In order to fully adapt to market requirements, mining enterprises in recent years have implemented standardized systems for quality, safety and health at work and environmental management. The standards for individual systems define the requirements of applying specific procedures and actions to implement the adopted policy aimed at achieving the assumed goals. The combination of business procedures and practices is more effective in the case of their integration than the activities carried out under separate systems. They then function under the name of an integrated management system (IMS). Properly implemented IMSs most often contributes to a more harmonious functioning of the enterprise and the elimination of recurring activities in the areas concerning individual systems, and thus to the optimization of costs related to their implementation and maintenance. Improving the operational efficiency of the mining enterprise and mines included in it, while maintaining the requirements of work safety and environmental protection. In the conditions of a market economy, improving the efficiency of functioning and providing sources of business financing is a key necefity for mining enterprise (Bąk 2007, 2008). Mines need to be properly managed to survive. The key problem is the design and implementation of an efficient management system and its continuous improvement based on the adequacy of system solutions. This is an answer to the question whether the management system of a mining enterprise (mine) corresponds to its real needs in the process of achieving objectives. Improvement of management systems must be based on an appropriate diagnosis. The aim of the article is to present the original solution, which is a tool for improving the integrated management system in Polish mining enterprises.

In Polish mining enterprises, mining exploitation processes are often carried out in much more difficult geological and mining conditions. At the same time, underground operation must be carried out in accordance with the legal requirements concerning work safety and public safety. In these circumstances, taking into account the fact that hard coal mining is by nature a less competitive industry, it should be stated that in Poland managing a mining enterprise is a real challenge. Additionally, in the situation of the functioning of mining enterprises in the conditions of the market economy and constant changes in the economic situation for coal, both on the domestic and foreign markets, the degree of management difficulties, including planning and decision making, is constantly increasing. This is a result of not only the specificity of mining production processes, but also the need to conduct effective economic activity in a constantly and dynamically changing environment. During the implementation of changes in a mining enterprise, the variety of conditions often increases difficulties in the change forecasting system and generates a high risk of implementing adaptive measures. The changes may have a different scope – from gradual, aimed at improving the activities carried out or slowly adapting to changes in the environment, through changes in implemented processes, to radical changes in functioning, often associated with organizational changes.This article aims to present the method of managing a mining enterprise, Poland Grupa Górnicza SA, established during the period of significant changes that took place at that time, both in the company itself and in the hard coal mining industry.

All the restructuring programs that have been implemented in Polish bituminous coal mining as a primary way to reduce mining costs relied on the increased concentration of mining operations. Those efforts especially involved a significant simplification of existing or newly developed structures for accessing or cutting the deposits intended for extraction; implementation of advanced mining technologies, and upgrading of machines used in mine faces. However, in order for these to deliver the expected results, it is important to organize mining operations in such a way so that those advanced, and usually very expensive, mining-related fixed assets – machinery and equipment – are used sensibly. In order to define a reasonable production capacity of each longwall face, it is necessary to apply various criteria related to the mining and technical aspects, occupational safety, and organizational and economic aspects. Only then will it be possible to evaluate the expected effects in the field of concentration of mining in a mining company and in the mines which form part of such enterprises. Decisions in this respect should always be made at the planning stage, based on analysis results. The aim of this article is to explore the factors involved in concentration-related decision-making in mining companies, including the underlying mining/technical, organizational, and economic/ /financial aspects. A mining company is understood as a group of related mines, the primary business operations of which include bituminous coal mining, processing, and trading.