Occupational Health & Safety Officer
Lyka Pet Food
Who are we?
Lyka is an Australian founded pet wellness company that’s shaking up an outdated industry and paving the way for happier, healthier pets. Despite medical advancements, animal lifespans are on the decline. Today, the average pet only reaches 37% of their full potential lifespan and statistics have shown us that many suffer from dental disease, cancer, and obesity. Simply put, the status quo is not enough.
As humans, we’ve experienced firsthand the positive impact fresh wholefoods can have on our health and wellbeing, and we believe our furry friends deserve the same. We're on a mission to do just that, starting with nutritionally balanced, wholefood meals delivered direct to doors around Australia. As the world’s most sustainable pet wellness company, we’re putting pets and our planet first - one bowl at a time.
Today, we are proud to share we’ve served over 100 million meals to puppers and their parents across Australia, and this is just the beginning. Our vision is to create multiple nutritional products, adding disease prevention meals and supplements, and expand into new markets.
Currently, we have a team of 250+ pet-obsessed people, and we're continuing to grow (yes, looking at you!). These carefully selected people are dedicated to building the next generation of technology and products to help empower pet parents to take control over their pet’s wellbeing.
Our Mission
The time we share with our pets is being cut short. Despite medical advancements, they’re getting sicker earlier. They’re dying prematurely. The industry has it backwards - prioritising treating symptoms instead of addressing the root cause. That’s where we come in.
At Lyka, we take a preventative, holistic and personalised approach to pet care. We look at the full picture, factoring in the diet, lifestyle and environment of each individual animal.
We don’t stop at symptoms, instead we dig for the root cause. We create nutrition plans unique to each pet, because it’s not just about living longer, but living well too.
Our mission is to increase the lifespan of dogs and cats.
The Role
This role ensures site operations meet OHS requirements. Where gaps exist, you’ll escalate issues, lead root-cause investigations, and drive corrective/preventative actions. You’ll support leaders and frontline teams through coaching and mentoring to embed the Lyka SHEQ Roadmap.
What you’ll do:
- Support the SHEQ Manager as required.
- Drive adoption of Lyka’s SHEQ Management System (SafetyCulture) and its integration with other Lyka systems for OHS reporting and compliance.
- Help embed and continuously improve relevant elements of FSSC 22000, particularly where they intersect with OHS.
- Lead delivery of the OHS components of the SHEQ Roadmap (tactical and strategic initiatives) across the site.
- Provide hands-on OHS expertise, including risk assessments (capital works and non-routine tasks), inspections, frontline RCA, and CAPA close-out.
- Ensure compliance with Lyka OHS policies, procedures, and statutory obligations.
- Lead and coach robust incident investigations, root cause analysis, and CAPA.
- Take ownership and provide support and guidance to Lyka team members in relation to all aspects of return to work.
- Deploy and embed OHS elements within the Lyka Operational Management System (LOMS).
- Analyse OHS data and produce regular reporting (eg, month-end).
- Coordinate OHS training compliance (eg, inductions, LOTO, permits, incident reporting, traffic management).
- Lead the cadence and effectiveness of site OHS committee meetings.
- Tertiary qualified in WHS/OHS (or equivalent).
- 3+ years’ experience in a WHS/OHS leadership role (FMCG/manufacturing strongly preferred).
- Proven track record building and embedding a proactive safety culture - leading safety activity and partnering with leaders and frontline teams to make safety non‑negotiable.
- Experience working with WHS/OHS management systems (SafetyCulture highly regarded); strong operational IT skills overall.
- ISO 45001 experience highly advantageous.
- Experienced in incident investigations, root cause analysis, corrective/preventative actions, return-to-work and injury management.
- Continuous improvement mindset - able to identify opportunities and drive practical safety improvements.
- Willing to conduct regular GEMBA walks, spending time daily on the floor to build trust and uncover risks and improvement opportunities.
- Strong relationship-building skills with internal and external stakeholders; confident stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to influence and embed safe ways of working.
- Excellent organisation, prioritisation and problem-solving skills; clear, effective communication skills (written and verbal).
- Collaborative, self-motivated and reliable, with a strong sense of urgency and comfort working in a fast-paced environment, including being flexible to adjust hours when required (eg, emergencies or peak activity periods).
- Work in a fast-growing start-up, experiencing what goes behind the scenes to sustain hyper-growth for a start-up with a physical product!
- Growth and Development - Lyka is growing extremely quickly, which means you will have the opportunity to experience different challenges every day and progressively acquire more responsibilities as our facility and team expands. We provide an annual budget for you to continue your personal development.
- Work for a sustainability focused company - we care about the health of our pets and our planet. We’re proud to be Australia’s only carbon-negative and plastic-negative pet company and we’re always looking at ways for us improve sustainability practices.
- Be part of a diverse top talent team, coming from widely different backgrounds and geographies.
- Up to 18 weeks of paid parental leave top-up.
- Wellbeing assistance and tools to take care of your mental and physical wellbeing so you can do your best work.
- Pupper parent support to care for your furry friends - flexible arrangements for new pets, pet-friendly offices, discounts, and financial allowance for dog training & care to help them live their best life.
We are committed to building inclusive and diverse teams
Lyka is an equal opportunity employer devoted to providing a working environment that embraces and values diversity and inclusion. We celebrate diversity, are devoted to creating an inclusive environment for all staff and encourage people of all backgrounds to apply. If you have any support or access requirements, we encourage you to advise us at the time of application.