Managing Occupational Health And Safety In The Mining Industry In India

Background information

Discuss about the Managing Occupational Health and Safety Industry.

Mining engineering can be defined as  that particular discipline of the engineering which is  associated with the  utilization  of scientific and technological tools  for ensuring the safe and efficient extraction of  minerals from  under  the earth’s  surface (Hilson & Hilson 2017)  .  On the other hand, project management is associated with the planning, execution, control and management of the work forces that associated with any work groups (Kerzner, 2013). 

The proposed research work would be primarily aimed at highlighting the factors that have lead to the failure of organizational projects in the mining industry. The introductory  section of  the report  provides   the  audience  with  the brief  discussion into the background  of the research work, whereas the  detailed  discussion on the same would  be presented  in section 2 of the report. The aims and objectives of the research work would be discussed in section 3 of the report, besides highlighting the research questions to be utilized   in the study.

 The identification of the research aims and objectives would be followed by brief discussion of the literary articles reviewed during the project, along with the methodology followed for doing the same. The data collected during the course of the project would also be analysed and discussed in the report.

As  a student  of the mining  engineering, it  has always  occurred to me that  project management principles can be successfully utilized in any  mining  organization for effectively  managing the technical  and operational  activities associate with  the extraction of metals.    The highly critical principles of project management can not only be utilized  for managing the technologies,  work  procedure and  other resources utilized in the mining filed,  but also for ensuring  their optimal utilization (Hilson & Hilson, 2017). However, in the practical filed, project management   principles have not yet been utilized successfully in   the domain of mining engineering.  In  fact,   the  initial  research work conducted  in this domain  indicate  that  the role  of project management consultant  is yet   not  well defined  in the context   of  mining  engineering (Amoatey, Famiyeh & Andoh, 2017).

It  has already  been discussed  in  the introductory section  of  the report  that the  rate of  failure  of organizational projects  is  considerably  high  on the mining industry: the scenario  is  not  different  in India.   While the non utilization of effective project  management principles can be considered  as one of  the primary  factors  for the high rate of   unsuccessful  projects, the identification of  the  environmental factors  that restrict  the  optimal use of  PM principles is  absolutely required.  Besides this,  the  research study would  also focus  on  the identification of  the appropriate role that project  management consultants can  play  for  achieving success in  mining projects in India.

Aims and objectives of the project

Thus, the primary objective of the project can be outlined as the following:

To identify the main reasons for project failure in Mining industries in India

To identify the environmental factors that restricts the optimal utilization of the project management principles in the mining industry of India.

To identify the role that project management consultants should play for achieving success in mining projects in India

According to Panneerselvam (2014), the identification of the research questions is one of the most elementary steps of conducting any academic study.  The author comments that research questions, when framed appropriately facilitate the process of identifying the direction of the study.

The following questions have been framed based on the aims and objectives of the study:

What are the main reasons for project failure in Mining industries in India?

Which environmental factors restrict the optimal utilization of the project management principles in the mining industry of India?

What role the project management consultants should play for achieving success in mining projects in India?

It is expected that in the due course of the research study, the answers to these question would be found, thus meeting the objectives of the study.

Mining industry  expert  Hilson  and Hilson (2017)  have highlighted  the fact  that although a  the economic development  of developing countries  depend  significantly  on the successful extraction and utilization of their natural resource,  yet  the  Indian economy is  yet  to  reap the full  benefits of being wealthy  of natural resources.  According to the  authors,   the  primary  reason  behind  such a scenario is that  the success  rate  of mining projects  is considerably low: in fact  almost  62  percent  of  the   mining  projects  either  run out of  budget  or  do not  get completed  within  the timeline committed  to the client.  Thus, the author considers lack of project planning (or inadequate project planning) as the primary reason for such project failures.

On the other hand, researchers Amoatey, Famiyeh and Andoh (2017) have commented that the mining industry  in  India typically  suffers  from the lack of skilled  human resource,  which affects the  quality  of  the projects, along with the rate  of success. The  authors  have  highlighted the fact that human resources have the capability   to impact every  possible aspect of   any project, starting from the quality  of the feasibility  studies conducted before starting any  project work, the financial  calculations and predictions associated any  planning  and the planning work required  for the same. Thus, the lack of skilled human capital handicaps the very scop of conducting any mining project usefully.

Research questions

Researches Ferguson, Clinch and Kean (2011) have actively supported the   opinion that human capitals associated with all mining organizations affect the success rates of the projects undertaken by them. The authors have highlighted yet another point, which demands special attention: at present, there exists a 10 to 15 percent deficit of mining engineers throughout all mining organizations of   the world.  It is  a well  known fact, that  engineers act   as the life-line support of  all mining  operations: thus guaranteeing the successful completion of  any mining  activity is indeed not  feasible when the  engineers  associated  with  the same  are overburdened.

On the other hand, researchers Chenc and Zorigt (2013) emphasise on the selection and utilization of appropriate technological tools for ensuring the successful completion of mining projects.

On the other hand, researchers Muduliet at al.(2013) have emphasized solely on the identification of the factors that are found to be associated with the failure of start up mining projects all over the world. The authors are of the opinion that apart from the unsuccessful or inappropriate use of project management policies in the mining industries, several other industry specific factors are responsible for the failure of such projects, the factors being outlined in the section below:

Experience: It is widely acknowledged by experts across all industries that setting up start up projects require the association of experience resources in all levels of the organization. This factor is considered to be of even more importance in the domain of mining (Krishna et al. 2013). The authors have commented that in case of start up mining projects, employing experience resources  in  all level of  the  project is not  sufficient:  the entire team must  have the experience of working  together in conditions similar to  that  exists in the mines under consideration.

According to Sreebha and Padmalal (2011), most start  up mining  projects lack the association of  such experienced team, which eventually leads  to the failure of  such initiatives.

Hiring process: The authors have seconded the opinion that the lack of skilled workforce is one of the core issues that mining organizations all over the world suffer from. According to them, hiring and retaining expert miners and geologists is one of the most difficult tasks that administrative heads of mining organization need to conduct and start up mining projects are bound to fail in absence of effective hiring processes.

In  this   particular  section of the report,  the tools and techniques  utilized  for  conducting the research work  in  practice  would  be  highlighted.

Literature review

Research philosophy:  The term research philosophy is defined as that particular belief based on which the entire study is conducted (Mackey  & Gass,  2015). 

 The  post positivist research  philosophy  has  been utilized for conducting this  study  as the same takes  into consideration the fact  that the final outcomes  of the study  would indeed be affected by the environment  in which it is conducted.

Research Approach:  The deductive approach of research work was utilized in conducting the study, as the same   allows the consideration of information available from existing literary articles and papers (Flick, 2015). 

Research Design:  The primary objective of this research work was to identify the various factors that result in the failure of mining projects in India. Thus, the exploratory research design was utilized in conducting the study.

Data Collection and analysis procedure: The information included in this report has been collected from the existing literary articles and research papers that highlight the findings of studies conducted in the very same domain. Thus, it can be said that the secondary information was utilized in the project (Silverman 2016). 

On the other hand, the data collected from these sources were analyzed in a qualitative manner.

In this section of the report, the information that was collected from different secondary sources would be highlighted. These data sets would then be compared with the concepts and theories identified during the literature review phase, thus moving one-step closer to concluding the study.

In an attempt to identify  some of  the major issues  that the  organizations operating across various  mines of  India are experiencing at  present, the Mines and Metals Division of  the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry  (or  the   FICCI) had  released  a white  paper  in  December 2013 (FICCI, 2013). The findings of the research work conducted by the members of FICCI are being presented briefly in the section below:

A large number of small non-fuel mines are located across several regions of the country. In spite of their small size, the contributions that they make to the mining industry of the country, and to the economy as a whole, are indeed significant. However, for the last  few decades,  the production of  these  mines  have  almost  become stagnant, primarily due  the lack of capital investment  in the existing  infrastructure  of the facilities (Sen, Mukherjee & Pattanayak, 2011). According  to  FICCI ,  the main  reason behind this lack  is of  capital  investment  lies  in the fact that   the banks and  other   financial  institutions of the reluctant of  providing  loans  to small sized   mines.

The smaller mines or start  up   mining  organizations  are  often  found  to be not capable of  hiring (and retaining) experienced  miners,  engineers  and geologist that  are required for  running  these projects successfully for a considerable length  of   time (Gottesfeld  & Cherry, 2011). The lack of capital investment also restricts the implementation of advanced technologies in these facilities, thus restricting the production of the facilities (Hatherly 2013). The experts  conducting  the study  on the behalf of the FICCI have  also  associated this factor with  the existence  of  the large   number of  non-operating  mines all  over the country.

Along  with  the  above mentioned  factors,  the   authors have  also emphasized on the amalgamation of  the  very  small sized mining  projects that are currently  being  conducted throughout the country (Iakovleva & Sillanpää, 2013). According to them, such amalgamation would indeed facilitate the process of procuring budgetary  resources,  which  in turn   would  helping  the  management in solving  other operational  issues (as for example, the lack  of  infrastructure,  the lack  of  qualified  and  experience  resources,  the lack of advanced technology, etc).

POSCO , one of the largest  steel makers  of  South Korea has  in the very  recent  past  declared  that it  is   willing   to  back off from the  proposed  mining  project  that  was to  be set up  Orissa (Posco.com, 2017). The  project has an estimated  valuation of  12 billion US  dollars,  of which  the organization has already  paid  4.4 million US  dollars  to the Odisha Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp way back in 2005. However, the project has yet not been initiated due to  delays in availing  permits  from the  various  government  departments and POSCO   has cited  this very lack  of  government  initiative as the  primary  reason behind their decision (Muduli & Barve 2011). On the other hand, ArcelorMittal, the largest steel  producer  of  the world ( in terms of  production) have also  indicated that  they  would  abandon their  proposed mining  project at Orissa,  citing  the same  reason of  delayed  permits (Arcelormittal.com, 2017).

Researchers Jia, Diabat  and Mathiyazhagan  (2015) have highlighted  the fact  that  one of  the most common problems  associated  with  the mining projects of  India, that often leads  to abandoning  of set  ups  as mentioned  in the section of the report, lies  in the fact that adequate  feasibility studies are not conducted  before the declaration  of the same. In fact, the researchers have commented that conducting detailed feasibility studies would indeed be helpful in identifying   the environmental factors that are capable of causing delays to the projects and avoiding the same (Govindan, Kannan  & Shankar, 2014; Karacan et al. 2011).

 The Planning Commission of India had released a white paper  in the   year 2012 so  as to highlight  the strategies  that  need to be  taken up  by the entrepreneurs interested  in  conducting mining projects  so  as to  conduct the same in  a sustainable  manner (Planningcommission.nic.in, 2017). The author of  the report  have recommended a couple  of  sustainable development strategies  to  the concerned authorities,  a  brief insight to  which have been  provided  below.

It is a well known fact that mining is  considered  as that  particular  industry  that plays   havoc  on  the society  and environment. This very  fact have been to have  resulted  in the  protest of the locals against  setting  up of new  mining projects  in  various   parts of India ( as for example the POSCO  project  in Orissa), which in turn have resulted  in delays in the  process  of granting  permits  from the  departments of the  government.

 The authors  of this  report  are  of   the opinion  that  the application of appropriate   project  management  policies  can  play  a very important  role in  finding solutions to such environmental and political  issues. The experts  have in fact  emphasized  on conducting activities that  can  reduce  the extent  of negative impact on the social-economic status of  the locals  (by developing  scope of  employment   for locales,  developing  infrastructure  of  the region, assisting  the locals in  relocating  to  other   areas, etc)   to minimize  the resistance of the locals.

The consultation of  the  key  stakeholders  associated  with  any  project  is  an alien concept  in the domain  of  mining industry  in India. In fact,  this very  situation  is responsible for most of  the issue that are  experienced  in executing  the projects, like that of delays in permissions  from  all concerned departments  of the sate and central governments, non  availability of  funding,   non availability  of  skilled  resources, non co-operation on the behalf of the locals,  etc  (Govindan et al. 2014; Singh et al. 2011).

 Thus, the authors are of the opinion that appropriate analysis of all stakeholders associated with the project, with the development of strategic plans, can   significantly improve the condition of the mining industry of India.

 The discussions presented in the preceding section of  the report  highlights  the fact,  the primary reasons behind  the failure   of mining projects can  be boiled down to  only  a handful  of   factors including the following:

The lack of capital investment in the sector,

The lack of skilled and experienced resources

The lack of government initiatives and

Significant lack in feasibility analysis of the project

On the other  hand,  the information collected  during  the  literature  review  phase  of the project  indicates  that  the  primary  reasons that  lead  to  the failure of mining projects  all    over  the world include the following:

The lack  of use of modern  technologies  which indeed  results from  the acute  lack of  budget,

The non-availability of experienced resources and

The non-utilization of appropriate project management policies.

Thus, it can be concluded that Indian mining industry experiences the very same issues that are responsible for failure of projects in the very same industry throughout the world.  However,   it has  also  been  indentified  the concept  of project  management is completely ignored  by  thee mining organizations of  India,  which results in generation of resistance among different  sectors  of  the society,  which further  delays the  project.  Yet another   issue that is particular to India   is the concerned governmental and political offices are reluctant at   taking initiatives towards resolving the issues, which is practically forcing large names in mining to   abandon their project setups in India.

Conclusion

The discussions made in the above sections of the report indicate that the   primary reasons behind the failure of mining projects in India include the following:

Significant lack in feasibility analysis of the project

The lack of capital investment in the sector,

The lack of government initiatives and

The lack of skilled and experienced resources.

However, when attempts were made to identify the environmental factors restrict the optimal utilization of the project management principles in the mining industry of India, it was observed that the concept of project management is alien to the same. 

Project management, which is considered as one of the most essential   factors required for   the successful conduction of any project,   includes the following:

The estimation the feasibility of the project,

The identification of the stakeholders associated with the project along with the analysis and consideration of the same and

The identification of the risks associated with the project along with the determination of strategies for mitigating the same.

In the light of the discussions made  in the  preceding  sections of  the report,  the utilization of   the effective  project  management principles is  being  recommended  to the  organizations associated  with the mining industry  in  India.   It  is expected that  experienced  project  consultants  would be capable  of managing  the resources efficiently, besides  identifying  the  risks  associated  with the same and finding  means to ensure  the co-operation of   stakeholders of  all levels.

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