Integrity HSE startup boosts first-year target to £1.2m

An energy safety consultancy has increased its targets just four months since launch amid a growth drive and a push into renewables.

Integrity HSE, based in Aberdeenshire, set up in March targeting £860k turnover and five full-time hires within its first year.

Updating that figure, managing director Steven Harris said he “underestimated how welcoming the market was going to be” and is now expecting to pass £1.2m in year one.

“There seems to be a space – which I knew existed anyway, but I didn’t realise the void that was in it – where this premium service is really welcomed, where people at a senior level recognise that the risk profile of their business is there.

“They understand their hazard burden, but are not necessarily be comfortable with the current arrangements that they have in place or they would like outside verification and assurance,” said Mr Harris.

He added: “We close that gap between their appetite and their reality and it means that they can sleep at night.”

By next month, the firm will have a team of seven, made up of staff and contractors.

The growth is not at any cost either – with Integrity HSE has also been turning down some customers which didn’t fit with its operational excellence ethos.

Opening months and new hire

Management systems, described by Mr Harris as the “backbone” of an organisation, has been among its main inquiries; particularly from firms changing through M&A or new markets.

Integrity HSE has also been assessing “just culture” – a drilling contractor term around human decision-making, and accurately defining what’s an error, a mistake and a violation – and how that fits around management of people.

Integrity HSE recently brought in Darrell Lines, former HSE manager at Shelf Drilling and Noble, as part of its it push into drilling operations; he has been assessing just culture and offshore process safety.

Mr Lines said: “Competency in this space is something that has dwindled due to the pandemic, I think we can all agree on that, in terms of who is out there and who is willing to come back to this industry.”

He added that helping address that has been where Integrity HSE has been stepping in.

“What does that actually mean for the business? How does that impact the major accident management, the barrier philosophies? And human factors is a big part to play in there as well in making the right decisions.”

Renewables push

As part of the growth drive, Mr Harris intends to make new hires as the firm expands into the renewables industry.

Though offshore wind, for example, is not the same beast as regards major accident hazards, “the principles of risk management remain constant throughout the renewable sector,” he said.

His firm will support “planned and logical transition away from hydrocarbons” and is seeking to make a key hire to help deliver that.

Mr Harris said: “We want a specialist who’s in there with a footprint in there so we can pioneer, we can take our clients from the carbon economy straight into the renewable sector – we can not only do the right thing, but really help our clients get over there as well.”

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