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Falconbury

Crisis Management from a Tactical Operations Perspective: A Practical Guide for Managers in the Pharmaceutical Sector Training Course

Learn how to lead effectively when it matters most. This course provides pharmaceutical managers with an insight into tactical decision-making and the essential skills needed to manage rapidly developing crises.

18 March 2026
+ 23 September 2026 »

from £499

Need help?  Enrol/reserve

Course overview

When a crisis hits, will your plan hold - or fall apart under pressure? In the pharmaceutical industry, every link in the chain - from research and manufacturing to sales and distribution - is complex, global, and tightly regulated. 

Crises can unfold without warning, and even the most carefully prepared management plans can fail when real life intervenes. As Helmuth von Moltke, a Prussian General in the mid-19th century, famously observed, “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.” The same is true for crisis management – no matter how good your plan, no plan survives first contact with reality unscathed.

Companies operating in this sector should have a range of carefully designed crisis management procedures in place, written in line both with local legislation and the international standard ISO 22361, and all ready for activation at a moment’s notice – but what can happen when the plan is activated and comes into contact with the real world?

This course has been designed specifically for managers in the pharmaceutical industry who may suddenly find themselves being challenged by an unexpected and swiftly evolving situation because the strategic crisis management plan has started to fail. In such an event they may be called upon not only to make vital tactical decisions while under pressure, but also to get these decisions right despite the lack of both accurate information and time. And all this in a setting where the accuracy of those decisions could make the difference between recovery and chaos.

Making tactical decisions during an evolving crisis is a very difficult position for any manager to face. This one-day webinar has been designed to help managers cope with the sort of challenges they may well encounter in such a testing situation.

During this course you’ll explore topics such as:

  • The difference between incidents and crises
  • Who should be involved in the crisis management team
  • What goes into the crisis manage plan
  • The difference between “span of command” and “span of control”
  • Crisis communication essentials
  • The essential psychology of tactical decision-making and leadership

By the end of this carefully designed session, you’ll be better equipped to think clearly, lead decisively, and manage the unpredictable in a high-stakes environment - ensuring your organisation not only survives a crisis but emerges stronger.

The expert trainer will use a mix of theory, real-life examples, reference to the international standard ISO 22361 and a wealth of experience and knowledge in safety and emergency management.

This training course is part of our collection of Facilities Management Training Courses which offer a wide range of topics to help assist you in navigating potential risks in relation to fire safety, industrial accidents and all the vital aspects of facilities and property management.

Benefits of attending

By attending this course you will:

  • Strengthen your tactical decision-making skills 
  • Recognise the difference between incidents and crises and apply the right level of response
  • Understand the dynamics of effective crisis teams and how to optimise communication and command structures
  • Appreciate the relevance of international standard ISO 22361 to pharmaceutical crisis management planning
  • Be able to identify common points of failure in crisis plans and learn how to prevent or mitigate them
  • Enhance crisis communication techniques for both internal coordination and external stakeholder management
  • Understand how to improve organisational resilience by aligning the crisis management plan with practical, actionable strategies

Who should attend?

This course has been specially designed for professionals in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors who may be directly involved in crisis response, operational decision-making, or managing business continuity under pressure, including:

  • Pharmaceutical Operations Managers
  • Manufacturing or Production Managers
  • Quality Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC) Managers
  • Regulatory Affairs Managers
  • Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) Managers
  • Crisis Management Leads / Coordinators
  • Risk and Compliance Officers
  • Corporate Communications / Public Affairs Managers
  • Supply Chain and Logistics Managers
  • R&D and Laboratory Managers
  • Business Continuity and Emergency Response Teams
  • Senior Executives and Functional Heads responsible for crisis oversight

Enrol/reserve

This course will cover:

Tactical v strategic decisions

Incidents v crises

  • ISO 22361
  • Nature of incident v crisis
  • Case study: chemical incident which developed into a crisis

Multiple crises

  • Flexibility
  • Case study: simultaneous crises
  • Challenges
  • The domino effect

Crisis management team

  • Crucial personnel
  • Supporting teams
  • Tactical v operations perspectives

Leadership

  • Leaders v managers
  • Leadership challenges - decisions

Crisis management plan

  • The need for a plan
  • Structure of the plan

Span of command

  • Structure and hierarchy
  • Command flexibility

Span of control

  • Definition
  • Complexity
  • Information overload
  • Data management

Crisis communications - overview

  • Effective communications and decision-making
  • Call handling

  • The international dimension

How communication works

  • Shannon-Weaver model
  • Resilient communications
  • Feedback loop

Encoding

  • What/ who/ how?
  • Brevity
  • Clarity
  • Case study: chemical incident due to lack of clarity
  • Ambiguity
  • Choice of transmission medium

Receiving

  • Barriers to understanding
  • Importance of feedback loop
  • Case study: feedback loop failure

Psychology of decision making

  • Heuristics
  • Types of bias and their effects
  • Case study: anchor bias
  • Groupthink influence

Judgement

  • Definition
  • Judgement models

Tactical decisions - overview

  • Crisis fluidity
  • Case study: hypothetical

Record keeping

  • Requirements of ISO 22361
  • Decision logs
    • Function
    • Significant actions
    • Operational use
    • Format
    • Analysis

Debrief

  • Purpose of the debrief
  • Debrief
    • Readiness
    • Event
    • Response
    • Improvements

Learning lessons

  • Recognising problems
  • Identifying strengths
  • Planning for the future

Tabletop exercises

  • Purpose of tabletop exercises
  • Advantages
  • Disadvantages

Enrol/reserve

Andy Farrall
Management & Safety Training Ltd

Andy Farrall  FIIRSM  CMIOSH  MIIAI  MIoL is a chartered safety management consultant and accident investigator with over 16 years’ experience.  He is accredited with the UK Occupational Safety and Health Consultants’ Register (OSHCR) and holds numerous professional memberships and qualifications.

His professional experience is wide ranging and international, but of particular relevance is his emergency services background. He spent 12 years in the NHS ambulance service – both as part of an emergency crew and as a control room officer – and twice received a Chief Officer’s Commendation for his work at serious road traffic collisions.

During this time, he was called upon to deal with literally thousands of emergencies. Many of them were routine (or as routine as any medical emergency can be), but some of them involved complex, potentially life-threatening, dynamic situations which required tactical coordination with other services.

Overall, his experience and skills developed during his ambulance career were such that he was later invited by the Irish National Ambulance Service College to write and present a series of courses on critical decision-making for their officers and paramedics.

And in 2022 he was invited to speak at the “IXth International Scientific and Practical Conference on Health & Safety” – an international online conference for the Ukraine government which was hosted from Warsaw. His chosen topic for that conference was “Critical thinking: decision making in times of crisis”.

More details

NEW higher discounts for multiple bookings - bring your colleagues to make your training budget go further:

  • 30% off the 2nd delegate*
  • 40% off the 3rd delegate*
  • 50% off the 4th delegate*

Please contact us for pricing if you are interested in booking 5 or more delegates

18 March 2026

Live online

09:30-17:00 UK (London) (UTC+00)
10:30-18:00 Paris (UTC+01)
05:30-13:00 New York (UTC-04)
Course code 16816

  • GBP 499 599
  • EUR 699 839
  • USD 803 959

Until 11 Feb

View basket 

 
Not ready to book yet?

for 7 days, no obligation

23 September 2026

Live online

09:30-17:00 UK (London) (UTC+01)
10:30-18:00 Paris (UTC+02)
04:30-12:00 New York (UTC-04)
Course code 16817

  • GBP 499 599
  • EUR 699 839
  • USD 803 959

Until 19 Aug

View basket 

 
Not ready to book yet?

for 7 days, no obligation

* Early booking discounts may not be combined with other discounts or offers. As such, the discounts for 2nd/3rd/4th delegates are based on the full price; and apply only when booking multiple delegates on the same date.

Run Crisis Management from a Tactical Operations Perspective: A Practical Guide for Managers in the Pharmaceutical Sector Live online for your team

1 day

Typical duration

Pricing from:

  • GBP 400
  • Per attendee, based on 10 attendees
  • Course tailored to your requirements
  • At your choice of location, or online

 

We can customise this course to your requirements and deliver it on an in-house basis for any number of your staff or colleagues.

Contact our in-house training experts Aleksandra Beer and Yesim Nurko to discuss your requirements:

Multiple colleagues? See above for details of our discounts for 2, 3, or 4 delegates. For more, talk to one of our training experts to discuss how to:

Run this course conveniently and cost-effectively in-house for your staff and colleagues

Aleksandra Beer

Aleksandra
BEER

Training expert

Yesim Nurko

Yesim
NURKO

Training expert

Yesim Nurko

Harry
ALTAMONT

Training expert

+44 (0)20 7749 4749

inhouse@ipiacademy.com