3 Absolute Foundations to Build HSE Culture in the Organization to Achieve Best HSE Performance

HSE is the organization’s need to ensure all employees are safe and healthy at work and to ensure that all activities of the organization do not directly or indirectly cause pollution or damage to the environment.

Business development and competition in various sectors are becoming increasingly strict, the price of a product or service is no longer the primary demand of customers. Compliance with legal procedures, Health, Safety & Environment at work (HSE), corporate social responsibility is required to ensure the survival of enterprises in addition to the protection of the environment. It is driven by public concerns, governments, world organizations, professional organizations and the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). HSE performance becomes a mirror of organizational sustainability and guarantees of business sustainability.

HSE’s performance is generally and easily recognized by the presence or absence of losses or costs incurred after an incident occurred. On the contrary, no losses or costs incurred as a result of an incident does not mean the organization is “in order”. This is a new foundation in setting the HSE performance criteria for an organization, where not only lagging indicators are a measure of HSE success but how the organization’s behaviour protects the environment and ensures the safety, health and health of employees and people involved is demonstrated by the entire employee level and becomes a common and consistent thing. 

In order to solid HSE performance and have a positive impact on business sustainability, an organization must have a strong HSE culture.  Many organizations fail to build a HSE culture despite having invested huge resources and for a long time. There are also organizations that are built taking into account the many requirements of HSE, have a great commitment of leadership outputs and have great HSE managers, but hobbled in its implementation. Why does it happen? What is wrong?

I once asked a landlord, how to ensure a house is strong and resilient in the event of an earthquake? Should it be with a steel frame and light brick walls? The answer is very short and clear, first you have to make sure the foundation is strong and correct. Even if we build with light bricks and steel frames, or with thick concrete, if the foundations are not suitable then the house will still not be strong, let alone the earthquake. 

What does it have to do with HSE?

This analogy is suitable to describe how to build strong HSE performance. The HSE building will not be strong and hope if it is not laid the right and strong foundation. Human, Infrastructure and System Management are the absolute foundations laid for building of HSE. These three bases are the HSE triangle that cannot be a strong base if one of them is removed.

The interactor line of the HSE foundation is the absolute thing that is key for organizations to blossom the HSE culture and win the interests of customers and the community in the competition of enterprises. The absence or weakness of one of the factors affecting the structure, stability, reliability, alignment, the effectiveness of the application of HSE will affect the weakening of culture and the achievement of non-maximum performance.