety Equation?
Mining operations are among the most complex in the world, facing challenges such as remote environments, underground working and human machine interface. The Mining sector is constantly looking for ways to make their operations safer every system, sensor and safety barrier is designed to prevent harm. However, for the second consecutive year fatalities among International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) member companies continued an upward trend, in 2024, 42 fatalities were reported, compared with 36 in 2023 and 33 in 2022.
The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), in its report Fatality Prevention: Eight Lessons Learned, identifies a critical truth: technology alone will not deliver zero harm. The next step change in safety performance will come from the one factor too often overlooked, organisational and industry culture.
Beyond Counting Incidents
The report reveals that while the industry has achieved major reductions in injuries, fatality rates have plateaued. On page 9 of the report, ICMM urges leaders to rethink what is being measured. Safety data, it argues, must go beyond technical compliance to include proactive indicators of culture and behaviour.
The logic is simple. If we only measure what happens after something goes wrong, we remain reactive. Understanding why people make the choices they do, what drives trust, communication and accountability, gives organisations the insight to prevent incidents before they happen. Measuring work culture related safety factors needs to become a shared industry sector commitment and a catalyst for change.
Leadership is the Leverage Point
The ICMM makes a clear distinction between authority and leadership. On page 9 of the report, it calls for values-based leadership where leaders understand their own principles, act with integrity and connect emotionally with their teams.
This is where the shift must happen. Supervisors and managers are the daily face of safety culture, they are the role models the cultural architects When their behaviour reflects authenticity and consistency, trust takes root. When mixed messages appear and production and safety compete, alignment can break down. The key message is unmistakable: visible and felt leadership cannot be separated from safety performance.
Safety Culture as a Control, not a Campaign
Safety Culture is “the way we do things around here” based on common values and behaviours that influence how people act in relation to compliance, risk and safety.
On page 10 of the report, ICMM recommends that organisations drive safety culture through appropriate indicators and regularly review behavioural reliability and leadership capability. Safety Culture, in other words, is not a slogan; it is a critical control.
When safety culture is measured, managed and monitored with the same rigour as engineering systems, it becomes a critical control. It influences how consistently rules are applied, how risks are assessed and how people respond under pressure. Organisations that treat safety culture as a critical control identify cultural drivers behind risk taking behaviours and non-compliance. They identify the subtle human signals that often precede incidents and influence day to day decision making.
Learning that lasts
The ICMM report reminds us that learning from the past is not enough. Lessons must be applied, reinforced and embedded through habit.
A FidesOak® programme with Anglo American shows how this looks in practice. Through cultural assessment, leadership workshops and coaching, the organisation examined how values and behaviours influenced operational reliability. Supervisors became more confident in leading conversations about safety and intervening, while senior leaders gained clarity on the cultural factors driving performance and safety. The result was a sustained shift in behaviour’s that influence safety, exactly the kind of change the ICMM calls for.
Rethinking what it means to be safe
The ICMM report concludes with a challenge that should give every leader pause for reflection: “What else can we be doing to truly get to zero fatalities?”
Perhaps the answer lies in reframing the problem. Safety is not only about systems, critical control management or compliance; it is about culture. It is based on common values and behaviours reinforced in day-to-day habits in relation to risk and safety.
The step change in Mining sector safety will come from addressing the factors which influence organisational and industry culture and from organisations that see safety not as an outcome, but as a reflection of who they are.
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