Aberdeen energy boss Steve Harris charts his career journey

Aberdeen energy boss Steve Harris has always had what he describes as an “entrepreneurial” spirit.

After nearly 20 years in oil and gas the 45-year-old decided to set up his own consultancy in 2023.

Now two years later he’s running health and safety consultancy firm Integrity HSE with a turnover he hopes will reach £5 million by the end of this year.

Steve joined the oil and gas industry in 2006 after a chance encounter with a rig manager in the Dutch Mill in Aberdeen.

But until then, he had spent six years working as a security consultant for, as he describes, “ultra-high net worth clients or clients who were perhaps in trouble one way or the other”.

Move into security work

Upon leaving the High School of Dundee as an 18-year-old, Steve was unsure of what he wanted to do as a career.

He went to Edinburgh University and studied business and economics.

While at university, Steve realised he’d need a part-time job, and after one unsuccessful shift working at a local Spar shop, he ended up as a doorman.

He enjoyed it so much he started his own business and employed two other men to work for him covering doors.

At the age of 21, after finishing university, Steve was approached to make his next career move, becoming a security consultant.

He said: “I mostly worked in close protection. That carries a multitude of duties with it.

“I was the person on your shoulder. You had other people who were surveillance, counter-surveillance, and quick reaction forces.

“They tended to be ex-military but when you wanted somebody that was on your shoulder that could just blend into the background, you didn’t necessarily want somebody who has been in the marines for two decades and had that military stance, that military look.”

Start of oil and gas life

It was during some time off, while having a drink with a friend at the Dutch Mill, that Steve—a keen rugby player in his school days—was approached about working offshore.

Steve got a job with Rowan Companies, now known as Valaris, in 2007.

He said: “I started as a roustabout, and then I got really interested in the drilling side.

“I grew up on the rugby field, I’ve always had an innate need to take care of people.

“So the safety side of things offshore really interested me. And I went from deck crew to drill crew at Rowan and asked about safety jobs.

Steve Harris and wife Emily. Image: Steve Harris

“There was no openings and being a relatively proactive person I decided to leave and find another company who was willing to take me on in a safety role.”

Steve, who is married to Emily, started working for Transocean where he spent nearly four years working offshore before he was headhunted by Aberdeen Drilling Consultants.

He said: “I would struggle to name a country in Africa I didn’t go to.

“It was a huge, wonderful, incredible learning experience. I was working with some incredibly experienced inspectors, maintenance supervisors, ex-tool pushers, ex-OIMs.

“I probably was fortunate enough to learn, you know, decades of experience in only a few years, just by recognizing the fact that these people know so much more than I do.”

He went on to manage large projects for the industry, setting up helicopter and supply bases on the politically and environmentally sensitive Falkland Islands working for Harbour Energy before moving to Maersk in 2016.

In April 2019 he joined Lloyds Register as energy division head of HSES but it was when the company got bought over by Vysus Group some four years later he decided it was time for a new direction.

‘Entrepreneurial’ spark led to Integrity HSE

That was when he decided to take the leap and start his own business, Integrity HSE.

He said: “As much as I was excited by Vysus Group, I didn’t have the same excitement as I had for Lloyds.

“I’m a very forthright entrepreneurial type of person, it’s in my personality.

“As I was progressing through the corporate ladder, I was finding it more and more difficult to keep my mouth shut and get behind corporate decisions I knew weren’t aligned with my way of thinking.

“So I thought, let’s go for it and that was the birth of Integrity HSE.”

In the first year of business Integrity HSE, which employs between 15 to 20 people, recorded a turnover of £1.2m.

The consultancy and training provider offers “legally required HSE competent advice” to companies without the need for them to add full-time workers to their roster.

Steve, who enjoys walks with fox red labrador Maggie, said: “It’s going really well. The purpose of our business is to make the working world a safer, healthier, more sustainable place. It’s that easy.

“And our clients have to join us in that mission. Otherwise, they’re not our clients.

“When you run a company like Integrity HSE, you have to walk your talk and unacceptable behaviour from a client we simply step back from.

“We are there to fix challenging situations. We love clients who perhaps haven’t reached their potential, but they really want to. And they’re the ones for help.”

Cancer scare led to publishing book

During Covid Steve suffered a cancer scare and it was from this experience he decided to publish his own book called Little Book of Leadership and donate all the proceeds to Macmillan Cancer Support.

He had developed a cough and doctors had warned him it could be lung cancer.

However, after various tests Steve was given the all clear.

He said: “One of the memorable moments of that is the nurse handing me a tissue, and I handed it back to her saying, I don’t need that.

Steve’s dog Maggie with his book Image: Steve Harris

“I just got some good news. And at the corner of my eye, I saw her dabbing her eyes.

“And I said, what are you doing? And she said, it’s so rare that I get to tell good news to people that I often get emotional.

“I put my life and my heart and soul into writing that book. It’s never going to be an amazing bestseller, but I knew I wanted the proceeds to go to Macmillan.”