Senior WHS Advisor

Senior WHS Advisor

We are seeking an experienced and motivated Senior WHS Advisor, Essential Services to lead safety, compliance, and risk management activities across critical electricity, water, and wastewater infrastructure operations servicing remote communities throughout Western Australia.

Reporting to the Director of Safety and supporting the Manager, Essential Services, this role plays a pivotal part in ensuring compliance with workplace health and safety legislation, industry standards, regulatory obligations, and asset owner requirements.

This is a unique opportunity for a safety professional who enjoys balancing strategic compliance responsibilities with hands-on operational support in a dynamic and purpose-driven environment.

Key Responsibilities 

• Lead safety and standards compliance across electricity and water infrastructure operations.
• Ensure activities are performed in accordance with applicable legislation, regulations, codes of practice, and asset owner standards.
• Monitor compliance against licence conditions, service agreements, regulatory obligations, and asset management requirements.
• Develop and maintain compliance registers, inspection schedules, testing programs, and assurance processes.
• Verify workforce and contractor competencies, permits, licences, and authorisations.
• Review and verify safe work systems for high-risk activities including:
  • Electrical work
  • Confined space entry
  • Working at heights
  • Chemical handling
  • Excavation near services
• Coordinate audits, inspections, incident reviews, and compliance assessments conducted by regulators and external stakeholders.
• Maintain accurate operational, maintenance, testing, and compliance records.
• Support emergency preparedness and response planning for power and water service disruptions.

Workplace Health & Safety

• Facilitate toolbox talks and support JHA/SWMS compliance.
• Lead incident investigations and root cause analysis.
• Provide expert advice on WHS legislation, regulations, and best-practice risk management.
• Conduct workplace inspections, behavioural observations, and site verifications.
• Support contractor WHS management and onboarding requirements.
• Maintain and continuously improve safety management systems and documentation.
• Develop and review WHS policies, procedures, and risk controls.
• Conduct internal audits and support external certification and compliance audits.
• Partner with leaders to drive safety initiatives and foster a proactive safety culture.

About You

• Certificate IV in Work Health & Safety (or equivalent).
• Demonstrated experience in a senior WHS, compliance, or safety advisory role.
• Strong knowledge of electrical and/or water industry standards, legislation, and safe work practices.
• Experience working within utilities, essential services, infrastructure, or remote operations environments.
• Understanding of contractor management and permit-to-work systems.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• The ability to coach, influence, and build strong relationships across diverse teams.
• Strong investigation, auditing, and risk management capabilities.
• A commitment to promoting a positive and proactive safety culture.

Highly Regarded

• Experience in electricity networks, power generation, water, or wastewater operations.
• Relevant technical, trade, or compliance qualifications in the electrical or water sectors.
• Experience working within regional or remote community environments.

What's on Offer

• A rewarding role supporting essential services that make a real difference to remote communities.
• Diverse and challenging work across electrical, water, and WHS disciplines.
• The opportunity to influence organisational safety culture and compliance performance.
• Travel opportunities across some of Western Australia's most unique and culturally significant regions.
• A supportive and collaborative team environment.

If you're a safety professional with a strong compliance mindset and a passion for supporting critical infrastructure services, we'd love to hear from you.

NOTE: Due to the nature of this role and our client we can only consider individuals with Full Australian Working Rights and local to the Perth market. 

At Chandler Macleod, we are committed to fostering a diverse workforce where everyone is welcome. We encourage applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, women, neurodiverse, people living with a disability and the LGBTIQA+ community.

You can read more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion at https://www.chandlermacleod.com/diversity-and-inclusion.