A senior QHSE manager, without the senior QHSE salary.
Retained or on-site QHSE leadership for organisations that need genuine seniority but cannot justify a full-time hire: through a certification cycle, a project mobilisation, or permanently as your outsourced QHSE function.
What embedded QHSE support is
Rather than a project with a start and an end, this is an ongoing arrangement in which we act as your QHSE function: attending your meetings, owning your management system, running your audits, handling your regulator correspondence and being the person your project managers call when something goes wrong.
The difference from a consultancy project is accountability. On a project we deliver a system and leave. On a retainer we carry the outcome: your surveillance audit, your ADOSH inspection, your client audit. That continuity is what most small and mid-sized organisations are actually missing.
If what you actually need is method statements, risk assessments, ITPs, project quality plans or a mobilisation document set prepared and submitted, that is priced per package rather than as a retainer. See method statements, risk assessments & ITPs. Contractors submitting continuously often find a retainer works out cheaper than paying per document.
When it makes sense
- You are certified but nobody owns the system. The consultant left, the manager who ran it moved on, and the surveillance audit is in three months.
- You are mobilising a project that requires QHSE presence from day one, before you have hired anyone.
- Your QHSE manager has resigned and you need continuity while you recruit, or need help deciding what to recruit.
- You need seniority, not headcount. A junior HSE officer cannot chair a management review or negotiate with a certification body. A chartered practitioner two days a month can.
- Your client demands a named QHSE lead as a contract condition, and you need someone credible.
- You are between sizes. Too big for the MD to handle QHSE personally, too small to justify a full-time appointment.
Beyond a certain size and risk profile, you need a full-time QHSE manager on your payroll, present every day. When we reach that point we will say so, help you write the job description, sit on the interview panel and hand over properly. A retainer that outlives its usefulness is not in your interest.
Engagement models
Retained oversight
For certified organisations that need the system kept alive and audit-ready.
- Annual internal audit programme
- Management review facilitation
- Document and register upkeep
- Surveillance audit preparation and attendance
- Corrective action oversight
- Email and phone support between visits
Fractional QHSE manager
Your QHSE function, part-time but genuinely owned.
- Everything in retained oversight
- Named QHSE lead for clients and regulators
- Site inspections and walkdowns
- Incident investigation and RCA
- Client and regulator audit hosting
- Toolbox and supervisor coaching
- Tender QHSE submissions
Embedded on site
Full-time presence for a mobilisation, project phase or certification push.
- On-site daily for the agreed period
- Project QHSE plan development
- Permit-to-work system operation
- Subcontractor QHSE control
- Client interface and reporting
- Handover to your permanent hire
Day counts are indicative starting points. Actual arrangements are scoped to your risk profile, site count and audit calendar, and reviewed as circumstances change.
What we cover
The economics
A full-time QHSE manager in Abu Dhabi is not just a salary. The real cost of an employee includes visa and sponsorship, medical insurance, annual leave and air fare, end-of-service gratuity, recruitment cost and the productivity lost while the role sits vacant between hires.
A retained arrangement replaces all of that with a single monthly fee and no employment liability. More importantly, it buys a level of seniority that the equivalent salary would not: for the cost of a mid-level HSE officer you get a Chartered Quality Professional and certified ISO Lead Auditor.
The trade-off is honest and worth stating. A retained consultant is not on site every day. If your risk profile requires constant supervision (a large active construction site, for example) you need permanent presence, and we will tell you so.
Questions clients ask first
Yes, on a fractional or embedded arrangement, and clients frequently need exactly this. We provide credentials and CV for inclusion in your submission. What we will not do is lend a name to an arrangement that does not exist, if the contract requires full-time presence, that has to be genuine.
Retained clients have direct phone access, and serious incidents get an immediate response including attendance where needed. Notification timescales to regulators are short, so we agree an escalation protocol at the start of the engagement rather than working it out during the emergency.
Retainers are normally agreed for twelve months, because the QHSE cycle is annual: audits, reviews and surveillance all fall at different points in the year, and a shorter term would leave gaps. Embedded on-site engagements are scoped to the project duration.
Yes. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are routine. Wider UAE and GCC engagements are arranged with travel agreed in advance. Much of the maintenance work (document control, audit planning, review preparation) is done remotely regardless of location.
Let’s make your next audit a non-event.
Book a free 30-minute consultation. We will tell you honestly whether you need a consultant, and if you do, exactly what it will take.