One of our clients, a freight operating company, recently acquired another company to expand their logistics solutions. They entrusted Bilfinger to conduct an inventory of all HSE Management procedures all acquired sites currently have in place. The main objective of the assessment performed by Bilfinger was to provide the client insight in the AS IS situation of all acquired sites in terms of HSE resources, top risks, key processes and current HSE systems & tools. To collect the relevant information, a survey was sent out to all sites. Consequently, online interviews were conducted with the assigned contact persons to fill in any gaps in the information received in the responses to the survey. Based on all the collected information an assessment was carried out and per country the results and recommendations were reported back to the client.

This project required the team members to frequently consult each other to compare findings for the different sites and to ensure the same assessment criteria were applied to the data. An iterative process was applied, resulting in a standard for this project that can also be applied to similar projects concerning AS IS analysis to support acquisition and mergers or the centralization of corporate HSE management.

“During the project we encountered cultural differences between the countries as well as some linguistic issues. Our task was challenging, as we had to determine whether there were any HSE management standards in place at the various locations without visiting any of the sites in person to determine the extent to which these standards were being implemented. Our recommendations focused on areas where no standards were in place or where they did not meet expectations.”

All the interviews were completed and the final report was delivered in a presentation to the client within three weeks. During the presentation, Bilfinger’s conclusions per country were shared with them and two other parties who performed similar analyses with regards to security and business resilience. It was very interesting to see that countries with a high score in one area overall also did well in other areas, and that other countries achieved a low overall score. After this meeting, a report per country was drawn up, based on the presentation data, which was then delivered to the client’s senior management.

“It was a pleasure to work with the client representative who provided constructive feedback and was available to discuss the best way to present the data. The client appreciated our flexible approach and respected our knowledge and skills regarding HSE Management. The project was completed in time and our client is currently following up by incorporating the report’s recommendations in the organizational design of their new HSE management organization.”