Multivariate Analysis for Underground Mine Worker's Accident Investigations

This paper significantly contributes to address the problem of occupational injury prevention and control strategies through the investigation and application of epidemiological methods to underground mines. The epidemiological methods developed in this work will assist the safety management to identify significant risk factors and the risk groups which can provide a basis to develop prevention strategies including training. The findings of the multivariate statistical analyses indicate that both the personal and impersonal factors affect the occurrence of an injury. In this study although 12 risk factors were suspected, the epidemiological analysis suggested that only 5 factors are statistically significant. These are age, perception of working condition, emotional stability, job stress and safety performance. The structural equation modeling results revealed that personality (emotional stability and impulsiveness), maturity (age and experience), and job characteristic (perception of working condition, safety environment, and management and supervision) were significant predictors of occupational injury. The analyses indicated that the variables describing personality and job characteristic had also indirect and negative effect on occupational injury via job stress, job satisfaction, job involvement and safety performance. Specifically, the management should pay due attention towards the problems of working environment and safety of the workers. Moreover, workers should be trained to develop the positive psychological traits to maintain the balance between rigidity and flexibility which is helpful in injury prevention. Workers with negative traits like emotionally instable and older workers should be employed in less hazardous job. The occupational injury research community cannot effectively evaluate and implement prevention strategies on its own; neither can industries, nor employers, nor workers at risk. They all have to do it together in partnership.