Occupational health and safety maturity model to manage the surface mining operations

Recently, the surface mining activity in Peru has been associated with a considerable number of incidents/accidents. They not only affect the health and well-being of the workers but also cause economic losses; additionally, they damage the reputation of the mining company. Therefore, a security management system is considered to be necessary. In this context, the present research uses the process and enterprise maturity model to manage the occupational health and safety actions of surface mining based on the continuous improvement PDCA (plan, do, check, and act) matrix. The application of this model to the Pampa de Pongo surface mining project resulted in action plans for the annual safety program that allowed the establishment of guidelines, procedures, and minimum requirements so that an organization can prevent, control, and reduce the incidents/accidents associated with its staff working on the project.