Organizational Ownership of an Interdependent HSE Culture Yields Quantifiable HSE Performance

Abstract

A major oilfield service company began the journey to create a stronger safety culture in its organization. This journey was rooted in the belief that if a company has a mature, interdependent HSE culture, its employees are more likely to recognize and act upon hazardous work conditions than at a company without this culture. It was also firmly believed that HSE leadership skills and operational HSE ownership are important tools in achieving this HSE culture shift. Therefore, to facilitate the cultural shift, an HSE leadership program was developed and instituted. This paper describes the case study of the Africa region of this oilfield service company following a two-year time period of implementing the HSE Leadership Program. It was expected that the implementation of the HSE Leadership program would lead to HSE culture improvements and furthermore result in HSE performance improvements. Results of the program implementation were highly successful. In addition to a genuine concern for the employee workforce from senior and middle managers, the performance improvements have been remarkable in both leading and lagging indicators.