The investigation of the link between human reliability and mine productivity

Abstract: South Africa’s mining industry (SAMI) has transitioned from simply conventional to becoming a very complex, mechanized and diverse industry. This has led to several, newly found challenges. One of the most significant among these is human reliability. It is without a doubt one of the most evident challenges at South African mines today. In Ronald W. McLeod’s (2015) words “Reliable human performance means the standards of behavior and performance of the people responsible for designing, planning and organizing operations expected when they made decisions about the role of people in assuring the safety and reliability of their operations”. A loss of human reliability therefore refers to a situation where employee management behavior was not consistent with work procedures and the organizations expectations. A clear understanding of the psychology of human performance and ergonomics can be used not only to improve environmental control, safety and health but also to scale up the returns on capital intensive assets