Meet the Team- Kelly

Meet our Trainer Consultant Kelly, a valued passionate team member of Workplace Emergency Management.

Kelly, what is your role within Workplace Emergency Management?

I am a Trainer Consultant! I run Warden, Chief Warden, First Attack Firefighting and many other Emergency Training sessions.

I mark-up Emergency Evacuation Diagrams and check them yearly. I also create Emergency Plans specific to each workplace.

My favourite part of my job is to run Emergency Evacuation exercises. I love using the fire panel and starting an offsite evacuation, I find this is where sites learn the most and get the most fun out of their day. 

How long have you been employed with Workplace Emergency Management?

I started working for Workplace Emergency Management in November 2023. I am currently based in Adelaide, and travel to Perth occasionally. 

What events led you to be a Trainer Consultant at Workplace Emergency Management?

Before working at Workplace Emergency Management, I was an SSO (School Services Officer) specialising in Alternative Communication Devices for high school students with disabilities.

The hardest part of that role was finding a safe and inclusive way to involve my students with emergency management, especially fire evacuation and lock down drills.

In the school holidays I worked at an outdoor cinema where before commencing we would learn emergency training. This is where I learnt the importance of emergency equipment, evacuations, and overall safety.

I really fell in love with wanting to learn more and teach the importance of emergency training. I started a plan to help my students. Once the school term commenced again, I actioned my plan to make emergency drills for my students inclusive and less dysregulating.

I soon realised that I really enjoyed what I was teaching and loved watching my students flourish. This is when I knew that I somehow had to get into emergency training and the rest is history. 

What do you enjoy most about your role within Workplace Emergency Management?

My favourite part about my role is the people. In this job you will meet people from all walks of life with some amazing stories.

Here at Workplace Emergency Management, we make our trainings site specific and tailor to the needs of the company we are training.

I love this because instead of me talking like a lecturer for a few hours, the staff and I have more of an open discussion to learn about what this site is going to do in an emergency. This is when I get to hear stories and the staff can ask anything making every training different and fun! I love hearing “that was really interesting and fun, we learnt a lot.”

What is the number 1 safety advice you would give someone?

Invest in a Fire Blanket for your home! 

In the movies, characters tend to throw a cup of water at a fire. As a young teen I was attempting to cook fried chicken which then started a small fire. I thought about those movies and grabbed my water bottle to squeeze water at the fire. What they don’t teach you in the movies is that mixing water and hot oil will cause immediate vaporization of water upon contact, expanding it and turning into steam which instantly singed my eyelashes off. 

If I knew to use a fire blanket and gently placed it over the fire, I would probably have nicer eyelashes today!

When you are not working, how do you spend your time?

Outside of work I spend most of my time either playing with my two dogs Ahri and Ace or cuddled up on the couch with them watching scary movies. I don’t know who gets more scared while watching Freddy Kruger, me or the puppies!

Kelly’s passion for education around Emergency Training is making a significant impact in workplaces throughout Adelaide, helping communities be well-prepared for any emergencies they may encounter.

For more information about our Workplace Emergency Management services in Adelaide, South Australia, click here.