Conference Posters

Serious Injuries and Fatalities: A Case Study of Organizational Factors in Heavy Mining

Poster presented at Canadian Psychological Association's (CPA) 86th Annual General Meeting and National Convention. St. John's NL, June 12-14, 2025. A socio-technical systems field study was conducted at an open pit coal mining facility in Alberta. The research question was to what extent to human and organizational factors contribute to serious incidents and fatalities. We conducted 102 interviews with management and hourly employees. Also, 265 surveys were completed by hourly employees. Surveys assessed constructs such as safety culture, pressure to perform, availability of PPE, crew trust, crew collective self efficacy, and individualintentions to behave safely. All scales had adequate reliability and intra-class correlations indicated crew mean differences for some of the constructs. Dependent variables as proxies for safety included single items: In this crew we trust each other to be safe and This is a safe place to work. We find that contribution equity and crew collective self-efficacy are the strongest correlates of these dependent variables. Interview results reveal 17 themes organized in levels of the organization: Management, safety department, training department, crew/team, leadership/supervision, employee, and union. Our results reveal that all levels of the organization and its functioning potentially play a role in safety behaviour, which likely has downstream implications for serious injuries and fatalities. This aligns with a Safety II and Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) treatment.

Creative Sentences

Building Resilience into Safety Management Systems - Precursors and Controls to Reduce Serious Incidents and Fatalities

Led by Faculty in the David and Joan Lynch School of Engineering Safety and Risk Management, University of Alberta.

Mining is an industry with many high-energy hazards. Thus, the overarching objective of this creative sentencing research is to understand the hazards that cause Serious Incidents and Fatalities (SIF) in mining operations, the causes, and the most effective controls to prevent fatalities. When people make mistakes, how do we ensure that there are layers of protection so that they ‘fail safely’, rather than ‘failing lucky’, or worse ‘failing unsafely/unlucky’?

Enhancing Safe Work Practices for Trenching and Excavating - Interim Report

Led by Faculty in the David and Joan Lynch School of Engineering Safety and Risk Management, University of Alberta.

On June 6, 2021, a worker was operating an excavator next to the Susan Lake Waterbody to build a berm when the bank slumped into the clear water system. The cab of the excavator was fully submerged and the worker was fatally injured. Syncrude agreed to a creative sentence to assist in the development of methods to prevent serious incidents and fatalities associated with trenching and excavating, particularly around water and ice.

Where Have We Been?

Learn more about our work and connections around the province.

Edson, Alberta

Our team travelled to Edson a number of times to conduct research and translate findings with a local mining company, gaining valuable first-hand experience and knowledge into the open-pit mining industry.

Fort McMurray, Alberta

Our team has travelled to Fort McMurray dozens of time to conduct research, participate in site tours, propose projects and collaborations, and translate results to numerous large oil and gas company and contracting sites in and around the town.

Meet the Team

Learn more about the people behind the research and projects promoting safe work in Alberta.