Building risk precontrol management systems for safety in China's underground coal mines

Mining remains one of the most hazardous occupations in China, and underground coal mines are especially notorious for their high accident rates. China's safety management models consist mostly of passive management, namely, management during or after an accident, not before. Furthermore, accidents, hidden dangers, or “three violations”, not hazards, are managed, and China's management methods are primarily based on experience or institutions, not precontrol. In this paper, a risk precontrol management system for safety in underground coal mines was built to resolve the above issues by studying the risk precontrol continuum, polarized hazard management, the development and evolution of safety management, and accident causes. Specifically, the risk precontrol management system for safety in underground coal mines uses hazard identification and risk assessment as its basis, risk precontrol as its core, and unsafe behaviour control as its focus. The system is composed of four main parts: scope, normative reference documents, terms and definitions, and management elements and requirements. Thus, the management elements and requirements are the core of the system, which consists of 8 first-level basics and 46 s-level basics. Moreover, an illustration is provided to show the process of building a risk precontrol management system for safety in underground coal mines. In addition, the application software--Risk Precontrol Management System for Safety--was developed and applied by the Shen Hua Ningxia Coal Industry Group in China. The technological system and application software achieved good results.