WHS Advisor

Opera Australia; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 120,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working arrangements

Generous leave provisions (wellbeing,c

Employee Assistance Program

Salary packaging through SmartSalary

Discounted private health insurance

Complimentary tickets to OA Performanc

Job summary

Opera Australia is seeking an experienced WHS Business Partner to join our safety and wellbeing team. Reporting to the Head of Safety and Wellbeing, you will be the hands-on WHS presence across our diverse productions, advising leaders, supporting risk, incident and injury management, and embedding OA SAFE across the business.

You will design and deliver training, lead WHS projects, and translate safety data into insights for leadership action.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in a technical WHS advisory or consulting role.
• Strong knowledge of Australian WHS legislation and Codes of Practice.
• Experience conducting incident investigations, audits and risk assessments.
• Working knowledge of psychosocial risk management and wellbeing.
• High quality writing skills to develop WHS policies and procedures.
• Experience delivering WHS training and coaching in live environments.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert risk guidance across live production conditions.
• Investigate incidents using structured methodology and drive corrective actions.
• Verify that high-risk activities are planned and controlled, closing gaps.
• Support consultation with workers and escalate concerns.
• Support injury management and return-to-work processes within the team.
• Design and deliver WHS training and coaching.
• Lead and contribute to WHS projects and policies.

Skills

WHS advisory

Incident investigation

Risk management

Stakeholder engagement

Data analysis

Policy writing

Training delivery

Education

Tertiary WHS qualification

Job description

Opera Australia is one of the most distinctive workplaces in the country. Our people design, build and perform work of extraordinary scale and ambition, and safety is central to making that possible. This is a rare opportunity to bring your WHSexpertiseto an organisation where the work genuinelymattersand no two weeks look the same.

Reporting to the Head of Safety and Wellbeing, the WHS Business Partner is the hands-on WHS presence across our diverse teams.You’llhelp deliver OA SAFE, our work health and safety program, by advising leaders, supporting risk,incidentand injury management processes, and building safety capability across the business.You’llalso contribute to practical WHS improvement projects that strengthen the way safety is understood,managedand embedded across OA.

Key Responsibilities

• Make risk advice practical.Provideexpert guidance on physical and psychosocial risk that works in live production conditions and coach leaders to own it themselves.
• Turn incidents into learning. Investigate using structuredmethodology(ICAM or equivalent),establishroot cause, and drive corrective actions that fix the system rather than the symptom.
• Assure high-risk work. Verify that high-risk activities are being planned, controlled, carried out in line with agreed controlsand support teams to close gaps before they become incidents.
• Be visible and available. Support our consultation arrangements, spend real time where the work happens, and make sure concerns raised by workers are heard,resolvedand escalated when patternsemerge.
• Support people back to work. Work alongside our injury management and RTW provider to support early intervention and recovery-at-work, andcontribute to workerscompensation matters as part of a broader team effort.
• Build capability. Design and deliver training, inductions and real-time coaching that shifts how people think about safety, not just what they know about it.
• Improve the system. Leadand contribute toWHS projects, strengthen OA SAFEframeworksand policies,andtranslate safety data into insight leadership can act on.

About You

You'rean experienced WHS professional who enjoys partnering with people to improve safety outcomes. You combine strong technical knowledge with a practical, collaborative approach and are confident influencing stakeholders across a diverse organisation.

You bring sound judgement and genuine initiative. You work well within direction, manage competing project and BAU priorities without dropping either, and know when to make the call yourself and when to escape.

You'll bring:

• Tertiary qualifications in Work Health and Safety or a related discipline.
• 5+ years in a technical WHS advisory or consulting role, partnering with operational leaders in a complex, dynamic environment.
• Strong knowledge of Australian WHS legislation, Codes of Practice, AustralianStandardsand risk management principles.
• Sound judgement and initiative with the ability to prioritise across competing operational and project demands.
• Experience conducting incident investigations,auditsand risk assessments.
• Working knowledge of psychosocial risk management and workplace wellbeing.
• Strong analytical,organisationalandproblemsolvingabilitieswithconfidence using WHS data and reporting tools.
• High qualitywriting skills with the ability to develop WHS policies, procedures and analysis that are clear,defensibleand aligned with legislative requirements.
• Experiencedeveloping and delivering WHS trainingcontentor coaching.
• Experience in live production, events,constructionor another dynamic, high-risk operating environment, highly regarded.

About Opera Australia

Opera Australia (OA) is Australia's national opera company and one of the country's leading performing arts organisations. With more than 500 performances each year, we bring world-class opera,musicalsand concerts to audiences across Australia while nurturing Australian talent on and off the stage.

What We Offer

Guided by ourvalues of Curious, Creative, Collaborative, Brave and Inclusive, weoffer:

• Hybrid and flexible working arrangements.
• Generous leave provisions, including wellbeing, cultural and parental leave.
• Employee Assistance Program.
• Salary packaging throughSmartSalary.
• Discounted private health insurance.
• Complimentary tickets to selected Opera Australia performances.

For any enquiries about this role, please contact******@opera.org.au.

Opera Australia recognises and acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the unceded lands and waters across Australia on which we live, perform and work. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We recognise, celebrate and respect all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first storytellers who carry the cultural wisdom, traditions and Dreaming of this ancient land.

Opera Australia is committed to enabling and preserving a culture of inclusion and connectedness. Our team comes from allwalks of life. We acknowledge that individual differences, life experiences,self-expressionand talent strengthen our culture and reputation. In recruiting for our team, we welcome the unique contributions you canbring in terms of education, opinions, culture, ethnicity, race, sex, genderidentityand expression.