HSE Excellence Europe: Innovate, Collaborate, Elevate!
HSE Excellence Europe: Innovate, Collaborate, Elevate!
The 17th annual HSE Excellence Europe conference recently took place in Amsterdam. CHARLEEN CLARKE reports that delegates were treated to insightful presentations and returned to their workplaces having gained an invaluable understanding of global best practice when it comes to occupational health and safety.
Filip Coumans, managing director, EMEA, at the Krause Bell Group, chaired the conference, and he noted that it was “by far the biggest gathering” at HSE Excellence Europe to date. He explained that 31 different sessions would take place during the two-day event, themed “Innovate, Collaborate, Elevate!”.
COVID TO THE FORE
The conference kicked off with a panel discussion, in which experts chatted about the importance of prioritising health, safety, and environmental concerns in the workplace. Unsurprisingly, many of the speakers during this panel discussion (and indeed many thereafter) brought up the subject of Covid. Andresa Hernandes, vice president occupational safety at Siemens, issued a rather worrying warning: “We don’t know what the next pandemic will be – but it’s coming.”
Panellist Anthony Renshaw, regional medical director at International SOS, asked the super-interesting question: “Are we prioritising health more after the biggest health crisis we have ever had?”
He believes that some companies have short memories when it comes to what the world went through. “I would like for us not to talk about ESG, but ESGH,” he noted.
According to Renshaw, mental health is a crisis that has worsened since the pandemic. “The good news is that there is a shift. There is a societal imperative to do more – especially when it comes to mental health. The interesting thing is that over 90% of companies do have a strategy in place but only one in six employees feel supported,” he revealed.
Marieke Bleyenbergh, global director health, safety, environment, and security at AkzoNobel, said that life isn’t easier now that the pandemic is on the backburner. “During the Covid years, we didn’t know where things were going and, in a way, that’s still the case today – due to armed conflicts and artificial intelligence (AI). We need to accept that, as HSE professionals, we’re living in a fast-changing world where there is uncertainty,” she noted.
Yet another topic that presents challenges, according to Bleyenbergh, is sustainability. “No one company can resolve this challenge on its own. We are therefore seeing a huge trend of cross functional collaboration – we are looking for alliances to find solutions that are profitable. We cannot kill the economy by focusing on the planet,” she stressed.
Malcolm Staves, global vice president health and safety at L’Oreal, told delegates about his company’s Safe@Work-Safe@Home initiative, created in 2018 and designed to develop a sense of pride and a culture of care throughout the organisation. “We wanted to make a difference to people’s lives, and so we embarked on a journey,” he explained.
That journey took the company beyond the offices and factory, into homes. “Lots of people die accidentally at home every year. As health and safety professionals, what the hell are you doing about it? You’re focusing on the people who die at work. As health and safety professionals, why not go beyond? Why not try to make a difference beyond work?” he asked delegates.
It was interesting to learn about the risks that the company deals with. “Our biggest killer is not our factories; it’s driving. This is our biggest challenge in L’Oréal … people think that it’s okay to take calls while driving,” he said with clear disapproval and frustration.
Staves was as honest as ever (we have listened to many of his talks). “Our company is not perfect,” he admitted. “It would be false for me to stand up and say ‘look at how good we are’.” But one thing that the company has achieved is buy-in from management. “Our biggest impact on safety is the visible leadership of the management. No matter what rules we put in place, we only succeed if the engagement of management is there.”
Thomas Meier, executive consultant at the Krause Bell Group, agreed. “Reducing serious injuries and fatalities is easier said than done. Culture is one of the most common barriers to improvement. The second biggest challenge is leadership and decision making,” he noted.
Of course, cultivating safety leadership in itself can be a challenge. “Like a garden, safety leadership requires space to grow, with each individual contributing to collectively cultivating a safer and more resilient environment,” pointed out Petra van Dieren, health and safety capability and leadership manager at Heineken. “Growth is worth waiting for. Also, you don’t know which seed will flower or blossom. But I have a personal commitment to keep sowing seeds anyway,” she told delegates.
As a case in point, Van Dieren related a safety leadership experience that was piloted in Heineken’s New Zealand operations in 2020. “The result? Zero accidents in 2023,” she revealed.
FOCUS ON AI AND TECHNOLOGY
Despite the repeated references to Covid, AI and tech also got their fair share of the limelight. For instance, Remy Wierenga, group safety director at Refresco, and Xavier Puyaubreau, senior manager Benchmark Gensuite, told delegates about AI-enabled solutions for the health and safety industry.
Identifying workplace risks with the greatest potential for harm is, of course, a time-consuming manual process that requires extensive precursor tracing to classify Potentially Serious Incidents (PSIs) and help prevent future occurrences. AI can help to provide many things, including clear incident descriptions and incident patterns, as well as real-time analysis and alerts. For instance, Benchmark Gensuite’s PSI AI Advisor Incident Management software streamlines this process, leveraging AI to provide deep operational insights in significantly less time and with greater accuracy than traditional manual identification.
Wierenga told delegates all about the Cynefin framework. Cynefin, pronounced “kuh-nev-in”, is a Welsh word that signifies the multiple intertwined factors in our environment and our experience that influence how we think, interpret, and act in ways we can never fully understand.
“For every fall incident, the one root cause is gravity. We know this and it doesn’t help. Instead, we need to learn from incidents. We need clear descriptions of the context; we need to recognise patterns in the data; plus, we need communication and clarification of the critical relations, context, and conclusion. AI can help with all of this,” Wierenga elaborated.
Konstantin Struck, co-founder and COO of Kyan Health, also promoted the use of AI in health and safety. He started his presentation by asking how many delegates knew someone who had battled with mental health. 98% of the hands in the room were raised. “Clearly, mental health has become one of the most important management challenges of our time. We need to move away from treating mental health issues to preventing those issues in the first place,” Struck pointed out.
The company has developed an AI-based well-being radar, which accesses holistic well-being levels 24/7. Developed with leading institutions and scientists, it is fully confidential. “Natural language processing (NLP) technology is being used to detect that someone is having a crisis. NLP will predict a breakdown or a mental health episode. We do need reactive solutions – so that people can call and get support. But, if we really want to make progress in this field, it needs to be predictive,” Struck stressed.
Someone who is having mental health challenges can be connected to a professional who can help immediately; there’s no need to wait. With the client’s permission, Kyan Health can clone the voice of the person’s grandfather, spouse, or whoever … the client can pick the voice. So, the client can chat to someone incredibly special to them. Kyan Health needs just 10 to 15 seconds of that person’s voice in a quiet place – and then they can clone the voice, which can also be used for meditation.
Significantly, Struck says that the company’s mental health tools can impact a company’s bottom line. “Even though it is the right thing to do, a return on investment can be shown, so it’s not purely a philanthropic exercise,” he revealed.
Also on the subject of AI, Boris Berghmans, vice president of sales at Essensium, told delegates about SafeTrack, which uses AI to eliminate accidents between forklifts and pedestrians. He explained that this innovation enhances safety without compromising warehouse productivity. The site operator can stipulate “Safe Operating Distances” for the different vehicles and locations. These are made available on the devices installed in the vehicles. An audible alarm and visual indicator inside the cabin warn the vehicle operators when they are violating the Safe Operating Distances. Vehicle-to-vehicle safety is also provided: this super clever system prevents forklift trucks from colliding with each other, calculating the future 30 times a second!
Nuno Marques Peirico, director of health and safety performance at Veolia, warned that AI’s bed of roses has hidden thorns. “The digital transformation is happening – and it will change the lives of the employees. It has its challenges, though. AI lacks emotional intelligence, for instance. Furthermore, the digital transformation means increasing dependency on computers, which can be problematic. Data security and data privacy are two other challenges pertaining to the era of digital transformation,” he revealed. From an ethical point of view, there is the concern over job losses as a result of digital transformation. Put simply, some people won’t be needed.
Turning to tech, Michael Swain, senior solutions consultant at Evotix, noted that the EHS industry is undergoing a digital revolution. “In the rapidly evolving landscape of EHS technology, there is an increasing need for organisations to ensure their workers are fully prepared to embrace the digital transformation of EHS processes. The EHS software market is projected to reach a value of US$3.5 billion by 2029,” he revealed.
The development is being welcomed; 83% of health and safety leaders believe digital transformation is improving EHS outcomes. “Over 50% of businesses will use mobile EHS software by 2025,” Swain predicted.
Leon Marsh, founder and CEO of Bodytrak, also spoke about tech – specifically its role in mitigating workplace incidents tied to heat stress and fatigue.
He gave delegates some fascinating data when it comes to heat stress, noting that rising global temperatures are increasing the risks of heat-related incidents. “In the US, heat is associated with more than 8,500 worker deaths annually. This is estimated to increase to 59,000 by 2050,” he warned.
Some 80% of reported heat-related illnesses occur within the first four days of employment. “This can lead to global instability and cost the global economy US$2.4 trillion every year by 2030. When the core body temperatures exceed 38°C, it starts to impair physical and cognitive functions. A single incident of overheating related to extreme weather conditions can cost an employer around US$79,081,” Marsh added.
Also on the subject of tech, Scott Gaddis, VP and global practice leader, safety and health at Intelex, delivered a very interesting presentation on the journey of safety culture and its connection to technology. “Success is about people, first and foremost. In health and safety, improving employee participation is the number one reported challenge. We have much work to do,” he noted.
Much of that work can be achieved via tech. “A total of 28% of employees use social media while they’re at work; 51% of employees already use company-mandated apps to do work; 93% of employees own a mobile device; 82% of employees keep their phone within eyesight during their workday; 72% of younger generation workers text more than 10 times daily; 83% of millennials open a text within 90 seconds of receiving them. Millennials and Gen Zs text, they don’t call. So, use bulletins, articles, and posts to ‘talk’ to them,” Gaddis urged.
Photographs are far more effective than reams of text. “We had a client in Mexico, and we used to post pictures of problems and safety infractions. By the close of business the next day, all those problems were resolved,” he told delegates.
He also encouraged delegates to consider employing workforce wearables. “These devices collect information through a sensor. They can produce learnings and then you come up with data sets, leveraging action if needed. Technology can give you expansive geographical reach, rich data consumption and understanding, and shared accountability. It increases learning, while promoting high psychological safety. The result? People go home safely and healthy every day.”
Tom West, president of MākuSafe, also promoted the use of wearables. “You have all done a remarkable job of driving key performance indicators (KPIs) downwards – and we’re talking about people and their lives here! But how do we break through the floor? There’s also mounting evidence that KPIs could rise again,” he warned.
According to West, it is estimated that the vast majority of near misses (up to 85% or more) go unreported. “Wearable technology may offer a powerful way to understand where those near misses, risks, and hazards lie,” he urged.
West stressed that wearable technology is not about tracking people. It does not violate worker privacy and it doesn’t monitor the length of the worker’s coffee break, for instance. “However, you can pair a wearable device with a company-issued mobile device. Contact tracing is then possible (which is useful in a pandemic),” he noted.
TECH WON’T REPLACE HUMANS
While tech has an important role to play in health and safety, the experts agreed that it will never replace the human factor. “People are still the nucleus for better EHSQ performance. Our solutions help leverage organisations from gaining simple worker participation to a culture of authentic partnership,” Intelex’s Gaddis noted.
Martin Bardle, global EH&S, corporate security, and quality compliance director at Reckitt, also enthused about the value of people. He said that it’s important to have a holistic view of what we need to do to create excellence. “Remember, achieving excellence in health and safety is an ongoing process. It requires commitment, collaboration, and a proactive mindset,” he told delegates at HSE Excellence Europe.
“No matter how small or big roles may seem, we are part of a larger narrative that shapes our lives, other people’s lives, businesses, and organisations. When everyone embraces this attitude, incredible things happen,” he said.
Continuing on the theme of humans and our role in safety, AkzoNobel’s Bleyenbergh gave an excellent presentation on process safety fundamentals (PSFs). She said that there are three key messages when it comes to safety: “The first is that everyone makes mistakes – they happen because we are human. The second is that we can design for errors and work to limit the consequences; the third is that learning is vital for improvement. We need to ask ‘what failed?’ rather than ‘who failed?’,” she noted.
AkzoNobel does this via its PSFs. “These are a set of safe behaviours designed to avoid spills, fires, or explosions and support front-line workers, supervisors, and operational line management. They draw attention to typical daily tasks that could lead to a hazardous chemical release if not executed safely,” she explained.
The PSFs provide a clear task-level tool to increase understanding of tasks that have gone wrong in the past. “The PSFs can be used in existing processes like Hazard of the Day, observations, toolbox meetings, standard operating procedures, and hazard and near miss reporting. Any dilemmas or challenges should be discussed and followed up so that challenges in daily work are removed,” she elaborated.
According to Bleyenbergh, PSFs are not there to address all company hazards or replace existing process safety management practices and procedures – neither are they another set of rules like the life-saving rules.
And what do the staff at AkzoNobel think about the PSFs? “PSF process confirmations are good reminders of good practice and a reflection on how we do our work,” one team member told Bleyenbergh. “They are working for us; I feel safe,” said another.
And that, of course, was the ultimate goal of the conference. Yes, the theme may have been “Innovate, Collaborate, Elevate!”, but the purpose of all those activities is clear: getting every single worker home safely. We can but hope that this goal is achieved – one conference at a time.
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