2366 organizational layers, increasing coordination complexity and exposing leaderships capability gaps rather purely technological limitation. 3. IMPROVEMENT A persistent gap exists between the availability of digital safety information and the human capability to interpret, contextualize, and act on that information under real operational conditions. Overreliance on automated recommendations may reduce critical thinking and situational awareness, while insufficient attention to communication and trust can limit reporting and learning. Furthermore, digital initiatives often overlook the organizational risks introduced by change, such as cognitive overload, resistance, and misalignment between operators and contractors. This gap highlights the need for a structured leadership model that integrates digital intelligence with human-centered competencies and responsible change management. 4. CONTRIBUTION This paper contributes a structured Human + Digital Safety Leadership Model grounded in three leadership pillars relevant to smart mining, and an exploratory empirical baseline from Peru that characterizes current practices, perceived outcomes, and barriers across operators and contractors. The contribution supports leadership development and implementation strategies that align digital transformation with sustainable safety performance, addressing both technological opportunities and human risks. Rather than proposing technology adoption as a primary solution, this paper argues that leadership capability maturity conditions the safety return on digital investment. In this sense, the Human + Digital model reframes digital transformation as a leadership development challenge as much a technological one. Beyond empirical characterization, this paper introduces an operationalized leadership framework that enables mining organizations to diagnose their Human + Digital maturity, identify structural gaps, and design leadership development and change management strategies aligned with responsible digital transformation. 5. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: HUMAN + DIGITAL SAFETY LEADERSHIP MODEL The Human + Digital Safety Leadership Model is proposed to address the structural gap identified between digital safety capability and human leadership integration in smart mining environments. Rather than treating technology and leadership as separate domains, the model conceptualizes safety leadership as the balanced integration of data-informed decision support and essential human competencies. The framework is structured around three interdependent pillars. Pillar 1: Augmenting Human Judgment through AI and Critical Thinking Digital and AI-enabled tools should augment—not replace—human decision-making in safetycritical contexts. While predictive analytics and real-time systems enhance hazard detection, effective use depends on leaders’ ability to interpret, question, and contextualize data under operational variability. This pillar emphasizes critical thinking as a safeguard against automation bias and over-reliance on algorithmic recommendations. Pillar 2: Emotional Intelligence and Effective Communication in Multicultural Teams Digital insights must be cognitively interpreted and operationally translated by leaders to generate safe action. Leaders are responsible for transforming analytical outputs into clear, actionable guidance for diverse operational teams. Emotional intelligence and effective communication are therefore essential to sustain trust, psychological safety, and reporting culture—particularly in multicultural and high-pressure
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