Life was much quieter and simpler when I started my HSE careers in the late 1970s – no electro-house music, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no internet, and no e-waste! Now computers, mobile phones, TVs and other electronic equipment can be found worldwide, even in the poorest communities. While the electronics/internet age unarguably has […]
Category Archives: Environment
How to Manage Hazardous Wastes When Disposal Facilities Are AWOL
Effective and responsible management of solid wastes is one of the most challenging issues faced by companies operating in the developing world, as discussed in a previous blog post – Garage, Garbage Everywhere – A Primer on Solid Waste Management. As a result, the issue of hazardous waste management is near the top of the […]
Littering and Site Housekeeping… Or, Why Are We Slobs?
An experienced HSE auditor can visit an industrial or commercial facility and within the first few minutes come to a reasonable conclusion as to whether or not he or she might expect to find significant HSE issues at that particular site. A site that is well organized and free of clutter, debris and litter inevitably […]
Garage, Garbage Everywhere – A Primer on Solid Waste Management
Over the last twenty years I have travelled extensively across Asia and visited countless industrial facilities, including those in primary (extractive), secondary (manufacturing) and tertiary (services) sectors. Regardless of the sector, one of the greatest challenges faced by these companies – and also one of the most commonly overlooked and poorly managed – pertains to […]
H&S, OHS, HSE, HSSE, HSSEQ, HSSEQ/CSR … Alphabet Soupization
In the 1970s, back when I was in high school/university and working summer jobs in Canada at construction sites and lumber yards, I do not remember ever running across a safety officer or in fact any sort of HSE professional at the job site.In the early 1980s, I worked as an environmental scientist and had […]