Digital Content Editor, Eve Goode hears exclusively from Azman Ahmad, Vice President of Air Selangor about being an International SOS Foundation Individual Winner and Duty of Care Ambassador.
What does receiving this award mean to you personally, and what does it represent for the wider work being done at Air Selangor?
Receiving the Duty of Care Ambassador Award is a great personal honour, but I see it primarily as recognition of the collective effort of the people I have had the privilege to work with at Air Selangor.
Duty of Care is never the achievement of one individual; it is created through the commitment of leaders, employees, contractors and partners who believe that protecting people must be part of the way we operate.
For me personally, the award is a validation of a journey that began with a simple belief: safety and wellbeing must go beyond compliance.
We need to create an environment where people feel empowered to speak up, identify risks and take ownership of their own safety and the safety of others.
During my previous HSE leadership role at Air Selangor, we focused strongly on developing an “Involving Culture”, where employees at every level actively participated in safety and risk management.
This was supported by structured improvement programmes, leadership engagement, employee empowerment and the integration of HSE into operational decision-making.
The results have been encouraging, including an 80% reduction in Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate from 1.27 in 2019 to 0.26 in 2024, alongside stronger proactive reporting and risk identification.
Since October 2025, I have taken on my current role as Vice President I (Program Director), Operational Excellence Transformation, CEO’s Office.
This broader responsibility has reinforced my belief that safety, people, process excellence and business performance are interconnected.
A strong Duty of Care culture is ultimately an important foundation for organisational resilience and sustainable performance.
What do you hope this award shines a light on, and why do you think these areas are becoming increasingly important for organisations today?
I hope this award highlights that Duty of Care should not be viewed simply as a legal, regulatory or HSE responsibility. It is fundamentally a leadership responsibility and an organisational value.
The world of work is becoming more complex.
Organisations are dealing with changing risk profiles, operational disruptions, psychosocial risks, workforce diversity, technological change, climate-related challenges and increasingly interconnected supply chains.
Protecting people therefore requires a much broader perspective.
We need to consider not only physical safety, but also psychological wellbeing, fatigue, travel risks, emergency preparedness, workplace behaviour and the ability of people to speak up without fear.
Equally important is how organisations protect contractors and other stakeholders who contribute to their operations.
The most effective Duty of Care cultures are those where people do not wait for an incident before acting.
They identify weak signals, intervene early and continuously improve the way work is performed.
This requires leadership visibility and, more importantly, leadership consistency.
Employees watch what leaders do, not simply what policies say.
When leaders demonstrate that safety and wellbeing genuinely matter, even when there are competing operational pressures, trust and ownership begin to develop.
For me, that is the essence of a generative safety culture: moving from “safety is the responsibility of HSE” to “safety is everyone’s responsibility”.
Looking ahead, how do you see Duty of Care continuing to evolve, and are there any new initiatives you’re excited to advance over the next couple of years?
I believe Duty of Care will continue to evolve from an incident-prevention mindset towards a broader concept of organisational resilience and human performance.
Over the next few years, I am particularly interested in strengthening the connection between operational excellence, safety culture, employee wellbeing and data-driven decision-making.
Technology and analytics can help us identify emerging risks earlier, but technology alone will not create a strong safety culture.
We still need leadership, human connection and employee involvement.
In my current role in Operational Excellence Transformation, I see a significant opportunity to bring these disciplines together.
Our Lean Six Sigma and continuous-improvement experience can be applied not only to productivity and process efficiency, but also to eliminating risks, simplifying work and designing safer and more resilient processes.
I am also keen to further develop the next generation of leaders by strengthening their capability to lead through influence, engage employees and manage both physical and psychological risks.
Ultimately, I believe the future of Duty of Care is about creating organisations where people are not simply protected by systems, but are empowered by the culture.
When people feel safe to speak, supported to act and valued as individuals, Duty of Care becomes embedded in everyday decisions.
That is the culture I hope we can continue to build at Air Selangor, and contribute to advancing across the wider industry.