Cape Town – What can a jeweller teach a doctor about risk? What can a helicopter pilot teach healthcare professionals about decision-making under pressure? And what can a sea-rescue leader teach a hospital executive about responding when there is little room for error?
These are some of the questions at the heart of Risky Business Conference 2026, an international patient safety and healthcare conference taking place in Cape Town on 6 and 7 November 2026 at the Royal Cape Yacht Club, bringing together medical professionals and experts from high-risk industries to explore risk, trust, human factors, leadership and decision-making.
The conference’s unusually diverse faculty includes Janine Binneman, a South African jewellery designer and creative entrepreneur; Peter Jackson, a helicopter pilot and maintenance engineer with experience in aerial firefighting and external lift operations; Dr Cleeve Robertson, emergency physician and former CEO of the National Sea Rescue Institute; and Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, President and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Professor of Medicine at the University of Cape Town.
Their professions may appear worlds apart from one another. But the decisions they make share a common thread: they often have to assess risk, communicate clearly and act under pressure when the consequences of getting it wrong can be significant.
For more than 30 years, Janine Binneman has created vibrant, colourful jewellery rooted in storytelling, craftsmanship and individuality, while making bold decisions in both design and business. Her participation at a healthcare conference may seem unexpected, but it speaks directly to the philosophy behind Risky Business: some of the most valuable lessons about risk and safety can come from outside your own profession.
Peter Jackson brings a very different perspective. As a helicopter pilot and maintenance engineer with Leading Edge Aviation, he flies helicopters conducting aerial firefighting suppression and external lift operations, while also overseeing aircraft airworthiness. His Risky Business session, “Protecting what counts: Helicopter firefighting and external lifts in South Africa,” explores risk in an environment where preparation, technical precision and judgement are critical.
Dr Cleeve Robertson brings more than two decades of emergency and rescue leadership experience. A former Director of Emergency Medical Services in the Western Cape, he served as CEO of the National Sea Rescue Institute from 2013 to 2024 and has extensive experience in medical rescue across a wide range of high-risk situations. At Risky Business, he will present “NSRI – Bringing an end to drowning.”
At the other end of the spectrum is Professor Ntobeko Ntusi, President and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, whose career spans clinical medicine, cardiology, medical research and healthcare leadership. His Risky Business session, “Risk in Research – management for change,” examines risk from the perspective of medical research and evidence-based healthcare.
The international faculty adds further depth. Dr Job Calis, a paediatric intensivist and head of the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit in Amsterdam, brings expertise in critical care in low-resource settings and leads work on early recognition of critical illness. Professor Lucille Hellen Blumberg, an infectious diseases physician and medical microbiologist, brings extensive experience in outbreak prevention and response, including work involving Mpox, cholera, typhoid, rabies, viral haemorrhagic fevers and avian influenza.
Professor Camilla Kingdon, a consultant neonatologist at Evelina London Children’s Hospital and board member of Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, will bring an international perspective on paediatrics, healthcare leadership and complex healthcare systems. Other speakers include Professor Mignon McCulloch, Dr Matodzi Mukosi, Dr Reno Morar, Dr Mark Orpen-Lyall, Dr John Roos, Dr Sibusiso Sizatu, Dr Jonty Wright and Craig Wylie, alongside other local and international contributors.
The conference programme deliberately moves between disciplines and environments. Sessions include risk in trans-Atlantic ocean racing, emergency medical services in high-risk areas, helicopter firefighting, infectious disease outbreaks, medical research, hospital leadership, patient safety, wilderness search and rescue, and the use of technology in public health.
The underlying question is simple: what can healthcare learn from people who routinely operate where uncertainty is high and the consequences of poor decisions can be serious?
Risky Business Conference 2026 will explore themes including patient safety, human factors, leadership, communication, governance, operational excellence and organisational resilience, encouraging healthcare professionals to look beyond traditional boundaries and apply lessons from other high-risk environments to everyday clinical practice.
For healthcare professionals, the conference also offers the opportunity to earn up to 12 HPCSA Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points, including 6 Ethics CPD points, while participating in multidisciplinary learning and professional engagement.
The South African edition of Risky Business is hosted by the team at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, with partners including the Medical Protection Society, University of Cape Town, Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital and The Red Cross Children’s Hospital Trust.
Risky Business Conference 2026 takes place on 6 and 7 November 2026 at the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town, under the theme “Trust in an Age of Uncertainty.”
Registrations are open, with individual and group bookings encouraged for hospitals, healthcare practices, universities, research institutions, government departments and corporate organisations.
For conference information, registration, sponsorship opportunities and group bookings, visit www.riskybusiness.co.za.
About Risky Business Conference
Risky Business is an international multidisciplinary conference dedicated to advancing patient safety, leadership, governance and organisational resilience through cross-disciplinary learning.
The conference originated from the idea that healthcare professionals can learn valuable lessons from other safety-critical industries and high-risk environments. Risky Business conferences have subsequently been held internationally, including in London, Boston and Toronto, as well as previous South African editions.
The 2026 South African conference returns to Cape Town under the theme “Trust in an Age of Uncertainty.”
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Alan Straton
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