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Kirkham-Smith is a consultancy built upon the collective passions of our people. Our consultants believe in the work that we do, and we are proud to work in close partnership with our clients to create safer, sustainable communities.


 

Scott-Andrew (Andy) Smith

"You can't teach a person anything - you can only help them to discover it within themselves."

Andy Smith is one of the principal trainers and Principal Consultant with Kirkham-Smith Consultants that specialises in emergency management training and capacity building.

Andy has 35 years’ experience in adult education and training and 25 years’ experience in emergency management. He was the inaugural State Manager – Training and Development (Emergency Management) with the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia; and went on to other roles with the Office of the Emergency Services Commissioner (Victoria); Attorney-General’s Department - Australian Emergency Management Institute.

Andy has extensive experience in crisis management and capability development. He was a member of the Victorian Situation Reporting Unit during the 2006/2007 bushfire campaign that provided high level advice to the government and opposition. His understanding of the expectations and pressures on State Response Controllers enabled him to form positive working relationships to achieve timely and accurate reporting for government, leaving the State Controller to focus on their key responsibilities. In 2016, he achieved the Incident Controller Level 3 qualification through Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) National Plan Training in marine pollution response.

In 2023, Andy was appointed as Education Specialist to the AMSA Response Centre with specific responsibilities to provide pedagogical advice and support for search and rescue and other response centre related training activities.

In addition to his learning and development experience, Andy extended his interest in mental health and well-being, and completed mental health first aid facilitator training in 2020. Andy is a qualified journalist (currently a freelancer writer) and has been involved in providing policy and community engagement advice to Ministers and senior government officers about emergency management issues and operations.

Andy’s not to secret guilty pleasures are true crime podcasts and road trips.

Andy holds:

  •  a Masters of Professional Education and Training
  •  TAE40116 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment
and is a member of:
  •     the Australian Facilitators Network
  •     Australian Institute of Training and Development (MAITD)
  •     Australian Institute of Company Directors (AAICD).