Advanced Occupational Health and Safety Risk Management Training Course

Duration 10 days 20 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Advanced Certificate on completion
Who attends Health and Safety Managers, HSE Advisors and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-OHS-002

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience with workplace hazard identification, risk assessments, incident reporting or safety management responsibilities.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Occupational health and safety risk management fails when hazard registers become static documents, controls are selected without checking their reliability, and leaders receive activity data rather than evidence of risk reduction. Senior safety practitioners must connect legal duties, worker exposure, operational change, contractor interfaces, emergency readiness and incident learning within a management system that can withstand scrutiny. This requires more than completing risk assessments: it requires defensible decisions, verified controls and clear accountability.

This advanced course develops the methods needed to design, test and improve an occupational health and safety risk management system. Participants apply ISO 45001 and ISO 31000 principles; establish risk criteria and tolerability thresholds; conduct task, process and occupational hygiene assessments; and select controls using the hierarchy of controls. The course covers bow-tie analysis, HAZOP, job safety analysis, human factors, contractor risk, psychosocial hazards, incident investigation, auditing, leading indicators and management of change. Participants learn to distinguish routine paperwork from evidence that critical controls are working.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings, sector-based cases, facilitated group analysis, risk scenarios and structured application planning. Cases reflect construction, manufacturing, energy, transport, healthcare, public services and office-based operations. Participants progressively build components of an occupational health and safety risk management package, then integrate them into a final capstone submission. They leave with reusable templates and a reviewed risk management plan that can be adapted for their own site, department, project or business unit.

The course is suited to experienced safety professionals, operational managers and assurance personnel who already work with workplace hazards and need greater depth in risk-based decision making. It is particularly valuable where organisations manage high-consequence work, multiple contractors, changing operations or heightened regulatory oversight.

What you will be able to do

  • Design an ISO 45001-aligned occupational health and safety risk management system
  • Set risk criteria, consequence scales and tolerability thresholds for operational decisions
  • Produce task, process and exposure risk assessments using appropriate assessment methods
  • Develop bow-tie models that identify critical controls, escalation factors and assurance actions
  • Evaluate control effectiveness using the hierarchy of controls and verification evidence
  • Lead structured incident investigations using causal analysis and corrective action testing
  • Plan risk-based audits, leading indicators and management review reporting
  • Present a complete occupational health and safety risk management plan for approval

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible risk assessments for complex and high-consequence work
  • Challenge weak controls using critical control verification evidence
  • Lead incident investigations beyond immediate causes and corrective action lists
  • Present risk information clearly to senior management and operational teams
  • Build a portfolio-quality occupational health and safety risk management plan

For your organisation

  • Improved evidence that critical controls are identified, owned and verified
  • More consistent risk decisions across sites, projects and contractor activities
  • Earlier detection of deteriorating controls through leading indicator systems
  • Better incident learning through causal analysis and action effectiveness reviews
  • Stronger preparation for regulatory inspections, client audits and management reviews

Course modules

20 modules over 10 days

Participants can frame occupational health and safety risk management within an ISO 45001-aligned management system.

  • ISO 45001 clause structure and risk-based management system intent
  • Legal registers distinguish duties, guidance, codes and contractual controls
  • Worker consultation rights, safety committees and representative participation arrangements
  • Due diligence evidence for officers, directors and senior accountable managers
  • Assurance lines assign operational ownership, oversight and independent challenge
  • Management review inputs link performance trends, changes and improvement actions

Participants can establish risk criteria that support consistent and proportionate control decisions.

  • ISO 31000 principles applied to occupational health and safety decisions
  • Risk context considers people, tasks, assets, location and stakeholders
  • Consequence scales separate credible harm from worst-case harm assumptions
  • Likelihood estimates use exposure frequency, control reliability and historical evidence
  • ALARP principles support tolerability decisions for significant residual risks
  • Risk appetite statements define escalation thresholds and delegated authority

Participants can identify hazards and risk sources using structured work-system analysis.

  • Task observation identifies deviations, informal practices and variable work conditions
  • Work-system mapping links people, equipment, materials, procedures and environment
  • Hazard prompts cover physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic and psychosocial exposures
  • Energy-source analysis identifies stored, kinetic, electrical and thermal hazards
  • Interface mapping exposes risks between shifts, departments, contractors and visitors
  • Non-routine work includes maintenance, shutdowns, emergencies and abnormal operations

Participants can produce task risk assessments that identify controls before work begins.

  • Job safety analysis breaks work into observable steps and hazards
  • Task risk assessment records existing controls before proposing further actions
  • Permit-to-work interfaces cover isolations, confined spaces and simultaneous operations
  • Pre-task briefings confirm competence, changing conditions and control readiness
  • Dynamic risk assessment addresses unexpected hazards without bypassing formal controls
  • Stop-work authority defines intervention expectations and escalation routes

Participants can select and apply risk estimation methods appropriate to decision stakes.

  • Five-by-five matrices expose limitations in ordinal risk scoring methods
  • Semi-quantitative scoring calibrates severity, likelihood and exposure definitions
  • Risk ranking separates immediate intervention from planned improvement priorities
  • Sensitivity analysis tests whether ratings depend on uncertain assumptions
  • Risk aggregation prevents multiple moderate risks being overlooked collectively
  • Decision records document assumptions, evidence sources and approval rationale

Participants can select controls and define the evidence needed to show they remain effective.

  • Hierarchy of controls prioritises elimination, substitution and engineering measures
  • Administrative controls specify procedures, supervision, competence and monitoring requirements
  • Personal protective equipment selection follows residual exposure and compatibility assessment
  • Critical controls prevent fatality, permanent disability or major exposure outcomes
  • Control performance standards define functionality, availability and verification criteria
  • Control owners receive clear accountabilities, resources and escalation responsibilities

Participants can build bow-tie analyses that connect threats, barriers, consequences and recovery controls.

  • Bow-tie diagrams connect hazard sources, top events and consequences
  • Preventive barriers stop threats progressing toward the defined top event
  • Mitigative barriers limit harm after loss of control occurs
  • Escalation factors identify conditions that degrade barrier performance
  • Barrier management assigns performance standards, owners and assurance frequencies
  • Verification plans test critical controls through observation, records and functional checks

Participants can apply HAZOP thinking to identify deviations and safeguards in process operations.

  • HAZOP guidewords identify process deviations from design operating intent
  • Nodes define manageable sections of equipment, process or transfer systems
  • Deviation causes include instrument failure, operator error and utility loss
  • Safeguard reviews distinguish prevention layers from consequence mitigation measures
  • Layer of protection analysis tests independence and reliability assumptions
  • Process safety indicators track containment loss, demand rates and barrier health

Participants can assess occupational exposure risks and specify proportionate exposure controls.

  • Exposure assessment identifies agents, routes, duration, frequency and susceptible workers
  • Similar exposure groups organise monitoring for workers with comparable exposure profiles
  • Occupational exposure limits guide comparison of monitoring results and controls
  • Control banding supports initial decisions where measurement data remain limited
  • Local exhaust ventilation requires capture, containment, testing and maintenance records
  • Health surveillance links specific hazards with clinically appropriate screening arrangements

Participants can incorporate human factors and competence controls into risk management plans.

  • Human factors examine workload, fatigue, communication and decision-making conditions
  • Competence matrices distinguish training attendance from demonstrated task capability
  • Procedures support reliable work through clarity, usability and field verification
  • Safety-critical communications use read-back, closed-loop confirmation and handover protocols
  • Fatigue risk management considers hours, recovery, commuting and shift patterns
  • Just culture principles separate human error, drift and reckless conduct

Participants can manage contractor risks from selection through close-out and performance review.

  • Prequalification evaluates contractor competence, incident history and management arrangements
  • Scope definition allocates hazard controls, interfaces and decision authorities
  • Contractor mobilisation verifies permits, inductions, equipment and supervision readiness
  • Simultaneous operations require coordination meetings, interface registers and shared controls
  • Field assurance checks contractor compliance with critical control performance standards
  • Close-out reviews capture lessons, outstanding actions and future selection evidence

Participants can assess emergency risks and establish practical response and recovery arrangements.

  • Emergency scenarios reflect credible fires, releases, medical events and security threats
  • Response plans define alarm, command, communication, evacuation and accountability arrangements
  • Incident command roles establish authority during escalating emergency conditions
  • Mutual aid arrangements identify external resources, contacts and response limitations
  • Business continuity priorities connect worker safety, critical operations and recovery decisions
  • Post-incident debriefs capture response strengths, failures and improvement actions

Participants can investigate incidents using evidence, causal analysis and action effectiveness testing.

  • Evidence preservation secures photographs, records, samples and witness accounts
  • Timeline analysis reconstructs decisions, conditions, actions and control failures
  • ICAM examines absent or failed defences, actions and organisational factors
  • Five Whys tests causal chains without stopping at worker error
  • Corrective actions address causes, specify owners and define due dates
  • Effectiveness reviews confirm actions changed conditions rather than completed paperwork

Participants can design performance measures that reveal risk control health and improvement needs.

  • Leading indicators measure control verification, corrective action quality and workforce participation
  • Lagging indicators classify injuries, illnesses, events and lost-time outcomes
  • Balanced scorecards combine exposure, control, learning and outcome measures
  • Trend analysis distinguishes normal variation from meaningful performance deterioration
  • Dashboard design highlights exceptions, overdue actions and critical control failures
  • Board reports state material risks, assurance evidence and required decisions

Participants can plan and conduct risk-based audits focused on control effectiveness.

  • Audit programmes prioritise high-consequence risks, weak controls and operational changes
  • ISO 19011 principles guide audit independence, evidence and reporting discipline
  • Sampling plans select activities, documents, locations and personnel systematically
  • Interview techniques test work-as-imagined against work-as-done evidence
  • Findings distinguish nonconformities, observations, good practice and improvement opportunities
  • Action tracking verifies closure evidence and sustained control performance

Participants can assess occupational health and safety risks before operational and organisational changes occur.

  • Management of change triggers include people, plant, process and organisational changes
  • Change assessments identify new hazards, altered exposures and weakened controls
  • Temporary changes require expiry dates, approvals and periodic reassessment
  • Procurement reviews assess safety specifications, maintainability and lifecycle hazards
  • Commissioning checks confirm training, procedures, safeguards and emergency arrangements
  • Post-change reviews test assumptions after operations reach normal conditions

Participants can assess psychosocial hazards and integrate suitable controls into risk management arrangements.

  • Psychosocial hazard assessments examine demands, control, support and role clarity
  • Work design controls address workload, scheduling, staffing and conflicting priorities
  • Bullying and harassment response arrangements protect reporting, investigation and confidentiality
  • Trauma exposure plans include preparation, peer support and professional referral
  • Absence data identifies patterns requiring workload or management review
  • Worker consultation tests whether controls improve conditions and psychological safety

Participants can strengthen control arrangements for high-risk work and permit-to-work systems.

  • Confined space controls cover atmospheric testing, rescue and entry supervision
  • Work at height planning addresses collective protection, anchors and rescue
  • Lockout-tagout procedures verify energy isolation before maintenance begins
  • Lifting plans specify load data, exclusion zones and competent lifting personnel
  • Hot work permits control ignition sources, fire watch and post-work checks
  • Excavation assessments address services, ground stability, access and spoil placement

Participants can establish governance arrangements for reviewing risk performance and prioritising improvement work.

  • Risk registers link hazards, controls, owners, residual ratings and review dates
  • Action plans prioritise critical control gaps, legal exposure and resource requirements
  • Escalation protocols define decisions requiring senior management intervention
  • Management reviews assess objectives, audit results, incidents and changing risks
  • Lessons learned processes convert events and audits into controlled improvements
  • Annual assurance calendars coordinate inspections, monitoring, audits and reviews

Participants can build, review and present a complete occupational health and safety risk management plan for a defined operation.

  • Operating context defines scope, workforce, activities, interfaces and legal duties
  • Risk criteria justify consequence definitions, tolerability thresholds and escalation rules
  • Hazard assessments combine task analysis, exposure assessment and bow-tie controls
  • Critical control plans specify owners, performance standards and verification schedules
  • Performance measures present leading indicators, audit evidence and management review inputs
  • Implementation roadmap assigns milestones, resources, accountabilities and communication actions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. ISO 45001-aligned risk management system blueprint
  2. Occupational health and safety risk criteria matrix
  3. Critical control bow-tie and verification plan
  4. Task and exposure risk assessment template
  5. Incident investigation and action effectiveness checklist
  6. Risk-based audit and management review plan

Who should attend

  • Health and Safety Managers — responsible for risk systems, assurance and legal compliance evidence
  • HSE Advisors — seeking stronger methods for assessing, controlling and reviewing workplace risks
  • Operations Managers — accountable for safe work delivery, supervisors and critical controls
  • Project Managers — managing changing work scopes, contractors and high-risk activities
  • Internal Auditors — reviewing occupational health and safety management system effectiveness
  • HR and Wellbeing Managers — addressing psychosocial hazards, worker participation and return-to-work risks

Skills and tools covered

Risk assessment designCritical control assuranceIncident causal analysisOccupational hygiene managementSafety performance measurementManagement of change

Tools and standards

ISO 45001, ISO 31000, Bow-tie analysis, HAZOP

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by case analysis, facilitated group work, risk-rating discussions, control-design tasks and incident simulations. Participants work with realistic scenarios involving contractor interfaces, hazardous substances, machinery, work at height, fatigue and operational change. Each module adds a practical component to an individual or group risk management package. Facilitated reviews test the quality of risk criteria, control selection, assurance evidence and reporting. Time is reserved for application planning against participants' own responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience with workplace hazard identification, risk assessments, incident reporting or safety management responsibilities. They should understand basic occupational health and safety terminology, including hazards, controls, incidents, inspections and legal duties. Previous exposure to ISO 45001 is useful but not essential, as the course explains its risk-based requirements before applying them. This is not an entry-level safety induction course. No engineering degree, occupational hygiene qualification, auditor certificate or specialist statistical background is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should already work with occupational health and safety responsibilities, risk assessments, inspections, incident reporting or operational controls. The course builds from this foundation and focuses on advanced risk design, assurance and governance rather than basic safety awareness.

Participants should bring a laptop if attending in person and, where permitted, non-confidential examples of risk registers, incident reports, procedures or audit findings. Course materials provide the working templates, scenarios and reference documents needed during sessions.

It is intended for experienced HSE practitioners, operations managers, project managers, internal auditors and contractor management personnel. It also suits HR and wellbeing leaders with responsibility for psychosocial risk arrangements.

This course assumes participants already understand fundamental workplace safety concepts. It concentrates on risk criteria, critical control assurance, bow-tie analysis, HAZOP thinking, incident causation, auditing and management-level decision making.

Participants leave with adaptable templates for risk criteria, task assessment, bow-tie controls, assurance checks and audit planning. The capstone structure helps them convert these materials into a practical plan for a site, project or business unit.

Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week develops assessment and control methods, while the second week covers assurance, incidents, change, governance and the final capstone presentation.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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