Improvement of the work safety management system in hard coalmining with special reference to the problem of workers participation

Despite of the significant reduction of the injuries’ number in recent years, Poland belongs to the countries with high rates of accidents at work. One of the leading industries in accidents at work is hard coal mining. The accidents occurring, their effects, and the poor condition of health of employees (due to working in adverse conditions of physical work environment) are the cause of significant financial loss of victims, their employers, and also the entire society. Therefore the question is: what action should be taken in order to effectively achieve the improvement of safety in the company? The author hopes that the present paper will contribute to give an answer. That is why this paper presents an analysis of the functioning of the safety management in hard coal mining on the example of selected Mines. It also presents the basic elements of the safety management system, with a particular focus on employee participation. The analysis of the documentation of Safety Management System was conducted, as well as analysis of accidents at work and empirical research in the form of a survey among the workers concerning their knowledge about Safety Management Systems, their attitude and engagement with safety matters. The main conclusions of the study shows that the analyzed Mines has implemented a Safety Management System, however, half of the employees is not familiar with it, that is why it requires additional training courses. It is necessary to develop awareness among the employees about the fact that only the employee who is working safely, i.e. according to law regulations of OHS, can be promoted or get a raise or a bonus. In order to create the desired safety culture in a modern company all employees must be involved, at all levels, without exception. Each employee must respect and abide the OHS regulations and to see the example from the supervision and top management of the Mines. As empirical research shows, an issue of participation of employees of the Mines leaves much to be desired. Employees are not interested in participation in solving problems of safety, they are rather characterized by a certain passivity. Improving this situation is necessary and lies on both sides: the management’s and employees’. It also seems necessary to provide a healthy motivation for a safe work among the employees, through its activation and implementation of solutions developed together, and also provide: an appropriate selection of an employee to work and a proper process of his work adaptation, giving the employee a lot of attention and elimination of employees who do not comply with the rules and principles of OHS, and those with a tendency to risky behavior. The issues contained in the paper have a significant impact on the improvement of methods of prevention safety-related work, including: environmental conditions and work organization, and the attitude of employees at the Mines.