Forming a Proactive Approach to Occupational Safety. Modern Realities: Roles and Tasks of an HSE Specialist
From Reactive Control to a Proactive Safety Culture
Modern realities require an HSE specialist to go beyond their usual functions. Vyacheslav Pachin, Head of the HSE and Fire Safety Department at the Agropromkomplektatsiya Group of Companies, uses the agro-industrial complex as an example to analyze why the traditional approach to safety no longer works and how to transform the specialist's role in the organization.
The presentation details the stereotype of the HSE specialist as a "policeman" whose main task is the formal compliance with legal requirements and the investigation of incidents that have already occurred. The speaker shows that this approach leads to the concealment of injuries and the formation of a culture where safety is sacrificed for production plans.
Transforming the Role of the HSE Specialist
To transition to a proactive approach, the specialist must become a leader and advisor, rather than an overseer. This requires a paradigm shift: from punishing violations to jointly finding root causes and developing preventive measures.
- Involving managers and employees: Implementing HSE KPIs (for example, the number of identified violations or submitted improvement ideas, rather than "zero injuries") stimulates openness and active staff participation in safety matters.
- Case-based training: Conducting internal training with the analysis of real situations (for example, actions when hiring a new employee) helps managers better understand their tasks in the field of occupational safety.
- Production control and checklists: Regular audits using checklists allow assessing the compliance of departments with safety requirements and creating a competitive effect among them.
Specifics of Safety in the Agro-Industrial Complex
The speaker analyzes the unique challenges of the industry, where biosafety is paramount. Strict sanitary standards, the division of zones into "dirty" and "clean", and the ban on contact with animals outside of work — all this requires the integration of HSE requirements into strictly regulated production processes.
What you will learn from this webinar:
- How to change the stereotypical perception of an HSE specialist in a company?
- Why the "zero injuries" goal can lead to incident concealment and which KPIs are more effective?
- How to use checklists to create a competitive effect between departments?
- How to properly justify the budget for HSE measures to management?
- What are the specifics of ensuring safety at agro-industrial complex enterprises?
Comments 1
Very interesting and accessible! Some things resonate with the occupational safety work in our company, but there are also new interesting ideas! Thank you very much to the speakers and organizers!