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The purpose of this paper is to identify the main environmental impacts of coal mining in China, examine the main institutions and reform factors that failed the control of these damages, and discuss what would be necessary to establish a sustainable and environmentally responsible coal mining sector in the context of market and institutional reforms.

Review of existing knowledge, and semi‐structured interviewing with key informants in the policy and industry sectors has been the main method of primary and secondary data collection. Grounded theory was used to analyze original data.

The large and fast growing coal industry in China has caused significant environmental degradation, including land subsidence and water intrusion, as well as remarkable records of miner's poor safety and health. Market reform was mostly unsuccessful in integrating environmental consideration into production and marketing decisions. Main factors of reform that have been associated with this problem are price deregulation and excessive competition inside the industry. Institutional reform, in fact, enhanced the status of State Environment Protection Agency; however, it impaired environmental governance in the coal industry. It is suggested that market reform as applicable to the China coal industry economic sector in particular should reconsider its approach in light of the numerous problems it has created.

The paper identifies and puts together the condition of the growing coal industry in China after market reform, articulating the huge environmental costs that this development has imposed on the country, while calling for an environmentally sustainable coal industry.

The purpose of this research is to identify and study the contextual relationships of the significant lean enablers in the Indian coal mining industry using the application of interpretive structural modeling (ISM), matrice d' impacts croisés-multiplication appliquée á un classement (MICMAC) and structural equation modeling (SEM).

In this study, a conceptual model based on ISM was developed forming a hierarchy and contextual relationships of significant enablers for lean implementation in the Indian coal mining industry using a literature review and eliciting expert opinion, which is followed by MICMAC for grouping of enablers and questionnaire survey to validate the ISM based conceptual model using SEM.

The study modeled and analyzed ten significant enablers of lean implementation in the Indian coal mining industry. The findings suggest that the most important lean enablers in the Indian coal mining industry are employee empowerment, employee motivation and commitment, consistent financial performance measurement and management support.

Judgmental sampling was used for selecting the respondents for conducting the questionnaire survey in this research work as there are a few numbers of coal mines implementing lean principles in India. Although the study was not restricted to a particular part of India with the sample representing the heterogeneous population, the study represents more data from the coal mines in eastern India.

The model on lean enablers would help the researchers, decision-makers and practitioners to anticipate potential lean enablers in the Indian coal mines and rank the enablers for improved and efficient usage of the available resources creating value to customers with lean and to sustenance academic research on lean.

Studies on lean enablers in the mining sector are scarce in the literature, and this study is a novel contribution of exploring lean enablers in the Indian coal mining industry using an integrated approach of ISM–MICMAC and SEM.

This chapter presents a theoretical framework of the industrial relations (IR) system in China’s coal mining industry, combining the roles of management organizations, workers, and trade unions, as well as government agencies. It is one of the first empirical attempts to investigate the relationship between human resource (HR) practices, labor relations, and occupational safety in China’s coal mining industry over the past 60 years, based on the secondary data on coal mining accidents and case studies of two state-owned coal mines in a northern city in Anhui Province, China. The fluctuating occupational safety has been affected by government regulations over different time spans, marked by key political agendas, and by coal mining firms taking concrete measures to respond to these regulations, while exhibiting differing safety performance in state-owned versus township-and-village-owned mines. The field studies compared a safety-oriented to a cost-control-oriented HR and labor relations system, and their influences on safety performance. Coal mining firms and practitioners are advised to shift the traditional personnel management paradigm to a modern HR management system. In addition, although workers are often blamed directly for accidents, it is suggested that workers’ participation and voice in various processes of decision-making and policy implementation, and trade unions’ active involvement in protecting workers from occupational hazards, be encouraged.

Concerns over health and safety are important reasons for leaving the mining industry. Yet pull factors such as better hours and shifts may be even more important. A study of 1,384 US male coal miners from 1977 to 1982 is reported. In 1977, 86 left mining and changed jobs by 1982 to other coal mining jobs or jobs outside the industry. Neither push nor pull factors were more important for within‐industry as compared to inter‐industry job changing. Further work is needed to understand the inter‐relations between health, safety and labour force mobility. More emphasis on health as a predictor of intermediate social outcomes is needed.

Drawing from the institutional logics and organizational disaster literature, this paper aims to illustrate that the replacement of logics can be problematic in a high-risk industry such as coal mining by adding an institutional perspective to the understanding of disasters.

This paper investigated the field of coal mining in Turkey historically from archival data resources. A comprehensive, qualitative inquiry of a single-case study was then conducted.

The findings suggest that a shift from social welfare logic to business logic in the coal-mining industry can lead to coal-mining disasters, resulting from changing practices through an increase in the number of private enterprises through royalty contracts, the use of an increased labor force instead of mechanical methods and systems and the maximization of profit by underestimating the effects of taking almost no occupational safety measures.

The connection between institutional logics and organizational disasters could lead institutional actors to question their understanding of institutional logics.

This paper provides original research evidence for the relationship between industrial disasters and institutional logics.

Sustainability is a major challenge for India’s (Bharat’s) coal mining industry. The government has prioritized sustainable growth in the coal mining industry. It is putting forth multifaceted economic, environmental and social efforts to accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research aims to identify the factors for sustainable improvements in coal mining operations. Secondly, this study examines the intensity of causal relations among the factors. Thirdly, this study examines whether causal relations exist among the factors to be considered for sustainable improvement in coal mining operations. Lastly, the study aims to understand how the factors ensure sustainable improvement in coal mining operations.

An integrated three-phase methodology was applied to identify the critical factors related to coal mining and explore the contextual relationships among the identified factors. Fifteen critical factors were selected based on the Delphi technique. Subsequently, the fifteen factors were analyzed to determine the contextual and causal relationships using the total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) and DEMATEL methods.

The study identified “Extraction of Coal and Overburden” as the leading factor for sustainable improvement in coal mining operations, because it directly or indirectly influences the overall mining operation, environmental impact and resource utilization. Hence, strict control measures are necessary in “Extraction of Coal and Overburden” to ensure sustainable coal mining. Conversely, “Health Impact” is the lagging factor as it has very low or no impact on the system. Therefore, it requires fewer control mechanisms. Nevertheless, control measures for the remaining factors must be decided on a priority basis.

The proposed structural model can serve as a framework for enhancing sustainability in India’s (Bharat’s) coal mining operations. This framework can also be applied to other developing nations with similar sustainability concerns, providing valuable guidance for sustainable operations.

The current study highlights the significance of logical links and dependencies between several parameters essential to coal mining sustainability. Furthermore, it leads to the development of a well-defined control sequence that identifies the causal linkages between numerous components needed to achieve real progress towards sustainability.

This study aims to comprehensively analyse the implementation and effectiveness of corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies within the context of the Indian coal mining sector. Furthermore, it investigates the alignment between CSR initiatives and the unique challenges faced by the coal mining sector and examines the outcomes and impacts of these initiatives on the employees of the sector and their perspective on the situation.

This study adopts a comprehensive qualitative research method, including a review of the literature, case studies and stakeholder interviews. This study seeks to deconstruct the application of CSR policies.

The analysis developed a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding CSR policies in the Indian coal mining sector, offering insights into strategies for enhancing the effectiveness and relevance of these initiatives while fostering sustainable development.

This study reveals a rich tapestry of theoretical implications and how they connect to important organisational and societal paradigms. The results of this qualitative analysis can work as a foundation for creating scales to measure the level of efficiency of CSR policies implemented by different companies. Furthermore, this study goes beyond theoretical knowledge and gives companies, regulators and communities information they can use. By looking at how CSR policies work in the real world, a road map for responsible resource extraction and community growth can be made.

The findings are unique in exploring the CSR initiatives and the unique challenges faced by the coal mining sector. This study offers insight on the employees of the sector and their perspectives on the situation and delves into the multifaceted dimensions of CSR practices.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate drivers of economic performance with environmental management aspects and core managerial functions of the Indian coal mining industry.

For this research paper, primary and secondary data have been used. The primary data were collected through a questionnaire survey which was distributed in the four subsidiaries of Coal India Limited. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were tested by appropriate statistical techniques. Further, one-sample t-test and multiple linear regression analysis have been used for data analysis.

Testing of hypotheses reveals that there is a high level of integration of environmental management aspects with the seven core managerial functions, namely, production process, distribution process, beneficiation process, quality issues, stakeholders’ interest, health and safety and corporate strategy. Further, the paper identified that there is a positive association between integration of environmental aspects with core functions and the four drivers of economic performance and it is strongly associated with societal-related and risk-related drivers of economic performance. But it is less strongly associated with image-related and efficiency-related drivers of economic performance.

This paper focuses on integrating the environmental management and core functions with key drivers of economic performance in coal mining industry which is one of the most polluting industries of the world. The limitation of the paper is that it is very specific and limited to the coal mining industry.

The paper contributes to the existing work by designing a framework which identifies the key drivers of economic performance and integrating it with the environmental management system of the organisation.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the degree of lean awareness and implementation and to identify the perception on tools, enablers, barriers and potential benefits of lean in the Indian coal mining industry.

A systematic review of lean literature and expert opinion was used to design the survey instrument. Data were collected through electronic survey and traditional pencil and paper approach. In order to test the research hypotheses, independent sample t-tests were done.

The study reveals that there is a certain degree of lean awareness although the level of lean implementation is still at a nascent stage in the Indian coal mining sector. The main applicable tools, barriers, enablers and benefits have also been identified based on 54 respondents out of 109 suitable respondents.

In this study, relatively the maximum participants were from the mines located in Eastern India. Thus, a certain level of bias can be anticipated. The findings would help the decision makers, researchers and practitioners to better utilize the available resources for lean implementation and support the existing academic research on lean.

The concept of lean in mining industry is relatively a new paradigm and there is a lack of empirical study that explores applicable tools, barriers, enablers and benefits of lean in Indian mining industry. The study addresses this gap in the lean literature.

Environmental pollution and corresponding adverse health impacts have now become a significant concern for the entire planet. In this regard, analysts and experts are continually formulating policies to reduce environmental pollution and improve natural ecological conditions. To aid in coping with the ecological predicament, a framework has been developed in the present study to inspect the adverse environmental impacts and related health issues of coal mining.

The parameters for this study have been identified through a review of the literature and finalized 23 critical parameters of air, water, land and soil, and noise related to coal mining by consultation with experts from industry and academia. Finally, the parameters have been categorized in accordance with the level of threat they pose to the environment by assigning weight using the Bradley–Terry model considering attitudinal data acquired by a questionnaire survey.

It is found that coal mining has a relatively higher impact on four attributes of “air pollution” (suspended particulate matter [SPM], respiratory particulate matter [RPM], sulfur dioxide [SO₂] and oxides of nitrogen [NO_x]), followed by “land and soil pollution” (deforestation and surface structure diversion), “noise pollution” (vehicle movement) and “water pollution” (water hardness, total solids (TSS/TDS) and iron content). It is also found that raising the air concentration of SPM and RPM results in increased respiratory and cardiopulmonary mortality. Therefore, reducing dust concentrations into the air generated during coal mining is recommended to reduce air pollution caused by coal mining, which will reduce contamination of water and land and soil.

The model built in this study is a hypothesized model that relied on the experts' opinions considering the parameters of coal production only. However, the parameters related to the usage of coal and its consequences have been excluded. Further, only industrial and academic experts were considered for this study; however, they excluded local people, coal mining personnel, policy authorities, etc. Therefore, the study findings might differ in real circumstances. The research can further be reproduced by considering the parameters related to the use of coal and its consequences, considering the opinions of the local people, coal mining personnel and policy authorities.

Categorizing the parameters according to the threat they pose to the environment due to coal mining can help the decision-maker develop an effective policy to reduce environmental pollution due to coal mining by considering the parameters on a priority basis. In addition, the results further help the decision-makers to assess the environmental impact of coal mining and take necessary action.

The study has developed a framework using the Bradley–Terry model to categorize the environmental parameters of coal mining to develop effective environmental policies, which are original and unique in nature.