HSE Culture: From Vision to Practice

From Vision to Real Actions: The Evolution of HSE Culture

Building a Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) culture is not just a set of slogans, but systematic work requiring the involvement of every employee. Speaker Mikhail Kovalev, a representative of Salym Petroleum, shares practical experience in transforming attitudes toward safety at production sites. The HSE culture program, launched in 2015, has gone through several stages of evolution, and today its key goal is to create an environment where everyone consciously chooses safe work and is ready to intervene in dangerous situations out of genuine care for colleagues.

The presentation details the phenomenon of self-organization: out of 25 active HSE culture communities at the field, half were initiated by and consist entirely of contractor personnel. This is a clear indicator that safety culture goes beyond the formal requirements of the customer and becomes an internal need of the workers themselves.

Engagement Tools: From Training to Mentoring

To realize the HSE culture vision, the company has built a multi-level training and support system. The basic stage is a transformational training for all new employees, aimed at changing established stereotypes about safety and analyzing the human factor in incidents. The next step is specialized training for line managers (foremen, team leaders), which breaks down the specific daily actions of a leader: from properly issuing a task to correctly suspending dangerous work.

The speaker demonstrates by example how important it is to move from theory to practice. Immediately after training, participants practice their skills at real production sites under the guidance of mentors. The company has two pools of mentors: full-time risk management specialists and volunteer HSE culture support mentors. An important insight: risk mentors come from production units (drillers, builders), which ensures a dialogue "on equal terms" and removes the barrier of distrust from work crews.

Working with Contractor Top Management: "Partners and Leaders" Sessions

One of the key problems in implementing an HSE culture was the lack of understanding from contractor management as to why their employees spend time on safety training and sessions. To solve this problem, "Partners and Leaders" sessions were introduced with the participation of top management from both sides. The focus of these meetings is shifted from theory to practical issues and the business benefits of improving safety levels.

The result of such sessions is an informal "gentlemen's agreement" sealed by the signatures of the general directors. This tool of open dialogue allows identifying areas for growth and recording mutual obligations, which significantly increases the motivation and involvement of contractor management in HSE culture issues.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to transform workers' attitudes toward safety and overcome a formal approach?
• What practical tools help line managers become true HSE culture leaders?
• How to organize an effective mentoring system at a production site?
• Why is it important to involve contractor top management and how to do it in practice?
• How to build partnerships with contractors based on openness and a conscious choice in favor of safety?