Mandatory collision avoidance systems: lived experiences of South African mineworkers

Abstract

The study explored the intersection between regulatory enforcement, technology acceptance, and safety behaviour in the South African mining industry, following the mandatory adoption of Collision Avoidance Systems (CAS) on Trackless Mobile Machinery (TMM). Although these regulations aim to prevent collisions, persistent incidents raised questions about whether mineworkers genuinely accept CAS or merely comply with it. Mineworkers’ experiences were explored in terms of how they perceive, trust, and respond to CAS under mandatory conditions, and how these experiences affect their effective use and compliance behaviours. A qualitative approach was employed, conducting semistructured interviews with twelve participants from various mining operations, including operators, artisans, and a safety officer. The data was analysed thematically to identify emergent themes of perceptions, trust, and behavioural responses. The findings revealed that mineworkers recognised CAS as beneficial to their safety. However, acceptance of the system was broadly symbolic and driven by compliance pressure and operational demands. Technical limitations, CAS performance and inconsistent enforcement were found to foster conditional trust and workarounds. The study concludes that mandatory enforcement achieves compliance but not genuine acceptance. Legitimacy, trust, and user perception are all critical for effective technology adoption modelling of safety systems in high-risk, regulated environments.