HSE for Youth—Reinforcing an HSE Culture to Employees, Families and Communities in the Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

Abstract An initiative has been developed by an oilfield services company to share its health, safety, and environment (HSE) knowledge and expertise with families and local communities, who in turn reinforce a HSE culture among employees, which helps make such a culture become a lifestyle habit for all. The initiative, "HSE for Youth", is a program designed to reach young people aged between 11 and 18. It focuses on seven themes: Injury Prevention, Road Safety, Personal Security, HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Water and Climate Change. Workshops are designed to be easy-to-implement and low cost, and are facilitated by volunteer employees, spouses and motivated people in the community. Participants include children of employees, clients, and members of local communities. This paper explains how the worldwide program was established, and how materials were developed based on the company's HSE expertise, as well as on external public health and educational expertise. All content is learner-centered and is flexible and adaptable to local contexts yet is framed by the company's corporate quality control system. Several hundred children have participated since the program was launched in 2008. The paper also describes a local adaptation of the program in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru called "HSE for Kids", tailored to reach a younger audience and their parents, and already implemented in seventeen offices and operational bases.