A new training programme designed to help senior leaders in high-hazard industries, such as food and drink manufacturing, understand and respond to climate change risk is now launched by Cogent Skills Safety Culture Solutions.

The one-day course and learning materials, aligned to the new Climate Resilience Leadership for Senior Executives Training Standard, give senior leaders and board-level decision makers in UK high-hazard and COMAH-regulated industries practical approaches to build climate resilience capability.

The training standard, launched earlier this year under the guidance of the Process Safety Management Competence Programme Board, defines the skills, knowledge and understanding required for effective climate resilience leadership.

This includes recognising the importance of climate resilience leadership, understanding the possible safety and business impacts of natural hazards and climate change for organisations, managing the impact on operations and embedding climate adaption into systems for long-term resilience.

The programme translates the standard into structured, deliverable training: helping senior leaders understand climate impacts, identify risks and vulnerabilities and take action to strengthen organisational resilience over time.

It also provides a benchmark for organisations operating under COMAH Regulations and other environmental permitting regimes to address the growing regulatory focus on climate resilience at senior leadership level.

Justine Fosh, Group CEO, Cogent Skills said: “High-hazard industries operate in demanding environments where strong leadership and workforce capability are critical to maintaining safe, resilient operations. In the context of today’s climate change-related challenges, this course puts the new standard into practice: giving senior leaders the tools to translate regulatory expectation into real organisational resilience.”

Mike Nicholas, senior advisor, COMAH & Climate Change Adaptation, Environment Agency said: Climate change is already reshaping the risk landscape for high-hazard and regulated industries, from extreme weather to shifting environmental conditions. This new standard gives senior leaders a clear, practical framework for building climate resilience into how their organisations think and operate. It’s a welcome step, and one that reflects the scale of the challenge ahead.

Richard Roff, chair, Process Safety Management Competence Programme Board, said: “This standard was developed because climate resilience can no longer be seen as separate to core process safety leadership; it has to be seen as an integral part of the same process. Seeing the standard translated into deliverable training gives industry an opportunity to take its responsibility for competence seriously; this training will give senior leaders a credible, consistent benchmark to work to.”

For more information and bookings visit the course page at Cogent Skills.

Industry specialists and training providers interested in delivering the course can contact [email protected].