About Organisational Risk Consulting

Organisational Risk Consulting supports senior leaders who require independent insights into workforce and work health and safety (WHS) governance, particularly when decisions may be tested under regulatory, legal, or external scrutiny.

We provide independent assessment of how workforce and WHS arrangements operate in practice. This includes governance structures, risk exposure, and the oversight mechanisms relied upon by senior leaders. Each engagement is tailored to the organisation's context and needs. Our work is flexible and adaptive, combining the appropriate mix of review, investigation, documentation, briefing or audit activity to address the concern at hand.

The firm is led by Andrea Paynter, who brings extensive experience across personal injury legal practice, predominantly workplace injury, licensed factual investigation, and senior WHS leadership across the public and private sectors.

Organisational Risk Consulting is led by Andrea Paynter, Director and Principal Consultant. Andrea brings extensive experience spanning frontline law enforcement in New Zealand, personal injury legal practice in Queensland, licensed factual investigation, and senior work health and safety leadership across the public and private sectors.

Her career includes national-level responsibility as National Manager Work Health and Safety at the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, a federally funded national organisation, where she led a team of WHS advisors and was responsible for WHS governance, reporting, and system development across a complex, multi-jurisdictional environment.

Andrea practised as an Associate Solicitor in personal injury law in Queensland, predominantly in workplace injury. Her experience in practice provides a clear understanding of how incidents, systems and leadership decisions are examined under legal and regulatory scrutiny. This informs a practical and disciplined approach to assessing governance arrangements, risk exposure, and the oversight mechanisms organisations rely upon.

Her frontline law enforcement career in New Zealand included criminal investigation, prosecution and court experience. From 2005, Andrea held a Queensland Private Investigator licence and conducted factual investigations on behalf of leading insurers. This work predominantly involved workplace personal injury matters and on-road incidents. This foundation, combined with her legal practice experience, enables her to assess workforce and WHS arrangements not only against stated requirements but also against how they are likely to be interpreted, tested, and relied upon in practice.

Qualifications

Andrea holds a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from the University of Waikato (NZ), a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health (High Distinction) and a Graduate Diploma in Business Studies, Human Resource Management (High Distinction), both from Massey University (NZ), and a Diploma in New Zealand Policing from the Royal New Zealand Police College. She is currently completing a Master of Laws (part-time) through the University of New England, with a focus on governance, regulatory risk, employment law and emerging issues in artificial intelligence law. These disciplines intersect closely with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations. 

Professional development includes the Foundations of Directorship program with the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Leadership in Psychosocial Risk Management with Bond University, PRINCE2 Foundations and Practitioner, and Certificate IV in Investigative Services.

Formal Technical Qualifications

Andrea holds formal qualifications in lead auditing for ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems and ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems, both completed through SAI Global, and ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management through BSI Training Academy. She also holds the ICAM Lead Investigator qualification, supporting structured causal analysis of complex workplace incidents.

Professional Memberships

Andrea is a Certified OHS Professional with the Australian Institute of Health and Safety, certified since 2015 as part of the first cohort when the certification was established. She is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the Queensland Law Society, and the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management.

"My background in personal injury legal practice, predominantly workplace injury, allows me to look at management systems and governance arrangements through a particular lens. It considers how decisions and systems might be examined under external scrutiny. That experience informs a disciplined, evidence-based approach to identifying where an organisation's arrangements may need attention before they are tested."

— Andrea Paynter, Director, Organisational Risk Consulting