Tim D'Ath

author, Humanising Safety – a four step approach

Tim D’Ath is a senior safety executive, author and people leader in Melbourne, Australia. He has more than 15 years of experience leading high-performing teams in both corporate and high-risk operational environments. Prior to this, Tim spent ten years as a construction worker, mobile plant operator, offshore oil rig roustabout, deckhand, and trade assistant. His experience in frontline worker roles has directly shaped his approach to working as a safety professional, acknowledging the skills, experience, and perspectives of frontline workers in the development of safety programs. He specialises in the psychology of safety with extensive experience implementing contemporary safety approaches and psychosocial well-being strategies and developing health and safety governance frameworks across complex matrix structures. He has worked in diverse industries including construction, maritime, aviation, and utilities, applying humanistic safety approaches in highly regulated work environments. Tim is the author of Humanising Safety – a four step approach and runs Humanising Safety consultancy from his coastside town of Torquay in Victoria. Humanising Safety is dedicated to transforming safety cultures by putting human experience at the forefront of safety strategies. The mission of Humanising Safety is to empower organisations, safety professionals, and leaders to build their safety programs with the direct involvement of the frontline through a unique approach that is built around people. http://www.humanising-safety.com

Kym Bancroft

Director, New View Safety

Kym is the Director of New View Safety, a boutique consultancy partnering with organisations to transform how they think about, lead, and deliver safety. With two decades of global experience across sectors including mining, corrections, and essential services, Kym brings deep executive expertise and a proven track record in reshaping safety culture and performance. She holds a Master’s in Safety Leadership and is a registered Organisational Psychologist. Kym has previously served as Deputy Director-General and Regulator for Workplace Health & Safety Queensland, and held senior executive roles including Head of Health & Safety at Serco Asia Pacific and Urban Utilities. Known for a contemporary, human-centred approach, Kym blends psychological principles, operational insight, and evidence-based research to help organisations build capacity, strengthen resilience, and embed high-reliability practices. Her work focuses on driving practical, meaningful transformation using contemporary safety science methodologies.

Chris Jones

Director Global Health, Safety & Wellbeing, Fonterra

Chris is Director Global Health, Safety & Wellbeing at Fonterra and a Steering Committee member of New Zealand's General Manager Safety Forum. Chris was project chair and expert contributor to the Institute of Directors' and WorkSafe New Zealand's 2024 'Health and Safety Governance Good Practice Guide’ and is a regular speaker at national and international conferences. Before Fonterra, Chris spent six years as Chief Safety & Wellbeing Officer for the Department of Corrections. He has also held senior leadership roles in WorkSafe New Zealand, Network Rail, and Nuffield Health.

Sarah Lou Harmer

Principal Consultant, The Humanity Project

Sarah Lou Harmer works at the intersection of psychosocial risk, governance, and systems design, helping organisations treat psychosocial harm as a serious organisational risk shaped by how work is designed and led. She is the co-author of the Effective Psychosocial Risk Management Guide, developed alongside Craig Marriott Consulting.

Craig Marriott

Principal, Craig Marriott Consulting

Craig has over 30 years’ experience managing safety in high-hazard industries. From nuclear submarines and highly radioactive waste, to high-pressure gas pipelines and oil rigs, he has written safety cases and managed safety for some of the world’s most hazardous operations. Craig is a strong advocate of challenging conventional safety thinking and author of the book Challenging the Safety Quo. He is known for bringing a pragmatic approach to translate health and safety management theory into workable solutions. He works with boards, executive teams and senior safety leaders to deliver better health and safety outcomes and was the lead author of Health and Safety Governance: A Good Practice Guideline, jointly published by the Institute of Directors and WorkSafe New Zealand.

Scott McMillan

Director of Safety, Melbourne Park

Scott McMillan is the Director of Safety at Melbourne Park, with an electrical trade background and experience across construction, logistics, and remote operations, including work in Antarctica. He brings a practical, hands-on approach to safety leadership, with a focus on simplifying complex systems to improve usability and genuine workforce engagement. Scott is the Chair of the Australian Institute of Health & Safety Victorian Branch, holds an Honorary Industry Fellowship at Deakin University's School of Engineering, and serves as an Advisory Board Member of RMIT SHINe. He was the industry lead on the inaugural Decluttering Safety Management Systems project, which examined how overly complex safety documentation undermines workforce engagement and produced practical guidance for organisations looking to redesign their systems around how work is actually done

Rita Zhang

Deputy Director of Construction Work Health and Safety Research, RMIT

Rita holds a PhD in Construction Management from the University of Hong Kong. Prior to pursuing her academic career, Rita worked as an Assistant Engineer for China Overseas Holding Limited in Hong Kong (SAR). Rita is the Deputy Director of Construction Work Health and Safety Research @ RMIT, where she works closely with industry partners to deliver research with strong practical applications. Her work has explored various aspects of work health and safety (WHS) in construction, including the influence of organisational culture and leadership on WHS outcomes, the development of an integrated supply chain approach to WHS , the management of WHS in subcontracting arrangements, job quality and its health impact, and strategies to improve health and safety for vulnerable groups including young workers and women in construction. Rita is a core member of RMIT’s Safety and Health Innovation Network (SHINe), and she was the academic lead on SHINe’s inaugurate project investigating safety clutter in construction health and safety management systems. Rita is also an Editorial Board Member for the Scimago Q1 Journal of Management in Engineering by American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).

Matthew Goodger

Head of Client Recovery, ACC

Matthew is Head of Client Recovery at ACC, leading a large, nationally distributed function responsible for rehabilitation outcomes for clients recovering from both physical and mental injury, and for scheme sustainability. Before taking on this role, he held senior leadership roles at ACC, including Head of Performance & Analytics, and at Deloitte. A Chartered Accountant, Matthew brings experience across operational leadership, performance improvement, and financial management in complex environments.

Sharon Thompson

Chief Executive, WorkSafe New Zealand

Sharon joined WorkSafe New Zealand in October 2024 and is responsible for seeing us into the future and driving the delivery of our strategy and operating plan. Sharon brings extensive experience in driving change and building highly engaged teams to deliver results. Prior to joining WorkSafe, she was Executive Director, Transformation and Operational Delivery at the Financial Markets Authority, where she led the operations and capability functions. Sharon was also Deputy Commissioner, Customer and Compliance Services at Inland Revenue, where she led a nationwide customer-facing and operations team through its business and digital transformation for more than five years. Before these, Sharon held senior roles at ASB and Westpac.

Brent Sutton

Founder, Learning Teams Inc

Brent is a seasoned HOP practitioner and safety coach. His 20+ years of local and international experience have been in supporting small and large multinational organizations on a learning journey to understand how people are seen as the solution, how to engage people, and how to leverage their skills so that worker participation becomes a normal way of running an organization where everybody benefits. He advocates for organizations to do safety with people rather than do safety to or for them. Brent is the founder of Learning Teams Inc, and is the best-selling author of a series of books and bodies of work on Human and Organizational Performance, Learning Teams, Learning From Everyday Work, and Operational Excellence. His work, including Learning Teams and the 4Ds, has won awards in New Zealand, Australia, and North America. He also hosts the podcast show “HOP Into Action.” He resides in Auckland, New Zealand.

Susan Crosbie

Head of Health and Safety, Heritage Lifecare

Susan is Head of Health and Safety at Heritage Lifecare, leading nationwide initiatives across aged care homes to create safe and supportive environments. With experience in high-hazard manufacturing and healthcare, she brings strong strategic insight and practical expertise to complex risk challenges. Susan is passionate about building positive safety cultures through authentic leadership, collaboration, and learning from work-as-done. She recently led the rollout of H&S Committee to Executive team Safety Walks, grounded in curiosity-led conversations and the 4Ds framework, shifting focus from compliance to insight-driven improvement. A ProfNZISM member and HASANZ registered professional, Susan is in the final stages of completing a Master of Health (Workplace Health & Safety) at Victoria University of Wellington, proving that risk management includes carefully managing sleep, deadlines, and a concerning reliance on caffeine.

Dr Philip Voss

Partner, Leading Safety

Philip Voss is a Partner at Leading Safety, a consultancy specialising in health and safety governance, leadership, and culture. Alongside his coaching and consultancy work, Philip enjoys running, reading, and relaxing with whānau (not all at the same time).

George Adams

Professional Director

George is a Professional Director and business co-founder. He is keenly interested in export businesses that showcase the best of New Zealand products, such as Synlait, Apollo Foods and New Zealand Frost Fans. George enjoys operating in challenging and high growth environments where boards play an active role in business strategy. George is also a strong proponent of health and safety governance which allow people and businesses to thrive. Noted for his work in refinancing Synlait he was a finalist in the Deloitte Business Awards Chair of the Year 2024 George Chaired the highly regarded Independent Forestry Safety Review in 2014 and the Occupational Health Advisory Group for WorkSafe for seven years. He was also Chair of the Business Leaders Health and Safety Forum for a decade retiring in 2025, a decade in which its membership doubled and it became a nationally regarded advocate for health and safety. George won the Safeguard Safety Leader of the Year Award in 2013 and was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025 for his contribution to building safety leadership in New Zealand

Charlotte Ward

Chief People Officer, Kiwibank

Charlotte Ward is a global HR executive with a wealth of expertise in organisational change and transformation, HR strategy, talent and leadership development. Charlotte joined Kiwibank as Chief People Officer in September 2020 and has led major initiatives that have strengthened Kiwibank’s reputation as a great place to work, including a culture re-set, creating a more inclusive and development focused workplace, and a refreshed EVP. This includes a shift to supported leave, introduction of one wellbeing day per quarter, and an enhanced Parental Leave package. Prior to returning to New Zealand, Charlotte spent 13 years overseas, in senior leadership roles at BP and Prudential (UK) and Chief People and Culture Officer at AIA (Australia).

Mike Cosman

Partner, Cosman Parkes

Mike is one of New Zealand’s most highly regarded health and safety practitioners with over 46 years’ experience in operational, management, policy and strategic roles. He has a varied regulatory background in the UK and New Zealand and has worked as a strategic consultant to many of the leading public and private sector organisations over the last 14 years including as a member of the Independent Taskforce and Forestry Safety Review. In 2020 Mike was awarded the Safeguard Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to health and safety. Mike’s extensive work with the Institute of Directors, boards and executive teams means that he has a good understanding of their needs. Having been an investigator and prosecutor, Mike now provides expert advice in legal proceedings and keeps a keen eye on developments in this field. He is currently involved in some of the most significant cases before the Courts.

Lisa O'Neill

For over two decades, Lisa O'Neill has been electrifying audiences with her unique ability to deliver profound messages through side-splitting humour. After watching countless people struggle with energy, leadership and personal growth, Lisa discovered that transformation happens when hard truths are delivered with lightness and laughter. She's authored seven books, spoken to audiences of 5000+, and works with major organisations like Ray White, Foodstuffs and L'Oreal. With infectious energy and practical wisdom, Lisa helps people and organisations get out of their own way to create magnificent lives and exceptional results.