In 2016, Julien Ngue moved from Cameroon, Africa, to the United States in hopes of a better life and to further his career as a safety professional. “The U.S. Declaration of Independence bears my ultimate motivation in all my endeavors: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” said Ngue.
After making his journey overseas, Ngue found roles at several companies, including as a safety manager at Amazon for more than two years. He now works as an EHS manager at Gabe Inc., a global professional support services provider based in California. Ngue currently supervises a team of safety professionals, oversees a capital project for a biotech client, and acts as the client representative to ensure general contractors stay in compliance with safety agreements.
To learn more about Ngue and his take on industry issues, please read the Faces of EHS interview below:
Q: How did you get your start in the field?
I started in the industry with an internship in 2009. As an undergraduate chemistry student, I realized I had the skills to advance in chemistry studies but not the desire for a career in chemistry, so I started looking around to further my post-graduate education in a field that would use the learning I acquired as a chemistry student. This is how I became acquainted with quality, environmental, health, and safety (QEHS) management.
Funny thing is, one of my elder brothers is the one who suggested chemistry and then QEHS, which came from an interaction he had at work during an audit for ISO 9001:2000 certification.
I got into EHS twice. The first time was straight out of school (in general, in Cameroon, you must have at least a two-year degree to find a decent job). After moving here to the U.S. and being determined to continue within the EHS field, it was a natural way for me to start strong again, as I believe I understand it better compared to other career avenues.
My research led me to pursue the certified health and safety officer credentials, which provided me skills to understand the U.S. laws and regulations for the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). This helped me get hired back in the EHS field, and from what I learned, I then earned my ASP (now expired), CSP, and CHST certifications from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals.
Q: How easy or difficult was it to join the EHS industry in the U.S.?
It was not an easy journey. The first obstacle was to identify the right path to remain valid while holding a master’s degree in EHSQ with the experience I had overseas, then to remove any negative thought from my head. Finally, I had to find ways to finance my “reconversion” into a U.S. safety professional. In fact, it took me almost a year to pay off the $900 used on my credit card to finance my OSHA 510 certificate.
Q: Has being an immigrant helped shape who you are as an EHS professional and find success in the industry? If so, how?
I will say yes. Originating from a different socioeconomic background helped me become the EHS professional I am today.
Being a leader and/or manager requires you to exercise soft skills, which help you support your team to achieve the best version of themselves. Here is the tricky part: The soft skills that will help you succeed in Africa, Asia, or Europe are definitely not the same that will help you here in the U.S. They vary from one state to the next. And on top of that, any person will travel with their culture and will struggle to remain whole in this environment. I personally used all these differences that unite us to support everyone I had the charge to lead and to open new horizons for my fellow workers.
Q: What’s your best mistake, and what did you learn from it?
Mistakes, I have had many and continue having them from time to time. As far as I can remember, my best mistake was believing I should have an answer for everything as a supervisor or manager—that I should always have the last word, the best idea, or anything like that—and this ultimately put me in a reactive mode early in my EHS life.
It took me about two years to walk away from that. First I asked a manager, “Why you are leaving so early?” The gentleman left the office at 4 p.m. almost every day. He told me, “Being a safety professional is planning, not reacting.” Which meant that he worked in a way that he could confidently leave after an eight-hour workday.
Then there was a time in 2013, somewhere in the middle of the equatorial forest in the east region of Cameroon. While supervising and reviewing the implementation of the safety agreement on a pipeline construction project, I was advised to observe worker behavior before intervening or sharing any feedback that I may have thought was needed at the time.
Overall, I learned to learn your environment, understand what is needed the most from you in that environment, and use that knowledge to promote safety. But you must consistently work on improving your skills. Learn from other trade workers—electricians, welders, divers, scaffold erectors, sanitation professionals—ask them questions, and verify their answers against consensus standards and rules.
Q: What are your thoughts on safety culture? How can company leaders make safety a value within their organization?
Safety should probably stop being a priority and be elevated to a core value for doing business; risk management should be included in every process within a company. Today, it remains a challenge for many companies out there to document and teach their employees how to do it or understand it. Risk management doesn’t mean slowing down the operations but mostly to make sure that operations are continually improving, while being consistent. I believe when it is done right, it removes the underlying emotional and mental distress that we experience exponentially in the EHS field.
Q: What safety concerns or issues do you think need more prioritization in EHS programs?
I think EHS program managers must work diligently on determining the right performance indicator for EHS, to make them very specific to the unit/business they support. Conventional performance indicators do not help as intended to sustain a safer workplace. I know that most medium-to-large corporations try to use a holistic approach with employees originating from different backgrounds, and this usually does not work as intended.
Q: How will new safety technologies influence the work being done by EHS professionals?
New technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) have highly beneficial value in documentation, recordkeeping, and training, but I am not too sure of their impact on human behavior when exposed to occupational hazards. Learning in progress.
Q: What are you most proud of?
My resilience in the EHS field across oceans, all local socioeconomic factors considered.
Q: Do you have any advice for people entering the EHS profession?
Make sure you like the job you do, and always try to do it right.
Are you or a colleague an EHS professional interested in being profiled for the Faces of EHS series? Please contact Joe Bebon at JBebon@BLR.com.