A user-friendly, high quality workplace assessment field guide and an accompanying worksheet are invaluable tools for recognizing hazards in the hospital environment. These tools ensure that both front line workers as well as health and safety and infection control professionals can systematically evaluate hazards and formulate recommendations. This South African example illustrates how role play and pictorial guided orientation can empower workers to use these tools in response to complex political, cultural and environmental factors. (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)