Leadership is a necessary element for ensuring workplace safety. Rather little is known about the role of leadership safety behaviours (LSBs) in the mining industry. Using regression analysis and structural equation modelling analysis, this study examined the cause-and-effect relationships between leadership safety behaviours and safety performance. Data were collected by questionnaires from 305 miners in China. Data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis, which identified five main dimensions of LSBs: safety management commitment, safety communication with feedback, safety policy, safety incentives, and safety training; the analysis also identified three main dimensions of safety performance: employee’s safety compliance, safety participation, and safety accidents. The results showed the overall effects of each LSB variable on safety compliance in descending order as: safety training (0.504), safety incentives (0.480), safety communication with feedback (0.377), safety management commitment (0.281), and safety policy (0.110). The overall effects of each LSB variable on safety participation in descending order were: safety training (0.706), safety incentives (0.496), safety management commitment (0.365), and safety policy (0.247). Furthermore, we found that safety management commitment and safety incentives increased employees’ safety behaviours, but this influence was mediated by safety training, safety policy, and safety communication with feedback.

Three-dimensional (3D) discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA) is very suitable for simulating large-displacement behavior of rock masses. One fundamental issue commonly encountered in 3D DDA is 3D friction problems. In this paper, a friction contact model based on 3D spherical DDA (SDDA) and the determination method of friction force direction is proposed for modeling 3D friction problems. Simulation results of three verification examples with available analytical solutions demonstrate the correctness of the friction contact model in 3D SDDA. Meanwhile, the simulation result of one application example, namely, a 3D-sphere natural-accumulation simulation, indicates that the friction problems of a 3D-sphere system can be modeled well by the proposed friction contact model. This work is helpful for solving 3D friction problems in discrete blocky systems.

A new C++ programming strategy with high modularization and good portability, and a novel data storage format for simultaneous equations with little computer memory consumption, no sorting operation, and simple addressing algorithm are proposed for the three-dimensional sphere discontinuous deformation analysis (3D SDDA) to overcome the shortcomings of existing computation programs. An object-oriented data structure for the 3D SDDA computing code that is highly modular and easily transplanted is designed. Then, to demonstrate the portability of the 3D SDDA computing code, two computation architectures are respectively constructed to form two independent computation programs for 3D SDDA. Finally, several benchmark tests are conducted to verify the correctness of the 3D SDDA model in the new computation program, and a 170,725-sphere landslide example is simulated on a desktop computer to demonstrate the capability of the new computation program in large-scale engineering applications. Comparison between the new and existing computation programs regarding computer memory and time consumed demonstrates the great advantages brought about by the new computation program.

The risks faced by the mining industry have always been prominent for every walk of life in China. As the direct cause of accidents, individual unsafe behaviors are closely related to their risk perception. So, it is important to explore the factors affecting miners’ risk perception and analyze the influencing mechanisms between these factors and risk perception. The questionnaire survey method was used to collect the data of risk perception from nearly 400 respondents working in metal mines in China. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to analyze and process collected data. The impact of four factors affecting miners’ risk perception was verified, namely: organizational safety atmosphere, organizational trust, knowledge level, and risk communication. Then, regression analysis, Pearson correlation analysis, and structural equation model analysis were used to examine the effect of the four influencing factors on miners’ risk perception. The four influencing factors all have a positive impact on miners’ risk perception; knowledge level has the largest explained variation of miners’ risk perception, followed by risk communication. Organizational trust and organizational safety atmosphere have an indirect and positive impact on miners’ risk perception intermediated by knowledge level and risk communication. The results offer four important aspects of mine safety management to help miners establish quick and accurate risk perception, thereby reducing unsafe behaviors and avoiding accidents.