The Safety Dept

The Safety Dept is a Safety Consultant delivering outsourced, ongoing WHS management for small and medium businesses across New South Wales, structured around a WHS Act aligned system.

• Operates a three-stage Review, Implement, Manage model, building WHS management systems, SWMS, risk assessments, safe operating procedures and competency registers around each client’s actual operations.
• Provides ongoing managed service cadence including monthly status reports on overdue training and open corrective actions, quarterly workplace and first aid inspections, and an annual internal audit with leadership review.
• Led by founder Sarah-Jane Dunford, a WHS professional with more than 25 years experience in high-risk industries, recognised as 2026 Business Woman of the Year at the Hunter Region Business Excellence Awards.
• Supports higher-risk sectors including construction and trades, civil and earthworks, manufacturing, transport and logistics and warehousing, mining and resources contractors, and agriculture, with client and site-specific compliance evidence maintained on an ongoing basis.

Best for: a small or medium business in a higher-risk NSW industry that needs an ongoing outsourced safety department rather than a one-off consulting engagement.

The Safety Dept also provides Safety Audits and Risk Assessments as part of its structured WHS management service for New South Wales businesses.

• Begins engagements with a site inspection and written review of existing documentation, responsibilities and contractor requirements, producing gaps ranked by risk within a week of the inspection.
• Delivers ongoing risk assessments and SWMS tailored to specific industry hazards, including working at heights, plant and mobile equipment interaction, isolation procedures, and silica and construction dust controls.
• Reviews and updates controls as site conditions, workfronts or client and mine-site requirements change, rather than treating risk assessments as one-off documents.

Best for: a contractor needing a documented, risk-ranked WHS audit and ongoing risk assessment reviews to satisfy client or site prequalification requirements.