Mine Emergency Rescue Capability Assessment Integrating Sustainable Development: A Combined Model Using Triple Bottom Line and Relative Difference Function

Lu Feng, Jing Xie and Yuxian Ke ()
Additional contact information
Lu Feng: Key Laboratory of Safe and Efficient Mining of Rare Metal Resources in Jiangxi Province, Ganzhou 341000, China
Jing Xie: Key Laboratory of Safe and Efficient Mining of Rare Metal Resources in Jiangxi Province, Ganzhou 341000, China
Yuxian Ke: Key Laboratory of Safe and Efficient Mining of Rare Metal Resources in Jiangxi Province, Ganzhou 341000, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 22, 1-25

Abstract: Assessing Mine Emergency Rescue Capability (MERC) is critical for ensuring mining safety and advancing sustainable development. However, existing MERC assessments often lack a holistic sustainability perspective. To bridge this gap, this study develops a MERC assessment model grounded in the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework, integrating the relative difference function (RDF) to address the fuzziness and subjectivity in evaluation processes. A hierarchical indicator system is constructed, comprising 5 primary factors and 25 sub-indicators across environmental, economic, and social dimensions, reflecting both immediate rescue effectiveness and long-term sustainability performance. Indicator weights are derived from a hybrid approach that combines the subjective G1 method with the objective entropy weight method. RDF is employed to compute membership degrees, and the final MERC level is determined by level characteristic values. The model is validated through an empirical study of six green mines in China. Results demonstrate robust performance and consistency with alternative methods and reveal the environmental dimension as the dominant driver within the TBL framework. This finding supports the ecology-first principle of green mining and underscores the alignment of high-level emergency preparedness with sustainable development objectives. By explicitly embedding sustainability principles into safety assessment, the proposed model provides a scientifically grounded tool to guide the green transformation of the mining industry. Future work will adapt the model to diverse mining contexts and refine the indicators to better support global sustainability goals.

Keywords: mine emergency rescue capability; triple bottom line theory; relative difference function; combined weights; mine sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/22/9948/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/22/9948/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:22:p:9948-:d:1789759

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().