Are you looking for some new perspectives on HSE processes and systems?  With those new perspectives come new ideas as well. Something to differentiate you and your organization from the pack.  Innovation is more than just a way to pad your performance review though. It’s a requirement of our modern world.  I have touched on disruptive innovation several times in posts on this blog. The reason is that I am watching these disruptions redefine industry after industry.  Just ask UPS if they are concerned about Amazon experimenting with various schemes to deliver it’s products. Our trade is plied in these same industries. We too must accept the need to radically innovate in our systems and methods to support the same efforts our organisations are undergoing at the enterprise level.  Competition is fierce and little tweaks can be the difference maker.

But where might you find these departures from the tried an true?  There are proven methods to find innovative ideas and bring them to your industry. One of the best methods is to benchmark HSE Professionals in other countries.  Differences in regulations, cultural norms, and engineering application methods can create vastly divergent approaches to HSE success.  Through a friend and fellow HSE Professional, I recently made contact with a European organization that specializes in conducting professional development events for technical specialties like ours.

The event is The 8th Annual HSE Excellence Europe, May 20-22, in Vienna, Austria.  I asked to see the agenda and was immediately taken by the quality of the speakers and the freshness of many of the topics.  These are high-level HSE Professionals, from industry leading organizations, who are sharing the ideas and methods that they have used to be successful.  HSE gold my friends!  Three of the subjects particularly caught my eye as likely sources of innovation.  These are:

• A Strategic and Practical Approach to Managing HSE Risks, by Alastair Davey, Global Health and Safety Director, Sodexo.
• The Five Keys to Achieving Total Wellbeing, Cesar Gamio, Chopra Center for Wellbeing.
• Safety Leadership: From the Boardroom to the Frontline, Representatives from an Australian Mining Company

Follow the link above to get more detail on the contents of these presentations and to register for the event.  All together there are 3 days of exciting presentations from HSE Leaders who are in the trenches driving continuous improvement for their organisations or in the public arena.

I am pleased to see two of the United States’ distinguished professionals on the list of speakers for this event.   Darryl Hill, Global Director of Health & Safety, Johnson Controls and Neil Tonge, Global Director of EHS & Sustainability, Molsen Coors Brewing Company are representing our best efforts in North America.  I am going to ask both of them for some comments on their presentations and the event for a blog post to be made in the next week or two.

My work as an executive in global businesses has allowed me to see firsthand the value of learning and collaborating with leaders from other cultures.  Some of our best ideas were a blend of what works in each region.  It is truly inspiring to develop a close working relationship with a leader from another land, and to find the common ground all HSE Professionals have around protecting people, planet and profit.  HSE Excellence Europe is a great chance for you to experience that same sense of collaborative innovation for yourself and your organization.