Healthcare Safety and Hazard Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Health and Safety Officers, Hospital and Clinic Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-OHS-040

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with their workplace operations, staff roles and routine safety procedures.

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

Healthcare workplaces combine clinical care, laboratories, pharmacies, maintenance areas, kitchens, waste streams, patient movement and public access. Hazards can arise from sharps, infectious agents, hazardous medicines, manual handling, medical gases, electrical equipment, aggression, slips, fire and emergency failures. Safety managers and operational leaders must identify these risks early, select effective controls, investigate failures fairly and show that controls are working.

This course develops the methods used to manage healthcare hazards through a structured occupational health and safety system. Participants work with ISO 45001 principles, the hierarchy of controls, task-based risk assessment, workplace inspection, Job Safety Analysis, Bowtie analysis, incident investigation and corrective-action tracking. The programme addresses clinical and non-clinical risks, including patient-facing services, laboratories, engineering, facilities, contracted services and emergency arrangements.

Teaching combines focused briefings with healthcare cases, facilitated group analysis, inspection simulations, risk-control decisions and incident-review discussions. Participants apply course methods to realistic scenarios such as a needlestick injury, cytotoxic medicine spill, patient-handling incident, fire impairment and contractor work near clinical services. Each participant leaves with a practical healthcare safety management pack containing risk assessment, inspection, investigation and action-planning materials for use at work.

The course is suited to professionals responsible for safety, facilities, clinical operations, nursing services, laboratories, engineering, infection prevention or contracted healthcare support. It is particularly useful where managers need to improve control of recurring incidents, strengthen reporting quality, prepare for audits or coordinate safety responsibilities across multiple departments.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply ISO 45001 principles to define healthcare safety responsibilities and controls
  • Identify clinical and non-clinical hazards through structured workplace inspections
  • Produce task-based risk assessments using likelihood, consequence and control ratings
  • Select controls using the hierarchy of controls for priority healthcare hazards
  • Conduct Job Safety Analysis for routine and non-routine healthcare tasks
  • Investigate incidents using causal analysis, evidence records and corrective actions
  • Develop Bowtie diagrams for major healthcare hazard scenarios
  • Create a safety action plan with owners, deadlines and assurance measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Assess healthcare tasks confidently before staff, patients or contractors are exposed
  • Write clearer risk assessments that specify practical control measures
  • Lead incident reviews without stopping at unsafe acts or individual blame
  • Recognise weak controls around sharps, chemicals, manual handling and emergency systems
  • Present safety actions to clinical and operational managers with defined evidence

For your organisation

  • More consistent risk assessment across clinical, support and contracted services
  • Earlier detection of unsafe conditions through planned inspections and reporting
  • Better targeted controls for recurring injuries, exposures and near misses
  • Clearer corrective-action ownership, deadlines and closure evidence
  • Stronger preparation for internal reviews, regulator visits and ISO 45001 audits

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define accountable safety arrangements for healthcare services using ISO 45001 principles.

  • ISO 45001 clauses relevant to clinical and support services
  • Safety governance, duty holders, consultation and accountability pathways defined
  • Risk register structure linking hazards, controls, owners and review dates
  • Leading and lagging indicators for healthcare safety performance monitoring
  • Safety culture signals, just culture boundaries and speaking-up routes
  • Contractor and visitor interfaces within hospital safety arrangements

Participants can identify healthcare hazards systematically and record inspection findings clearly.

  • Hazard categories covering biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic and psychosocial exposures
  • Workplace inspections using observation, worker consultation and document review
  • Clinical walk-throughs examining patient areas, treatment rooms and medication storage
  • Support-service inspections covering kitchens, laundry, waste and maintenance areas
  • Unsafe conditions, unsafe acts and latent system failures distinguished
  • Inspection findings recorded with location, evidence, risk and recommended action

Participants can produce defensible risk assessments and choose proportionate control measures.

  • Likelihood and consequence matrices calibrated for healthcare safety decisions
  • Task-based risk assessments separating routine, non-routine and emergency work
  • Hierarchy of controls applied before administrative controls and personal protective equipment
  • Existing control effectiveness tested against exposure pathways and failure points
  • Residual risk ratings justified with documented assumptions and evidence
  • Control plans assign accountable owners, completion dates and verification methods

Participants can control occupational exposure to biological agents and sharps injuries.

  • Exposure pathways for bloodborne pathogens, respiratory agents and contaminated materials
  • Sharps safety controls covering procurement, use, disposal and post-exposure response
  • Standard precautions linked to risk assessment and occupational exposure prevention
  • Isolation arrangements assessed for staff movement, waste and equipment handling
  • Post-exposure reporting records preserve facts, treatment pathways and follow-up
  • Vaccination, fit testing and health surveillance roles distinguished clearly

Participants can assess and control chemical, hazardous medicine and laboratory exposures.

  • Safety data sheets interpreted for hazards, storage, handling and emergency measures
  • Chemical inventory controls identify incompatible substances and expired stock
  • Hazardous medicine handling assessed from receipt through waste disposal
  • Laboratory controls address aerosols, centrifuges, spills and containment failures
  • Local exhaust ventilation checks linked to exposure-control assurance
  • Spill response plans specify isolation, personal protection and escalation

Participants can reduce musculoskeletal and physical safety risks in healthcare work.

  • Patient handling assessments consider mobility, task frequency and available equipment
  • Ergonomic reviews address workstations, repetitive tasks and awkward postures
  • Slip, trip and fall controls target flooring, cleaning and pedestrian routes
  • Electrical safety checks cover medical equipment, extension leads and isolation
  • Medical gas hazards assessed for storage, transport and cylinder restraint
  • Work equipment inspections distinguish pre-use checks from planned maintenance

Participants can evaluate emergency arrangements for healthcare hazards and service disruption.

  • Fire risk assessment considers ignition sources, oxygen enrichment and evacuation constraints
  • Progressive horizontal evacuation principles applied to patient care areas
  • Emergency roles define incident command, communications and accountability actions
  • Utility failure scenarios cover power, water, medical gases and ventilation
  • Emergency equipment inspections verify readiness, accessibility and maintenance status
  • Business continuity priorities protect life safety and critical clinical services

Participants can investigate healthcare safety incidents and turn findings into verified improvements.

  • Incident classifications distinguish injury, exposure, near miss and dangerous occurrence
  • Initial response secures people, evidence, records and affected work areas
  • Five Whys analysis tests causal chains without assigning premature blame
  • Causal factor mapping identifies equipment, process, supervision and organisational contributors
  • Corrective actions address root causes, control gaps and implementation barriers
  • Investigation reports communicate findings, actions, owners and review dates

Participants can model major healthcare hazards and assess preventive and recovery barriers.

  • Bowtie analysis maps threats, top events, consequences and control barriers
  • Needlestick injury scenarios identify preventive controls and recovery measures
  • Cytotoxic medicine spills analysed through barriers, escalation and containment
  • Fire impairment scenarios test detection, evacuation and continuity barriers
  • Barrier assurance identifies critical controls requiring inspection or testing
  • Control degradation factors linked to supervision, maintenance and competence

Participants can build a practical safety improvement plan with measurable assurance activities.

  • Safety audits test conformance, implementation evidence and control effectiveness
  • Corrective-action registers track priority, owner, deadline and closure evidence
  • Trend analysis groups incidents by task, location, exposure and cause
  • Management review inputs connect performance data, risks and resource decisions
  • Safety communication plans target staff, contractors, patients and visitors
  • Ninety-day application plans sequence actions, measures and review meetings

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

What you take back to work

  1. Healthcare hazard risk assessment template
  2. Workplace safety inspection checklist
  3. Job Safety Analysis worksheet
  4. Healthcare incident investigation report template
  5. Bowtie hazard control model
  6. Ninety-day safety improvement plan

Who should attend

  • Health and Safety Officers — responsible for healthcare hazard identification and control systems
  • Hospital and Clinic Managers — accountable for safe service delivery and local safety performance
  • Nursing and Clinical Leaders — managing staff exposure, patient handling and incident reporting
  • Facilities and Engineering Managers — controlling maintenance, contractor, fire and utility risks
  • Laboratory and Pharmacy Supervisors — managing chemical, biological and hazardous medicine exposures
  • Infection Prevention and Quality Staff — linking safety reporting, controls and improvement actions

Skills and tools covered

Healthcare risk assessmentHazard control selectionIncident investigationSafety inspectionEmergency preparednessCorrective action tracking

Tools and standards

ISO 45001, Hierarchy of Controls, Job Safety Analysis, Bowtie Analysis

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings followed by healthcare-focused case work, group analysis and structured simulations. Participants assess hazards from clinical, laboratory, facilities and support-service scenarios; select controls; review incident evidence; and test emergency decisions. Group exercises use risk registers, inspection records, Job Safety Analysis sheets and Bowtie diagrams. Facilitated discussion compares control choices against the hierarchy of controls and ISO 45001 requirements. Participants finish by preparing a workplace application plan for their own responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with their workplace operations, staff roles and routine safety procedures. Experience in healthcare, clinical support, facilities, laboratories, pharmacy, maintenance or occupational safety is helpful. The course assumes participants can read workplace procedures and contribute to discussions about hazards and incidents. Prior formal training in occupational health and safety, ISO 45001, auditing, incident investigation or risk analysis is not required. No clinical qualification is required; examples can be adapted for non-clinical healthcare support functions.

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 need familiarity with their own workplace activities and basic safety responsibilities. Formal ISO 45001, auditing or incident-investigation training is not required.

Participants should bring examples of their current risk assessments, incident forms, inspection checklists or safety concerns where permitted by confidentiality rules. Identifiable patient information and sensitive incident records should not be brought.

It suits safety officers, clinical leaders, facilities managers, laboratory supervisors, pharmacy staff and managers of healthcare support services. It also suits staff newly assigned responsibility for local safety controls.

The course uses healthcare-specific hazards, including sharps, biological exposure, hazardous medicines, patient handling, medical gases and clinical emergency arrangements. It focuses on the interfaces between care delivery, facilities, laboratories and contracted services.

Participants can use the supplied templates to inspect work areas, revise risk assessments, investigate incidents and track corrective actions. The final application plan identifies priority actions, accountable owners and evidence of completion.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, healthcare cases, group analysis, simulations, discussion and application planning across ten modules.

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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