ISO 31000 HSE Risk Management Decision Making Training Course

Course overview

HSE leaders are routinely required to make decisions where the consequences are uncertain, evidence is incomplete, and stakeholders hold competing views of what is acceptable. Whether approving a permit-to-work change, prioritising environmental controls, selecting a contractor, or escalating a major hazard, teams need a repeatable way to identify uncertainty, evaluate consequences, and justify the chosen course of action. This course applies the ISO 31000 risk management framework to operational health, safety and environmental decisions, helping participants move beyond static risk registers and isolated risk assessments.

Participants learn to establish risk context, define risk criteria, identify hazards and opportunities, analyse likelihood and consequence, evaluate treatment options, and communicate residual risk to decision-makers. They work with ISO 31000 principles, framework and process; risk appetite and tolerance statements; risk matrices; bow-tie thinking; control effectiveness testing; and treatment planning. Particular attention is given to linking HSE risk information to operational decisions, including capital projects, contractor management, incident follow-up, environmental aspects and emergency preparedness.

The five-day programme combines instructor-led explanation with facilitated case work, risk assessment workshops and peer review of decision papers. Participants build an ISO 31000-aligned HSE risk management pack for a realistic operating scenario, containing a context statement, risk criteria, risk register, bow-tie control map, treatment plan, escalation criteria and decision briefing. They leave with practical templates and a documented approach they can adapt for their own site, project or business unit. The course is suited to practitioners who contribute to HSE decisions and managers who need risk information that is consistent, traceable and defensible.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Apply the ISO 31000:2018 principles, framework and process to an HSE management decision
• Define risk context, stakeholders, assumptions and decision boundaries for a site or project scenario
• Set risk criteria using consequence scales, likelihood definitions, risk appetite and tolerance thresholds
• Construct an HSE risk register that records causes, events, consequences, existing controls and owners
• Analyse critical risks with bow-tie diagrams and assess preventive and mitigative control effectiveness
• Evaluate risk treatment options using the hierarchy of controls, cost, feasibility and residual-risk criteria
• Prepare a risk-based decision briefing with recommended actions, escalation triggers and documented rationale
• Design monitoring and review measures using leading indicators, assurance checks and management review inputs

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• HSE Managers — who need to make and defend consistent risk-based operational decisions
• Health and Safety Advisors — who develop risk assessments, control plans and recommendations for managers
• Environmental Managers — who evaluate environmental aspects, impacts and treatment priorities
• Operations Managers — who own operational risks and must balance production, safety and environmental controls
• Project Managers — who need to integrate HSE risk criteria into project gates, change control and contractor decisions
• Internal Auditors and Compliance Officers — who assess whether HSE risk processes are systematic, evidence-based and effective

Requirements and prerequisites

This is a foundation-to-intermediate course. Participants should be familiar with the basic HSE concepts of hazard, risk, consequence, control and legal compliance, ideally through operational, project, environmental or safety responsibilities. Experience completing or reviewing a workplace risk assessment is helpful but not essential. Participants should be able to read simple tables and work with basic spreadsheet-style risk registers. No prior ISO 31000 qualification, audit qualification, statistical modelling experience or specialist risk software knowledge is required. Complete beginners should expect to spend time learning HSE risk vocabulary before applying the ISO 31000 method in practical exercises.

Training methodology

Instructor-led sessions introduce each ISO 31000 step through HSE examples from operations, projects and environmental management. Participants then work in small groups on a continuing case involving contractor work, chemical exposure and potential environmental release. They define context and criteria, populate a risk register, map controls in a bow-tie, compare treatments and prepare an approval briefing. The instructor challenges assumptions, facilitates peer review and demonstrates practical templates. On day five, each participant prepares an application plan identifying one live workplace decision where the method can be used.

Course outline

Day 1: ISO 31000 foundations for HSE decisions

• ISO 31000:2018 principles and value creation
• The risk management framework and leadership accountabilities
• The ISO 31000 process: scope, context and criteria
• Hazard, uncertainty, risk event and consequence distinctions
• Internal and external HSE context analysis
• Stakeholder identification and consultation planning
• Decision statements, assumptions and scope boundaries

Workshop: Participants frame an HSE decision scenario by producing a context statement, stakeholder map and list of critical assumptions.

Day 2: Risk identification and analysis

• Structured hazard identification using task and lifecycle prompts
• Causes, risk events and consequence pathway mapping
• Health, safety and environmental consequence categories
• Likelihood estimation and uncertainty statements
• Risk matrices: design limitations and disciplined use
• Existing control identification and control ownership
• Building an ISO 31000-aligned HSE risk register

Workshop: Teams create a risk register for a contractor-led maintenance activity, recording causes, events, consequences, controls and accountable owners.

Day 3: Risk evaluation and control effectiveness

• Risk criteria, appetite, tolerance and acceptance thresholds
• Inherent risk, current risk and residual risk definitions
• Bow-tie analysis for major HSE risk events
• Preventive barriers and mitigative recovery controls
• Control criticality, performance standards and verification
• Common control failures and degradation mechanisms
• Escalation rules for intolerable and emerging risks

Workshop: Participants develop a bow-tie diagram for a chemical-release scenario and produce a control assurance checklist.

Day 4: Risk treatment and decision-making

• Risk treatment options: avoid, reduce, share, retain and pursue
• Applying the hierarchy of controls to treatment selection
• ALARP reasoning and practicability considerations
• Treatment option evaluation using feasibility and effectiveness criteria
• Action plans, risk owners, due dates and resource requirements
• Management of change and treatment of new risks
• Risk-based decision papers for management approval

Workshop: Teams compare three treatment options, select a justified recommendation and draft a management decision briefing.

Day 5: Integration, monitoring and workplace application

• Integrating ISO 31000 with ISO 45001 and ISO 14001 systems
• Risk communication for frontline teams and senior leaders
• Leading indicators and control-performance monitoring
• Risk review triggers after incidents, changes and audits
• Assurance activities, internal audit and management review inputs
• Lessons learned and continuous improvement of risk criteria
• Personal implementation planning for a live HSE decision

Workshop: Each participant assembles an ISO 31000-aligned HSE risk management pack and presents a 90-day workplace application plan.

Tools & standards covered

ISO 31000:2018, ISO 45001:2018, ISO 14001:2015, BowTieXP

A typical training day

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

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions