This paper describes how an oilfield services company in Colombia implemented a new program to complement its traditional safety training, to ensure that new recruits receive not only health, safety and environment (HSE) knowledge but also a strong message from the company about the safety culture inherent in its values. The HSE culture maturity model developed by the oil and gas industry indicates that having a management system is necessary yet not always sufficient to ensure continuous improvement. The authors argue that companies consider a more integral approach and take into account human behavior, corporate values and the culture forming the environment in which the company operates. This integral approach requires a long term strategy allowing some time to pass before the company can see changes in its HSE performance. This becomes challenging when a company enters a period of growth with high staff turnover. In that case, the company needs to be more creative to ensure the full integration of the new employees into its safety culture. This paper examines a program developed for new employees to get them involved in the building of houses for underprivileged families in the communities where the company operates. Each employee receives comprehensive HSE training prior to starting the project. The program objectives include providing new employees with opportunities for community outreach, management visibility and teamwork as well as the hands-on HSE training to give the new employees a chance to put acquired HSE knowledge into practice and demonstrate competency before being exposed to the front line risks of the industry. This paper also describes how the program contributes to the company’s long term strategy to minimize HSE risks and develop a more mature HSE culture.
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