Health and Safety Conversations

Michelle is an endorsed Organisational Psychologist and works for FIFO Focus and PerMentis. She has experience in mental health assessment and treatment, psychosocial risk management, trauma-informed care auditing and training, recruitment and selection and psychometric assessment, in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. In recent years, Michelle has worked alongside mining organisations to support psychosocial hazard risk management. She has supported individuals and consulted to organisations whose frontline workers were exposed to trauma, stress and high cognitive and emotional demands. She has also worked in partnership with other not-for-profit organisations to provide support in prisons, family and domestic violence refuges, and homelessness services. Michelle has trained workers across government, mining and community services with the skills necessary to provide emotional support and suicide intervention, emphasising the importance of trauma-informed care. Michelle is the current President of the Society for Industrial and Organisational Psychology Australia (SIOPA), and has served as a committee and/or board member since its foundation in 2016. She believes in the advancement of the Organisational Psychology profession, and in protecting the integrity of the profession. As a Psychology Board Approved Supervisor, Michelle also  appreciates the opportunity to support the growth and learning of students and psychologists, and intends to be an active advocate on behalf of her peers and the wider profession for years to come!

Sandra Lam is an endorsed Organisational Psychologist and the Managing Director of FIFO Focus and Permentis. With over two decades of experience across public and private sectors in Australia and internationally, Sandra is recognised for her expertise in psychosocial risk, organisational wellbeing, and shaping positive workplace cultures. Through FIFO Focus, she works closely with the mining and remote workforce sectors, providing psychosocial risk management training and services, trauma-informed practices including in psychosocial investigations, mental health training, resilience-building programs, and FIFO life preparation. As Managing Director of Permentis, Sandra leads projects across justice, utilities, defence, government, and international development, designing and implementing systemic, human-centred solutions to improve performance, engagement, and psychosocial safety. Sandra’s career has taken her to Asia, the Pacific, Africa, and South America, often working in high-risk or high-impact environments. She holds a Master’s in Organisational Psychology and an MBA, and is a Fellow of the College of Organisational Psychologists. I also consider Sandra to be one of those rare people who is not only a friend but someone who will tell you the truth when you need to hear it. 

Dr Nektarios Karanikas is Associate Professor in the Health, Safety and Environment discipline of the School of Public Health & Social Work (Faculty of Health) in the Queensland University of Technology (AU). Before his current appointment, he was Associate Professor of Safety and Human Factors at the Aviation Academy of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (NL). He studied MSc Human Factors and Safety Assessment in Aeronautics at Cranfield University (UK), and he was awarded his doctorate in Safety and Quality Management from Middlesex University (UK).   Nektarios graduated from the Hellenic Air Force Academy as an aeronautical engineer, worked for about 19 years as an officer at the Hellenic Air Force and resigned in 2014 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. There, he served in various positions related to maintenance, safety and quality management, including accident investigations, and he was lecturer and instructor for safety and human factors courses.   In addition to his academic qualifications, Nektarios has held professional engineering, human factors, project management, and safety management credentials and has been a member of various national and international associations. He has published three books and several chapters and has (co)authored many peer-reviewed journal and conference articles focussing on systems thinking, safety/risk management and investigations. Nektarios has presented his work in over 100 events and actively volunteers in a wide range of scientific and professional activities

Andreas Landwehr is a German journalist who worked for 30 years as Beijing Bureau Chief and also as Head of the Asia-Pacific region for dpa, the German Press Agency (Deutsche Presse-Agentur), until 2023. Since 2005, he has been covering G7 and G20 summits, focusing on trade and development issues, climate policy, and Asia. The former US correspondent began reporting from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mongolia in 1993. In 2011, he received the Liberty Award from the German Reemtsma Foundation for his journalistic work. After serving as regional head for East Asia from 2013, he took responsibility for the entire Asia-Pacific region in 2019. From 2023 to 2024, he joined the political desk in the newsroom in Berlin before leaving dpa after 40 years. He currently works as a China expert, a keynote speaker and an author for Table.Briefings and others. His first encounter with China was during his studies in Taipei (1980–1982), when he also traveled extensively in mainland China. After graduating from Bonn University, he joined dpa in 1984 in Düsseldorf. At dpa headquarters, he worked as a copy editor at the foreign desk and then at the domestic desk during German unification in 1989. As a Washington correspondent from 1990, he specialized in defense policy, covering the Gulf War for the liberation of Kuwait in 1990 and Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign. In 1993, he moved to China with his wife and three children to become Beijing Bureau Chief. Since then, he has witnessed China's rise to become the world's second-largest economy. He covered Deng Xiaoping's death, the return of Hong Kong and Macao, China's accession to the WTO, the first outbreak of SARS, the 2008 Olympic Games, Xi Jinping's rise to power since 2012, and the Covid-19 pandemic. He has interviewed various Chinese leaders such as Jiang Zemin, Zhu Rongji, and Wen Jiabao. Since 2001, he has also traveled to North Korea several times.

Professor John Cherrie graduated in Physics from Edinburgh University and went to work at the Institute of Occupational Medicine. His early career involved measuring exposure to airborne fibres, both asbestos and man-made mineral fibres. The latter work was in support of a large European epidemiology study coordinated by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. John developed an interest in occupational hygiene, and the science behind occupational exposure to harmful agents. In 1991 he joined the University of Aberdeen to set up a Masters course in occupational hygiene. During this time John developed his interest in retrospective occupational exposure assessment for epidemiological studies, and this work formed the basis of his PhD, which he received in 1996. In 2003 John rejoined the IOM and took on the role of Research Director. During this time he broadened his research interested to encompass the “exposome”, human exposure assessment, occupational cancer, environmental and occupational epidemiology, natural and synthetic fibres, dermal exposure and air pollution. In 2015 John took up the chair in Human Health at Heriot Watt University. John is a retired Chartered Fellow of the Faculty of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.

In this episode Marc Miles & I discuss those difficult conversations and situations that occasionally occuring during training.  Marc Miles is a career presenter and trainer. He has written a book on Advanced Facilitation Skills, and for over a decade, has taught public speaking skills, and content from the Training and Education Training Package for Australian Vocational Education and Training. During his time in the Vocational Education and Training sector, Marc has taught the TAE package over 500 times to people all around Australia in various industries. He has a been an instructional designer, training manager, and currently works as a senior facilitator for Spec Training. Marc’s students know him as a dynamic and engaging facilitator in both the face-to-face and online environments, believing he has set a new standard for how online delivery can be done. Marc’s book, Creating Transformation: Advanced Training Skills for Workshop Facilitators, was published in 2024.  Marc has a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics, Natural language processing certifications, and has conducted numerous professional development workshops for various audiences across Vocation Education and Training, corporate and entrepreneurial sectors.

Dr Lisette Kanse is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia (UWA) and the Course Coordinator of UWA’s Master of and Graduate Certificate in Business Psychology. She has worked as an academic and as a consultant/practitioner in a variety of industrial settings across Europe and Australia, including chemical industry, oil and gas, mining, rail transport, and healthcare settings.   Having entered the field of work health and safety over 25 years ago convinced of the importance of this domain, Lisette’s mission across her entire working life has been to improve work environments, either directly, or through her students, to keep people safe, healthy, engaged, and productive. Occasionally she has been known to extend this mission to keeping people safe outside of the work environment as well.   She uses her dual background in industrial engineering and organisational psychology to identify and facilitate evidence-based improvements, and to warn against ineffective strategies. Her research interests include human factors, work design characteristics, procedures, norms, culture, and leadership, and how these impact on work practice and safety and health.

Nova Gibson is director, founder and primary counsellor of Brighter Outlook Narcissistic Abuse Counselling Service and the go-to expert on narcissistic abuse recovery in Australia. She is the author of Australia's best-selling practical self help book of 2023, 'Fake Love - Understanding and Healing From Narcissistic Abuse' published by Harpercollins and the host of her own Podcast, Fake Love and Flying Monkeys.

Tori Cooke is a thought leader in family and domestic violence practice, prevention, and systems reform. With over 30 years of frontline social work and teaching experience, Tori is the Consultant/Practice Educator behind Pandora Projects - a feminist consultancy grounded in transformative education, reflective practice, and trauma-informed care. Her work and remit is passionately focused on practice and professional growth and development. Her experience spans the design and delivery of women’s healing groups and mens behaviour change programs, supervision and mentoring of frontline workers, and growing new leadership to support safer, more just responses in family violence. Whether facilitating clinical supervision, training students and practitioners, or standing on a stage, Tori is known for holding space with empathy, edge, and humour. Her work invites others to reclaim their voice, reflect deeply on their work, and ultimately resist and push back on the systems that silence and shrink us.

A regular part of the podcast Sarah brings us news of what's happening in New Zealand in terms of safety and social issues. Sarah is a Health and Safety specialist, Professional Member of NZ Institute of Safety Management (ProfNZISM), Health & Safety Australia New Zealand Registered (HASANZ) and ANZCAL (Australia and New Zealand Coaching Alliance) accredited trainer. Sarah is an experience health and safety professional with over two decades of experience. With an outgoing personality and an inclusive style of communication, clients have described Sarah as facilitative; however, she can also be direct and hold people accountable, while keeping a sense of humour. Sarah enjoys helping her clients define what their key health and safety challenges to develop solutions that are written in their language and work in their operational context.