The safety-level gap between China and the US in view of the interaction between coal production and safety management

Coal production is an activity with marketable output and safety output, and the interaction between coal production and safety inputs reflects the relationship between economic development and occupational safety. Through analysis of the long-term interaction between coal production and safety inputs, this paper divides a country’s stages of safety level into developing stage, stable stage and transcending stage. According to the basic principle of the Cobb–Douglas production function, a coal production model is set up, and regression analysis is conducted using EViews software. The results indicate that China has not yet achieved the best balanced status but has remained in the developing stage; while the US has been in the stable stage. The impulse response curves indicate that the rate of technological progress had the most obvious response and that technological progress was an important support of economic output. For China, the safety input showed a secondary effect and was also an effective method for improving economic output. However, the labor growth rate had little influence on coal production and no direct impact on economic output at this stage. If the difference in development stages is measured only by labor productivity, then China needs at least 30 years to reach the safety production level of the US. Some suggestions to enhance Chinese coal-mine safety are proposed through learning from the US and Australian experience.

► We report research on the huge gap between China and the US in coal mine safety.
► We divide safety development of countries into three stages.
► We analyze the stages of China and the US according to the C–D model.
► The impulse response effects in China and the US are analyzed and compared.
► We propose that China should learn from the experience of the US and Australia.