Blood Money? The Effect of Bonus Pay on Safety in Coal Mines

It is often argued that the production bonus system contributes to the high rate of accidents in underground coal mines. The evidence for this proposition is examined here and found to be wanting. Major causes of unsafe practices on the part of the miners are the desire to reduce the workload and an adherence to informal safety standards which are often not adequate to deal with exceptional situations. The paper argues, finally, that management must share responsibility for many of the miners' unsafe practices and that many accidents are quite clearly attributable to management negligence.