Mastering Health & Safety Leadership in the Pharmaceutical Industry Training Course

Course overview

In the pharmaceutical sector, health and safety performance is inseparable from leadership. Highly regulated environments, complex processes and constant operational change mean that safety cannot be delegated or managed solely through systems and procedures. It must be actively led.

This practical course is designed for leaders and managers across pharmaceutical organisations who are responsible for setting direction, shaping culture and ensuring that safety remains embedded in everyday decision-making. It focuses on the practical realities of safety leadership - how leaders influence behaviour, manage risk, communicate effectively and respond constructively when things go wrong.

Drawing on real-world incidents, academic research and cross-industry lessons, the programme explores both routine safety challenges and high-impact, low-frequency risks. Participants will examine how leadership actions, assumptions and communication styles directly affect safety outcomes, often more powerfully than formal controls alone.

The programme begins by looking at safety leadership as a social process - one that enables teams to work together to achieve better, safer results. The expert trainer explores how safety culture is formed and sustained, and why leaders must lead by example if they expect safe behaviours from their teams and colleagues.

The course distinguishes clearly between safety management and safety leadership. While management focuses on monitoring resources and processes, leadership is about setting direction, prioritising risk and ensuring accountability. The expert trainer examines how safety responsibilities can be delegated without losing leadership accountability, and what true competence means in safety-critical roles.

Through detailed case studies and examples participants will analyse how leadership failures, communication breakdowns and unmanaged assumptions contributed to catastrophic outcomes – and understand what lessons can be learnt. 

The programme also addresses leadership risk and human error, exploring the difference between errors and violations, why mistakes occur even among competent professionals, and how leaders should respond in ways that promote learning rather than blame. Particular attention is given to managing assumptions - often described as ‘silent assassins’ - that can undermine even well-designed safety systems.

Finally, the course examines extreme risk scenarios and how to prepare for high-impact events that are either unpredictable or known but underestimated. Focussing on and how scenario-based training and tabletop exercises can strengthen organisational resilience and crisis response will build the skills to master H&S in the pharmaceutical workplace.

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, participants will have a clearer understanding of their role in shaping safety outcomes, improved confidence in addressing both everyday and exceptional risks, and gain practical tools for leading safety more effectively.

• Strengthen leadership behaviours that drive safe decision-making
• Improve communication and influence around safety at all levels
• Get to grips with how to foster a strong safety culture and communicate expectations clearly
• Understand human error and respond effectively without blame
• Identify and challenge hidden assumptions that undermine safety
• Ensure safety practices remain robust as processes, technologies and organisations evolve
• Manage both routine risks and high-impact, low-probability events effectively

Who should attend?

This event is designed for leaders and managers across pharmaceutical organisations who have responsibility for safety, risk, and operational decision-making, including:

• Senior leaders and executives (Directors, VPs, Heads of Function)
• Manufacturing and operations leaders
• Quality assurance and quality management leaders
• EHS / HSE managers and safety leaders
• Engineering, facilities and technical services managers
• R&D and laboratory managers
• Supply chain and technical operations leaders
• Regulatory affairs and compliance leaders
• Project, change and transformation managers

It is particularly valuable for leaders who influence safety culture, oversee safety-critical activities, or manage teams operating in complex, regulated, or high-risk environments.

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