Assessing the health, safety, and environment culture in the United Arab Emirates oil and gas industry Mohmaed Almazrouei, Khalizani Khalid, Salam Abdallah and Ross Davidson Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Abstract Purpose – This paper aims to assess the ways through which the concept of health, safety and environment (HSE) is perceived by workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) oil and gas industry. The study focused on different aspects of the HSE culture and how employees with and without leadership responsibilities differed in their conceptualization of HSE culture. Design/methodology/approach – Semi-structured interviews were conducted for 30 staff of the state- owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the UAE. The interviewees were purposively selected which included both those in leadership and non-leadership roles. Findings – The findings revealed that the interviewees viewed HSE culture as a descriptive term, a causal phenomenon, a systemic approach or a legal requirement/obligation. Interviewees in the production and maintenance units mentioned safety most often. Employees and managers exhibited negligible differences in their usage of the HSE culture concept. Managers predominantly featured in the narratives as important drivers of HSE culture. Physical conditions, behavior and procedures, management, competence and collaboration emerged as important components of a sound HSE culture. Originality/value – To enable better communication and subsequent improvement of the HSE culture, an analogical HSE culture “vehicle” was developed in the study. The vehicle is a novel illustration based on the key roles of managers and employees, as well as the main components of a sound HSE culture. Keywords Culture, Environmental issues, Environmental, Environmental and safety issues, Quality and health and safety issues, Health, Safety, Environment, HSE, Organizational culture, United Arab Emirates, UAE, Oil and gas industry Paper type Case study 1. Introduction The fusion of the culture concept with aspects of health, safety and environment (HSE) has been dominating the oil and gas industry (i.e. the petroleum industry) in recent decades. Issues pertaining to HSE remain a major challenge in the oil and gas industry, especially during the commencement of new oil and gas ventures. This is because such ventures often feature significant rise in accident risks that have adverse economic, social and environmental implications (Silvestre et al., 2017). Stakeholders in the oil and gas industry including governments, civil society organizations, communities, employees and company shareholders continually demand improvement in HSE performance. However, the development of policies, management of processes and systems, integration of technology, and other related efforts cannot guarantee the delivery of world-class operational excellence and HSE (Buell, 2006). Therefore, there is need to develop a more comprehensive concept Health, safety and environment culture 495 Received 31 July 2019 Accepted 19 August 2019 Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology Vol. 18 No. 2, 2020 pp. 495-512 © Emerald Publishing Limited 1726-0531 DOI 10.1108/JEDT-07-2019-0188 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1726-0531.htm