Our History

Health, Safety, and Environment concerns exist since the inception of this world. It started with fire for food and warmth, followed by bows and arrows as protection against animals. The herbs that healed wounds provided health care, or the first aid. The Great Fire of Rome (64 AD) drove compact towns to "compartmentalization" for breaking the spread of fire. Warriors from ancient times till the 17th century wore skins and shields to protect against swords and arrows. The Great Fire of London (1666 AD), which burnt three fourths of London, led to the introduction of Emergency Response Teams and structured firefighting. It also led to safety insurances. But almost till World War One, HSE was never considered an exclusive function by organizations.

As industrialization and mining were at their peak during the first two decades of the 20th century, over 100,000 workers, largely miners and construction workers, lost their lives due to unsafe working conditions. It sparked strikes and public pressure, eventually leading to the Workers' Compensation Act in 1919, making employers legally and financially accountable for unsafe working conditions. In parallel, safety engineering advanced too, the fire hose in the 17th century, the fire tank in the 18th, and Herbert Heinrich's research between 1922 and 1932, which produced the influential "Safety Incident Pyramid Theory."

The turning point for organized, government-backed safety regulation came with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), established in 1970. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), founded in 1946 with now over 160 member countries, developed alongside it. Since then, dozens of standards bodies and safety organizations have built out the global HSE landscape, among them:

• NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), founded 1896, over 300 fire and hazard safety codes worldwide
• ISO (International Organization for Standardization), founded 1947, over 25,000 standards across 170+ countries
• WHO (World Health Organization), founded 1948, global health guidelines including the ICD
• ILO (International Labour Organization), founded 1919, 190+ conventions covering occupational safety and health
• IOSH and NEBOSH, UK-based bodies providing globally recognized safety qualifications and training
• IAEA, IMO, ANSI, ASSP, and NIOSH, sector-specific safety standards spanning nuclear, maritime, and industrial safety in the US and worldwide

Pakistan's own HSE journey moved more slowly during its first fifty years. Outside a handful of multinationals and internationally funded projects, dedicated HSE departments have historically been rare. Over the past two decades, Provincial Occupational Health & Safety Acts, Rescue 1122, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs) have started closing that gap. Somehow there is still a lag in coordination and enforcement. Private industry in Pakistan largely follows international standards (OSHA, ISO, ILO, NFPA, and similar), while government sector guidance remains comparatively underdeveloped.

Public safety in Pakistan, in short, is still an early-stage discipline with a long way to go.

That gap is exactly why HSE exists, a platform for HSE professionals to work in unison, bridging gaps and improving safety standards across Pakistan.

The movement traces back to Pakistan's Society of Safety Professionals in 2015, with hse.org.pk itself launched in 2020 by Dr. Zahid Faqir, PhD, an accredited HSE professional with two and a half decades of experience in Pakistan's industry.