Lean Mining, Productivity and Occupational Health and Safety: An Expert-Elicitation Study

The implementation of lean tools in the Canadian mining industry is still in its beginnings. To the best of our knowledge, published information and articles on this subject are scarce. Consequently, the impacts of using lean tools on productivity and workers’ health and safety in this field are still unclear and need more investigations to better integrate the technical aspects of lean with Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). Therefore, this study aims to provide insights about lean mining in Canada. The objective of this paper is to propose a preliminary road-map for lean implementation considering OHS concerns in Canadian underground gold-mining. To meet this objective, a set of lean tools (i.e. VSM, 5S, Kaizen, TPM, SMED and LIC) as independent variable, and OHS indicators (i.e. “struck by an object” and “body reaction” risks) and an economic indicator (i.e. daily advance rate) as dependent variable were selected. An expert-elicitation study was conducted recruiting 7 experts from academia and practitioners active in the mining sector. Results show that the majority of experts agreed on a possible positive impact on a mine’s daily advance rate after implementing 5S and TPM, and a reduction of the risk rate of “struck by object” among workers by implementing Kaizen.