HSE (Health Safety and Environment) is the name used for an organizational function or department charged with managing the occupational health and safety risks its workers are exposed to and the risks the organization's operations pose to the environment.
There are several combinations of the letters H, S, & E used to describe this same function such as EHS, SHE, OHS (Occupational Health and Safety - without the E) and so forth.
In some cases, one would also encounter acronyms such as HSSE (Health, Safety, Security, and Environment) incorporating the security department in the HSE function, and HSEQ (Health Safety Environment and Quality) incorporating the quality department into HSE. They all point to the same function but with expanded accountabilities.
As mentioned earlier, this function oversees the managing of specific organization’s risks to a “level as low as reasonably practicable” (ALARP).
HSE is also a body of knowledge and provides avenues for training and qualifying professionals that take on the responsibilities of running the various parts of the HSE function of a company.
One may choose to train as a Safety professional, Occupational Health and Safety professional, Environmental professional, HSE professional or other combinations that training institutions provide.
The HSE work requires the practitioners to be knowledgeable in a country’s health, safety, and environmental laws, regulations, and codes as well as industry standards. For this reason, HSE training is usually country or region specific so as to address the several types of regulatory requirements that each jurisdiction and country stipulate.
As an HSE personnel, one has to be able to identify hazardous situations and have the courage to mitigate such situations by stopping an ongoing job outright when required.
You should also be comfortable with developing contents of manuals that describe safe working procedures that workers will follow when conducting their work.
Lastly, the HSE professional is the go-to person when things go south in the workplace resulting in harm to a worker, damage to an asset or the environment.
He/She/They would typically be required to investigate an incident, write a report and manage any associated issues.
By the way, I am a health and safety professional accredited with an occupational health and safety qualification in Canada - the CRSP. I am involved in on-demand HSE management consulting for small, medium and large businesses and also in HSE and quality management knowledge sharing. I have an MBA in management and have been practicing for 28 years and running.
For other interesting articles, training courses, and resources check out my website: https://healthandsafetyassistant.com/