I spend a fair bit of time thinking about barriers to engagement and over the last few weeks, I have been having a lot of conversations about why programmes, trainings and initiatives aren't successful.....

For decades, environmental advisers have faced the challenge of ineffective waste management. In real terms, the challenge was simply getting segregation right at source. Getting people to put their waste in the right bin.

We've gone beyond that now and in the BEST course, we don't just talk about the waster hierarchy, we talk about the circular economy and resource management

While we are all here to support an improved operational performance and reducing impacts on the environment must be at the core of everything we do, senior leaders need to understand the business implications of establishing E-Reps within their organisation and how it supports their triple bottom line.

I realised everything was so interconnected and represented every fibre of my being, everything I have known and everything I want the north east to be. Every detail matters, right down the ships on the football kit. Everything is there for a reason. Everyone eats, lives, and breathes our culture.

More than 25 years after leaving university, not many people can say they are still working within their academic field. I do, and this is my opportunity to talk about the marine environment and how every day spent on the beach tells us something new about the state of our environment.

The biggest challenge e-reps face is working with no plans or strategy. Creating the role and ensuring people are effectively trained is only the start of journey.

Our vision and mission is firmly embedded within the principle of people, planet, profit. While improving performance and reducing impacts on the environment must be at the core of everything we do, senior leaders need to understand the business implications of establishing e-reps within their organisation and how it supports their triple bottom line.

It's only when you see things written down that you can appreciate the journey we have been on since the first BEST course was delivered in 2011.

This was directly in response to industry concerns about the level of environmental awareness and workforce engagement on environmental issues following the Deep Water Horizon disaster in 2010.

We know that when you get these things right, you can see improvements in the safety of your workforce and assets, an enhanced reputation, open doors to new market opportunities, competitive advantages, and ultimately cost savings.

This is exactly what People, Planet, Profit is all about!

Following the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010, the oil and gas industry around the world came to the realisation that they were not doing enough to engage the workforce on environmental issues.

Since then, the e-reps role has become firmly established in many industries, with various levels of success. What it always true, is that it sets the scene for more environmental conversations and a heightened level of environmental awareness.

I think we all agree its the RIGHT thing to do, and since we have made provision for safety reps since the introduction of HASAWA 1974, industry is well rehearsed in the use of, and benefit from, workforce representatives

Taking the site workforce in to small groups for open discussion, it was great to see so many lightbulb moments. But, we had to pick through a lot of white noise to get there.....lots of chat and lots of anecdotal examples you would expect when you ask people what they think about work

The world of HSE has drastically changed over the years and I had hoped the policing type approach displayed by 'safety officers' left the building at the same time as the auditors who look over the top of their geggs like their presenting evidence in a Line of Duty interview.

A MS manual or certificate on the wall doesn't make you safer or necessary reduce your impact on the environment, it simply provides a framework to organise these arrangements. These are legal requirements anyway.

Why Bitesize? This is the BEST bit, the course is delivered over four 2 hour modules with additional tasks in between to be completed at the worksite to embed learnings and showcase the practical implementation of the training. Trainees upload their work for assessment and the findings are discussed 1-2-1 with additional coaching and guidance as needed.

What does gamification mean to the oil and gas industry and, specifically, environmental training – my area of focus. Today, this is typically delivered through face-to-face classroom courses and traditional computer-based training packages.