How to improve the regulatory performance of the provincial administrations of coal mine safety in China: A grey clustering assessment based on centre-point mixed triangular whitenisation weight function

The vertical-management system of coal mine safety regulation in China has played an important role in improving coal mine safety. In this study, the performances of coal mine safety regulation in the provincial Administrations of Coal Mine Safety (ACMS) are evaluated and analysed by a grey clustering method using centre-point mixed triangular whitenisation weight function. The results show that the provincial ACMS could be divided into four categories, and the clustering results are highly consistent with the actual situation. Overall, regulatory performance of provincial ACMS is on the low side since 21 provincial ACMS belong to the lowest and lower grey performance classes. Causes of diversified performances could be attributed to the number of per capita regulatory times, rather than per capita working days. From a policy perspective, it is essential for the State ACMS to strengthen regulation and management.