Should I acronymize "Health, Safety, and Environment" as "HSE" or "SHE"?

Which abbreviation is most used for "Health, Safety and Environment"? I keep seeing different abbreviations, and a quick search on Google shows that they are all used widely. But does anyone actually know if there is one "correct" abbreviation?

Solution 1:

according to this, it's HSE :)

While this is not a definitive answer (there isn't one!), it certainly is established in the UK and Norway, too. In the UK the more informal term is "health and safety", just as Norwegians talk about "helse og miljø".

but also check ISO - it's EHS :)

Solution 2:

It doesn't appear that there is a "correct" version. There is no official organization for Environment, Health and Safety. Wikipedia lists both as usable and includes HES to boot:

Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) – also Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) or HES – is often used as the name of a department in corporations and government agencies.

If you are referring to a specific department, you should obviously use their name. If you are creating a new department, I suggest looking up your local city or state department to see if they offer a specific form. I prefer EHS because it doesn't collide with the word "she" while searching which made it a little hard to search for usage.