Beyond the Spreadsheet: How to Conduct a Realistic Hospital Hazard Vulnerability Assessment
Date: 7/16/26
9:00 – 11:00 a.m. Central time
Audience:
Chief Medical Officer, Chief Nursing Officer, Compliance Officer, Emergency Department Personnel, Joint Commission Coordinator, Medical Records, Quality Improvement personnel, Risk Manager, Legal Counsel, others interested.
Overview:
A Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (HVA) should be more than an annual spreadsheet exercise. When done correctly, the HVA can support the planning, training, exercises,
mitigation strategies, resource allocation, leadership decisions, and operational readiness of a hospital’s emergency management program. This session will walk participants through a practical, hospital-centered approach to conducting a realistic HVA. Participants will learn how to select the right committee, gather meaningful resources, identify and categorize hazards, define operational impact, evaluate preparedness, rate hazards, and turn findings into action. Additionally, the session will explain how to keep the HVA current through annual review and post-event updates. This session will help hospitals move beyond checking the HVA box and build a process that reflects real risk, real preparedness, and real action.
Learning Objectives:
– Identify the multidisciplinary committee members needed to conduct a meaningful hospital HVA.
– Gather and organize internal, local, regional, and external resources to better understand realistic hazards facing the hospital.
– Define the operational impact of hazards on patient care, staffing, utilities, access, safety, supplies, vendors, and continuity of operations.
– Evaluate preparedness beyond the existence of a plan, including training, exercises, backup systems, supplies, internal response capability, external partnerships, and
mutual aid.
– Use HVA findings to drive action, including plan updates, training priorities, exercises, mitigation efforts, resource requests, and leadership decisions.
– Maintain the HVA as a living document by reviewing it annually and after real events, drills, near misses, and operational disruptions.
Speaker:
Michael Dunning is a nationally recognized leader in healthcare safety, security, emergency management, and workplace violence prevention. With more than 30 years of experience spanning the U.S. Air Force, hospital leadership, national consulting, and health system public safety, he has dedicated his career to creating safer, more compassionate environments for patients, staff, and visitors. Michael most recently served as Assistant Vice President of Public Safety & Emergency Management for ScionHealth, where he supported safety and emergency management operations across more than 100 hospitals in 28 states. He is also the founder of The Healthcare Security Consulting Group, helping healthcare organizations reduce workplace violence, improve readiness, strengthen compliance, and build cultures of trust. He is the author of The Hello Doctrine, a book that reframes safety as a human practice rooted in presence, empathy, dignity, and connection.
This speaker has no real or perceived conflicts of interest that relate to this presentation.
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