OUR BUSINESS IS NOT JUST ABOUT COMPLIANCE; IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE.

Formed in 1987, Safety First provides a nationwide service to many of New Zealand’s largest companies, property owners and developers. With unparalleled experience and industry reputation, we’re dedicated to providing comprehensive fire evacuation and emergency management services and health and safety solutions.

We constantly work to minimise risk and maximise efficiency within your business, and will train and equip your team to deal with any emergency.

Safety First has offices in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin – and our contracts take us throughout New Zealand.

Our experienced safety consultants have implemented, and provide ongoing management for, almost 4,000 fire evacuation schemes nationwide - from commercial buildings to hospitals and rest homes, schools and zoos, cinemas and public halls, swimming pools and sports grounds, apartments and industrial sites.

View our Health & Safety Policy Statement here.

Meet the Safety First Team

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Joany Dekkers

Director and General Manager

Joany has a background in property services, adult education, and health & safety and is an NZFPA Certified Evacuation Consultant with over 25 years of industry experience in the management and implementation of evacuation schemes. Joany’s role includes management of major client contracts, the ongoing development of the Safety-First Management System (SFMS) and Safety First’s online training modules. Joany has also been involved in developing evacuation procedures for many high-profile building developments including Wellington Airport and various Summerset Retirement Village facilities.

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Stephanie McMullan

Area Manager South Island and Evacuation Consultant

With Safety First since 2010, Stephanie has a Double Degree Majoring in Commerce & Arts and graduated with a Diploma in Disaster and Hazard Management in 2014.

Working closely with Property Owners and Developers involved in the Christchurch rebuild, Stephanie has a passion for natural hazard preparedness planning and is also involved in the continual development of Safety First’s innovative online training modules.

Amanda Hawkes

Area Manager Upper North Island and Evacuation Consultant

From being a qualified Veterinary Nurse technician to becoming a certified level 4 Evacuation Consultant and Assistant Manager in 5 years with Safety First, clearly demonstrates Amanda’s genuine desire and passion in helping and guiding others in her fire safety career.

Amanda leads Safety First’s Auckland based team.

Lucas Goodwin

Area Manager Lower North Island and Evacuation Consultant

Lucas has had a varied career starting out as an electrician working in the domestic and commercial field, where he developed strong technical skills. He also worked as a personal trainer for ten years and loved building relationships and helping his clients achieve their fitness goals. These skills have transferred nicely into his current role and Lucas is enjoying his new career as an evacuation consultant and Area Manager for Safety First.

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Jenny Maxwell

Senior Consultant

Jenny is an NZFPA Certified Evacuation Consultant (NZFPA) Level 4 with over 25 years’ industry experience. Jenny is committed to providing a tailored, holistic safety service to Safety First Clients and has made a huge personal contribution to building stronger safety cultures in numerous NZ workplaces during her impressive career.

Currently, Jenny is heavily involved in providing consultancy services to many of New Zealand’s leading aged care providers’ building projects, managing fire evacuation scenarios from the design phase through to stage end completion, including Metlifecare, Oceania Healthcare, and Arvida Group.

Jenny is now working on a casual basis assisting our team with evacuation scheme preparation.

Nadin Rathgeber

Trainer & Evacuation Consultant

Nadin’s passion is adult training; with that she gained numerous qualifications such as Certificate in Adult Education & Training, Certificate in Numeracy and Literacy for adult learners/vocational, Craft Trainer Award and Unit Standard 4098- assess to NZQA standard. With Safety First since 2019, we are pleased to have Nadin on our Auckland team as a trainer and evacuation consultant.

Alina Croad

Evacuation Consultant / Wellington Administrator

Alina joined our Safety First team as an administrator in 2023 based in the Wellington office. She works behind the scenes scheduling in our trial evacuations as well as working on site as an evacuation consultant. She has a background of graphic design and photography, which she studied at university, and has wide range of customer service experience including being a trained barista. Alina is also an active Fire & Emergency NZ Volunteer for the Wellington Operational Support Unit.

Anastasia Tarasova

Evacuation Consultant

With experience in various fields – healthcare, academia, sales, a driving academy and teaching languages – Anastasia has always wanted to work in the Health & Safety Industry. She graduated University with a Management, Human Resources, and International Business degree and her passion for OSH meant she topped her Health and Safety course. After working with Vodafone’s Health & Safety for a short while, Anastasia enjoys being an evacuation consultant and is delighted to be part of the Safety First team.

Cath Martin

Evacuation Consultant

Cath joined Safety First as an Evacuation Consultant in 2022. She has 15 years as a Kindergarten Teacher and earlier, lived in London where she worked in the Health and Fitness sector. Now immersed in the Fire Safety Industry at Safety First, she is devoting her skills and energy into working within our experienced team.

Devon Smith

Evacuation Consultant

Devon joined Safety First following her previous role in Property Management. Based in Dunedin, Devon is responsible for scheduling and undertaking Trial Evacuations in the South Island. Having a great combination of people skills and experience working with building owners, Devon is focused on developing valuable relationships with clients across the South Island.

Duncan Tabor

Evacuation Consultant

Duncan is an experienced fire evacuation consultant, working to protect clients from the effects of fire. Holding a Graduate Certificate in Emergency Management and a Certificate in Business Continuity, Duncan is especially interested in how emerging risks, such as climate change or lithium-ion batteries, impact fire safety & disrupt businesses. Duncan is also an active Fire & Emergency Volunteer.

Ilze de Jager

Evacuation Consultant

Ilze is an evacuation consultant for the Auckland based Safety First team, building on her background in education, leadership, and safety awareness. Along with her experience in teaching and business management, Ilze is developing expertise in fire risks, emergency procedures, and safety protocols to provide effective guidance in evacuation planning and compliance.

Mikaela Yanko

Evacuation Consultant

Mikaela is passionate about helping others and very keen to learn more about the fire safety industry so as to become the very best she can be in her new role as Evacuation Consultant. She has worked in various customer service roles whilst completing her Bachelor of Commerce including a stint at Walt Disney World in the US where safety was always a priority.

MICHELE ROBERTS

Evacuation Coordinator and Administration Support

With 30 years in the travel industry and planning people’s holiday itineraries, Michele now adds her outstanding sparkle to planning our day-to-day schedules and calendars.

Dahl Dekkers

Administrator

With Safety First since 2011, Dahl handles all initial account and invoicing queries that come into the Wellington office and provides behind the scenes administration and invoicing support for the Wellington and South Island offices.

Gabrielle Jamieson

Administrator

With Safety First since 2011, Gabrielle provides behind the scenes administration, including invoicing and production of monthly advisory reports for clients. Providing support to all the Safety First consultants, Gabrielle is definitely one of our go-to people.

Elena Tarasova

National Receptionist / Administration Support

With a background in education, real estate and customer service, Elena's number one priority is a high standard approach to customer service. She loves communicating with clients and building strong, trusted relationships.

Argest are our preferred company to supply your building compliance and facilities management nationwide. They are ISO 9001 certified for the issue of Building Warrant of Fitness certificates.

Crossfire specialist fire engineers are the Auckland experts in protecting people, property and their businesses from the harmful and destructive effects of fire and smoke.

Stephenson & Turner are our recommended architects and engineers. Their work is supported with a significant investment in the latest proven technology, incorporating the principles of sustainable design.

OUR BUSINESS IS NOT JUST ABOUT COMPLIANCE; IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE.

View our Health & Safety Policy Statement here.

Meet the Safety First Team

We Recommend

SAFETY FIRST – NEW ZEALAND | 0800 252 253Building strong safety cultures

SAFETY FIRST – NEW ZEALAND | 0800 252 253
Building strong safety cultures