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Michael Kent is a risk, safety and event planning consultant based in Sydney, Australia, with thirty-five years’ experience in the Entertainment Industry including work in live events, festivals, concerts, major events, venues, television productions, and with contractors (and venues) that operate in this space.

Work Snapshot

Michael HAS TOURED AND WORKED WITH SOME OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST RECORDING ARTISTS INCLUDING: DIRE STRAITS, CELINE DION, NEIL DIAMOND, U2, BEE GEES, MADONNA, MICHAEL CRAWFORD, BARBARA STREISAND, METALLICA, BON JOVI, KISS, GUNS N ROSES, DAME EDNA, COLD PLAY, AND AUSTRALIAN ICON – JOHN FARNHAM.

RECENT TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS INCLUDE – THE X FACTOR, THE VOICE, MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT, LITTLE BIG SHOTS, AUSTRALIA’S GOT TALENT, CELEBRITY APPRENTICE, FARMER WANTS A WIFE, THE CUBE, BIG BROTHER, NAME THAT TUNE, BEAUTY AND THE GEEK, AUSTRALIAN NINJA WARRIOR, THE MASKED SINGER, MAKING IT AND DANCING WITH THE STARS.

RECENT DOCUMENTARIES INCLUDE – LIFE ON THE OUTSIDE, NURSES, LOST FOR WORDS, INSIDE CENTRAL, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

About Michael

Michael has a Master’s Degree in Occupational Health and Safety from the University of Wollongong, and is certified as a Chartered OHS Professional by the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA). This is the highest level of certification available to a safety consultant in Australia, and your guarantee that the advice and services you receive are relevant and based on best practice in risk and safety management.

Why use Michael?

Michael’s extensive background in live performance, dance, and acting, coupled with his ongoing involvement in live music and shows, provides a unique insight and risk intelligence that enables producers and creative teams to push boundaries – safely. Michael is passionate and dedicated to making sure you and your team can operate at their best.

How Michael operates

MICHAEL USES HIS THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN THE INDUSTRY, HIS PERFORMANCE BACKGROUND, TRAINING AND EDUCATION TO MAKE INFORMED DECISIONS ABOUT RISK. MOST IMPORTANTLY, MICHAEL FOSTERS TRUST AND CO-OPERATION WITHIN THE TEAM BY LISTENING, LEADING, AND GUIDING PEOPLE, SO THEY CAN PERFORM AT THEIR BEST, AND TAKE OWNERSHIP OF RISK.

What Michael provides

MICHAEL PROVIDES ADVISORY SERVICES FOR ALL ASPECTS OF ENTERTAINMENT INCLUDING RISK AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT PLANS, SAFETY SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE, EMERGENCY PLANS, CONTRACTOR MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, AND ONLINE SAFETY SOLUTIONS. MICHAEL ALSO PROVIDES ONSITE SAFETY LEADERSHIP AND SUPERVISION.

Understanding Event Risk

Events are dynamic in nature – one where new risks can emerge rapidly. It’s for this reason that you need a team that can think, respond, make decisions and remain calm in the face of uncertainty.

Risk Advice

Regardless of the type of event you are planning – producers have a legal duty to eliminate or minimise health and safety risks. This sounds easy, however, risk is not well understood. Whether it’s a large-scale gala dinner, awards night, live shoot, festival, or activation – you need advice that is sound, practical, and in a language that you and your team can understand.

Major Events

Major events require extensive planning and stakeholder engagement. With a background in venue management, event management, public safety, and liquor licensing for concerts and festivals, Michael is adept at consultation and engagement with stakeholders – including councils, landowners, and combat agencies.

Television Safety

With a background in live performance/acting and appearances on screen in television drama and feature film, Michael brings a unique insight and risk intelligence to contemporary television production.

Whether it’s a large format shiny floor production, outdoor shoot, awards night, TV special, or a small reality based show, you need advice that is relevant, current, and based on best practice in risk management and safety.

Michael provides bespoke solutions for all aspects of television production including – development of a risk and safety management plan, contractor management services, emergency planning, and crowd management.

Identifying and managing risk is central to the creation of a safe event or television production – yet risk is not well understood. Risk is about what is uncertain. Humans don’t know what will happen in the future, so the challenge for all of us is to live and learn (Long). The truth is that our individual differences and perceptions of risk in the workplace differ dramatically.

Moving beyond the development of a robust studio, production or event risk assessment, consideration needs to be given to the way in which people interact, and how they assess exposure, probability, consequence and overall risk. Effectively – how they discern risk.

Michael applies contemporary risk management practices underpinned by learnings associated with psychology of risk, resilience and decision making. Through his hands-on experience gained over thirty-five years in the industry, Michael provides a unique risk intelligence that provides his clients the guidance they need to make more informed decisions.

The safety space has changed dramatically over the last ten years. Language, ideas, concepts, and practices have all been overhauled and replaced with new paradigms including – ‘safety differently’, ‘zero harm ideology” and those influenced by social psychology. Many businesses are simply strangled with bureaucratic activities that they believe contribute to a safer workplace.

Safety has become a numbers game, driven by metrics, graphs, and LTI data. It’s less about people, and more about blind compliance with rules, laws, guides, and venue or landowner requirements. The safety culture that you want to create and nurture is one where your people are the solution, rather than the problem (Dekker).

Engaging Michael to contribute and develop a safety management system for your event or production, enables you to reduce drag and improve efficiency. It helps you get on with your creative vision and puts the focus in the right areas – your people.