Employee safety, managing capital projects and maximising production effectiveness are the top priorities of today’s mining executives, shows a study released by industrial software company Ventyx, a subsidiary of ABB.

The 2012 Worldwide Mining Survey analyzed new trends and shifting attitudes around workforces, capital investments and technology and purports to represent the views of 374 mining companies.

The results indicate that ensuring workforce safety is the top priority for the second time in three years, with 31% of respondents saying so.

One quarter of respondents, which included C level executives, vice presidents and directors, ranked managing capital projects as their main worry.

Instead of developing new sites, mining companies are currently favouring the expansion of existing operations. In addition, 21% of executives surveyed gave precedence to maximising production effectiveness.

“Our research shows the mining industry remains cautious about the strength of global economic recovery. In response, many mining organizations have begun looking inward, especially in regard to the labour market,” said in a press release Bas Mutsaers, Ventyx senior vice president of mining industry solutions.

“In doing so, they have shifted their focus from finding qualified workers anywhere, at any cost, to ensuring the workforce they currently have is efficient, well-informed and safe,” Mutsaers added.

The study also demonstrates that mining executives closely correlate worker safety and mine productivity. When asked to identify their primary safety initiatives, nearly two-thirds or 64% of respondents selected “development of skills, best work practices and situation-based decision making.”