Introduction: Senior managers’ attitudes towards safety are very important regarding the safety practices in an organization. The study is to describe the current situation of senior managers′ attitudes towards safety in the Chinese coal industry. Method: We evaluated the changing trends as well as the reasons for these changes in the Chinese coal industry in 2009 and in 2014 with 168 senior manager samples from large Chinese state-owned coal enterprises. Evaluations of 15 safety concepts were performed by means of a questionnaire. Results and Conclusions: Results indicate that, in 2014, three concepts were at a very high level (mean > 4.5), and six were at a relatively high level (4.5 > mean > 4.0). Analyses of changing trends revealed that nine concepts improved significantly, while four greatly declined in 2014 compared to those in 2009. The data reported here suggest that the reasons for the significant improvement with respect to the nine concepts include the improvement in social and legal environments, the improvement of the culture of social safety, workers′ safety demands being met, and scientific and technical advances in the coal industry. The decline of the four concepts seemed to be caused by a poor awareness of managers in the coal industry that safety creates economic benefits, insufficient information on safety, inadequate attention to the development of a safety culture and safety management methods, and safety organizations and workers′ unions not playing their role effectively. Practical Applications: We therefore recommend strengthening the evidence that safety creates economic benefits, providing incentives for employees to encourage their participation in safety management, and paying more attention to the prevention of accidents in coal mines via safety organizations and unions. These results can provide guidelines for workers, industrialists, and government regarding occupational safety in the whole coal industry.

This study employs bibliometric analysis, utilizing the visualization tools CiteSpace 6.3.R1 and VOSviewer 1.6.18, to systematically examine 8727 documents from the Web of Science Core Collection (2000–2024) related to “resilient cities” and “urban resilience.” It explores the evolution of resilient city research, current international trends, practical developments in China, and future directions. The study addresses key questions concerning the theoretical foundations of resilient cities, research advances in the security field, China’s implementation pathways, and emerging trends. Findings indicate that resilient city discourse has evolved from a narrow focus on engineering-based disaster prevention toward a multidimensional, socio-ecological–economic adaptive system. This progression can be divided into three phases: the theoretical foundation period (2000–2008), the technological integration period (2009–2018), and the complex crisis response period (2019–present). Internationally, practices are increasingly centered on climate change adaptation, supported by multi-level governance frameworks such as the MCR2030 initiative. China demonstrates a “dual-track” approach that combines policy-driven initiatives with localized innovations, advancing through international pilot projects, domestic policy experimentation, and grassroots exploration. The study also highlights differences between Chinese and Western research in perspectives, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks. Future resilient city development is expected to emphasize systematization, digitalization, and equity, leveraging technologies such as digital twins and artificial intelligence while fostering community participation and multi-scale collaborative governance. By systematically outlining the theoretical evolution and practical logic of resilient cities, this study offers insights for urban resilience building in developing countries and provides a methodological reference for enhancing resilience capabilities across different administrative levels.

A strong safety culture is essential for managing human factors in complex systems and constitutes a strategic resource for supporting the sustainable operation of organizations. However, conventional approaches remain limited by unclear conceptual boundaries and a lack of mechanisms linking safety culture with other organizational safety elements. To address these gaps, this study develops a sustainable safety culture construction method grounded in accident causation theory. Using the 24Model, we establish a concise “culture–system–ability–acts” framework that operationalizes the pathways through which safety culture shapes organizational safety performance. The method integrates four components: conceptual clarification of safety culture, quantitative assessment, factor identification based on the 24Model, and Bayesian network analysis to quantify interdependencies among culture, systems, ability, and acts. Empirical evidence from coal mining enterprises shows that safety culture influences safety performance indirectly by shaping system implementation quality, workers’ safety ability, and safety-related actions. Enhancing “demand of safety training” substantially mitigated system deficiencies related to ineffective implementation of procedures, failure in enforcing procedures, lack of qualifications, and insufficient supervision. Improved training also strengthened workers’ knowledge of accident cases, consequences of violations, and technical standards, thereby reducing competence-related gaps and promoting more consistent safety supervision behaviors. Sensitivity analysis highlights the importance of reinforcing “safety responsibilities of line departments” and improving the dissemination of safety knowledge, particularly accident case knowledge. Overall, the findings empirically validate the dynamic “culture–system–ability–acts” transmission mechanism of the 24Model and provide a structured, quantitative pathway for advancing sustainable safety culture development.

The competency level of safety professionals directly impacts the effectiveness of accident prevention and control within enterprises. Establishing a systematic talent development framework and knowledge architecture is the key pathway to enhancing corporate safety performance. This study focuses on the safety engineering education system in Chinese universities, aiming to systematically analyze the relationship between safety competency components, knowledge systems, and curriculum design. This analysis will establish a competency model and knowledge framework applicable to safety professionals. By collecting and organizing the core curriculum of this program, this study employs complex network analysis methods. Using Gephi software, a course network is constructed and visualized. Based on this, courses are categorized according to their knowledge content, thereby dissecting the competency model and knowledge framework embedded within the safety engineering talent development system of higher education institutions. The findings indicate that safety professionals should possess four core competencies: fundamental knowledge competency, safety management competency, occupational safety technology competency, and risk management competency. These encompass 24 key safety knowledge areas, which can be effectively cultivated through systematic study of 19 core professional courses. Starting from the educational system architecture, this research provides theoretical foundations and practical references for enterprises and universities in cultivating safety professionals, evaluating competencies, and optimizing curricula.