James Smith
Melbourne,VIC
Summary
Highly qualified Health & Safety Professional with 24 years of industry experience, including 14 years in senior safety leadership roles across large, complex infrastructure projects. Diverse background in safety management spans regulatory work with WorkSafe Victoria to Tier 1 and 2 contracting. Expertise in building and civil construction, aviation, mining, and rail construction. 4 years of direct experience overseeing safety management systems for major aviation groups as National Safety Operations Manager for Dnata Airport Services under the Emirates Group and as National Manager Safety, Health & Environment for Cobham Aviation Services Australia. Unique insight into safety risks and mitigation strategies for airport, rail, and civil construction operations.
Overview
11
11
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Safety Manager North East Link
Symal Group
08.2022 - Current
- Company Overview: Symal Group is a group of highly experienced companies united by a common goal. Together, we strive to find new ways of bringing ambitious visions to life, setting the benchmark for collaboration, innovation, engineering and outstanding delivery for the construction industry.
- As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, i provide day to day management and responsibility for the HSEQ function in NSW before transitioning to HSW lead for Symal onto North East Link Project as part of the NELSA team.
- Develop, maintain, and ensure implementation of the Company’s health and safety management system as well as the Company’s quality management system and associated accreditations
- Be a key advisory resource to the Company on both industry best practice and legislative requirements in this field.
- Responsibilities:
Regional HSE Manager / Operations
Diona Civil
03.2020 - 08.2022
- Company Overview: Diona is a national design and construct business that focuses on cable laying install, water, sewer and gas pipelines as well as drainage and concrete construction. One of the largest utility contractors in Australia, Diona work in all aspects of construction.
- As a member of the Senior Leadership Team, i provide day to day management and responsibility for the Health, Safety and Environment function.
- As Regional Manager, I am responsible for:
- Promoting HSE awareness with all state’s offices and project personnel
- Ensuring adherence to the Diona Management Systems
- Implementation of the HSE Management Plans by the wider project team
- Identifying and defining HSE requirements align with internal and external stakeholder’s expectations
- Coordinating implementation of the HSE system across all facets of the projects including suppliers and subcontractors.
- Responsibilities:
NSW Safety Manager
Georgiou Group
02.2019 - 03.2020
- Company Overview: Georgiou has come a long way since its inception in 1977. Once known as Direct Drainage, they flourished and expanded in 1993 and started a precast company called Georcrete. In 1994, they acquired Road pave. In 1996 the three companies merged to become Georgiou Group. Today they are a national civil and building construction company with offices in Perth, Brisbane and Sydney.
- Reporting to the Operations Manager NSW, I am responsible for developing, implementing and maintaining the various projects Health & Safety Management Systems with the site teams.
- Providing ongoing Health & Safety advice and assistance to the project teams.
- Ensuring compliance and regulatory due diligence across all tenders and current projects
- Mentoring and guidance to site staff including HS team members
- Carrying out NSW Audit program – including the OFSC certification
- Responsibilities:
Safety Manager NSW
Seymour Whyte Construction NSW
02.2017 - 03.2019
- Company Overview: Seymour Whyte has been responsible for the successful delivery of many major road projects and understands that sequencing of works involves considerably more than the physical construction. Experience covers the full range of engineering and design and construction services associated with building our nation’s road network.
- I was responsible for managing the work, health and safety (WHS) systems across all packages of work in NSW to ensure compliance with state and federal WHS laws, regulations, industry standards and delivery partner requirements.
- Assisting with the development of the WHS policy, systems, procedures, culture, regulatory and project compliance, audit and site safety.
- Managed and mentored the safety resources across the region, managing the performance plans to hit key KPI’s and project targets which included key contract requirements.
- Ensure compliance, James undertook regular site visits, safety walks, hazard workshops and audits
- Responsibilities:
National Safety Manager – Ground Operations
Emirates
04.2014 - 02.2017
- Company Overview: Dnata Airport Services Australia is a part of the global networks of Emirates business. In Australia they operate as a service provider offering all-encompassing services for passenger, cargo and private flight services.
- Reporting to the Head of Safety, James’s role took on a national scope for implementation of change management, development of the safety management systems and implementation of positive culture philosophies.
- As the lead on all HSE matters for the organisation the role required James to liaise with the Dnata Executive on a regular basis by providing key reports, strategies on HSE related matters and key legislation updates.
- Another key component of the role was managing a national team of HSE Advisors in each state, responsible for their development and ensuring that they were able to manage with the local port manager’s the daily issues and challenges they faced in the role.
- James was responsible for oversight of incident investigations and the management of the company drug and alcohol program.
- On as national level, James also managed a large worker’s compensation portfolio.
- Responsibilities:
Education
Graduate Diploma - Occupational Hazard Management
University of Ballarat
Melbourne, VIC07-2009
Certificate IV - Frontline Management
Australian Industry Group
09-2009
Swinburne University
Melbourne, VIC03-2008
Certificate IV - Workplace Training and Assessment
Australian Institute of Management
Melbourne, VIC09-2008
Skills
- Incident investigation leadership
- Policy implementation
- Development of safety initiatives
- Safety analysis
- Risk mitigation strategies
- Proactive safety behavior management
- Change implementation strategies
- Emergency incident handling
- Risk management compliance
- Creating effective training programs
- Troubleshooting and technical guidance
Affiliations
Australian Institute of Health and Safety (AIHS), Member
Years In Industry
20 plus
Timeline
Senior Safety Manager North East Link
Symal Group
08.2022 - Current
Regional HSE Manager / Operations
Diona Civil
03.2020 - 08.2022
NSW Safety Manager
Georgiou Group
02.2019 - 03.2020
Safety Manager NSW
Seymour Whyte Construction NSW
02.2017 - 03.2019
National Safety Manager – Ground Operations
Emirates
04.2014 - 02.2017
Graduate Diploma - Occupational Hazard Management
University of Ballarat
Certificate IV - Frontline Management
Australian Industry Group
Swinburne University
Certificate IV - Workplace Training and Assessment
Australian Institute of Management
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