This topic was suggested to me by a blog reader, M.F., an HSE trainer from a country in South Asia, who commented on the dismal state of HSE in his country:
“Organisations state that they are adopting HSE but in reality they don’t have HSE departments in their organisations. Secondly, most of the consultants or institutes who teaching HSE certifications are fake and they are working with third-party contract from another country….”
As a long-time resident of Asia, one comes quickly to accept the widespread and highly visible trade in counterfeit goods. These range from the ubiquitous “Rolex” watches and “Prada” handbags through to fake university diplomas and transcripts.
So, is it any surprise then that some so-called “HSE Professionals” not only have fake diplomas/degrees but also fake OSHA cards, NEBOSH and IOSH certificates and other “credentials”? Or, that many companies have fake HSE Departments, fake ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001 certificates or that these certificates were generated from ISO “mills”? Or, that environmental monitoring data are falsified? Or, that EIA studies done for new projects may have been subject to fraud and bribes?
This issue of fake credentials is most definitely unfair for the HSE Professionals who have made the time and financial commitment to gain a real education in the field, not to mention the risks posed to worker health & safety and the environment.
How Widespread is This Problem?
It is of course very difficult, if not impossible, to get accurate estimates of the extent of this problem. My guess is it is wider spread than many of us would want to believe. A quick scan via google and one can find many such examples:
This is not only restricted to the developing world:
What Can be Done About It?
In my experience, only on a very small minority of companies make a real effort to verify credentials during the hiring process or vendor procurement process. Why? Well, it is time consuming and can be costly. But, as has been noted by countless others – if you believe it is too expensive to hire a professional, just wait until you employ an amateur!
As a first step, we must recognize that it is a buyer-beware world within which we operate.
So, if you are hiring HSE staff or consultants, take the time to talk to them, ask them specific questions about their experience and some basic HSE questions that pertain to your operations. Ask about their certifications, where they studied, course content, etc. If you are not satisfied with the answers then look for someone else.
The same goes with suppliers. If you and your organization are truly committed to sustainable business practices, then you may need to convince those responsible for procurement of the need to conduct some basic level of HSE auditing of key suppliers.
Unfortunately, I am not sure what advice I can give to the HSE Professional who invests his or her time and money into a proper education and then sees others take jobs with fake credentials. This must be at the very least disheartening.
Perhaps by raising the profile of this issue we can make some slight difference.
I am certain sure that most of us in this field have run across such individuals and can give many examples of incompetence from supposedly highly qualified personnel or have interviewed candidate who looked exceptional on paper were incapable of answering the most basic HSE questions. Or, perhaps you have lost out on tenders or sales to competitors with fake credentials. I would be most interested in hearing your comments and experiences related to this topic.
Finally, I would like to thank M.F. for the suggestion of the topic and wish him all the best in his HSE career!
Thanks for reading. Keep safe. Be healthy. Respect your environment.
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Next Week’s Blog Topic: Are Phase I Environmental ESAs in Asia a Waste of Time and Money? Property Transfer and Environmental Liability in Asia
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Yes, it is truth that described in the blog. Mostly the eployer goes throughquantitative assessment of candidate not qualitative. Just the number of certs is shown to interviwer & the job ia urs. You are absolutely right as you said companies dont want to waste on the authenticity. I appeared before an employer all the ques he asked I answered exact, but the candidate beside me showed his certificated & number of experience, believe me he didn’t know to speak in a rightt way but he was preferred just due to he had fake copies of experience letters.
Arslan, Thanks for your comment. Yes, this is a very sad situation but all too common. Wish I could offer solution but it seems many that are hiring staff simply want to see the stack of “credentials”. The loser is not only the truly qualified and passionate HSE professional, but also the workers and environment put at risk by unqualified staff.
Dearest, you just put your finger on the wound, I think that recruiters should contact the certificates issuer to be sure about those certificates.
Abdelbaset, Agreed and thanks for the comment. Let’s hope that by raising this issue that more recruiters will be aware of the extent of the problem and take more care in their own due diligence process.
popular subject all over the world, Mostly in the construction industry to be precise, for short term or post contracts, simply the employer’s offline policy is to hire anyone, anywhere as long as the duration term of the project does not exceed 10+ years. In such case, most HSE professionals are a disposable asset, hence for a long term contract for a stable firm, then here is when the employer is looking for the perfect genuine candidate for the position which will be dually screened by the human resources and the recruitment department. In the end all the Amateurs (I like the term from a previous comment) are taking over the professionals grounds, Sadly this is the unfortunate truths.
Aws, I definitely agree that the construction industry likely leads the way with this unfortunate practice. Perhaps no coincidence that this is also a sector with one of the highest rates of worker injuries and fatalities. Until the mindset of the owners, managers and regulators change I see no quick improvement in this situation.
I really enjoyed reading this and I can relate to the current situation in selecting HSE trainers. I have come across several cases where the applicant looked suitable on paper, but when we did the interview, it became apparent that the candidate was far off the threshold of an HSE professional.
It is fair to say that the technical interview will reveal 80% of the competency level of an individual.
As for those genuine and competent professionals, their reputation in the market speaks for itself which will earn them the respect they deserve.
Thanks for the insightful comment Samir. I agree 100%.