Regulatory Governance and Risk Management: Occupational Health and Safety in the Coal Mining Industry is the first book that addresses the diffusion of risk-based governance in the coal mining industry from a health and safety standpoint.

Since the 1990s, the approach of risk-based governance has been widely adopted in most developed countries. It has diffused much more slowly in the US. Using a diffusion approach and comparisons between Australia and the US, this book examines mechanisms that both drive and prevent the diffusion of risk-based governance in the coal mining industry. This is a timely work given the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion of April 2010.

After this disaster, many asked why an enhanced level of enforcement has not prevented catastrophic accidents from occurring and why risk-based governance, which helps other countries achieve better safety performance, has not been practiced in the US. This book answers these questions and makes recommendations on how to remove barriers in moving toward risk-based governance. This book embeds theories into storytelling and gives particular emphasis on the influence of key strategic individuals.