Experience
15 years in local government environmental health, starting in Port Hedland and finishing as the Manager Health Services at the City of Nedlands. Specialising in emergency management, waste management, food safety, mass gathering safety and occupational safety and health.
23 years in state government environmental protection managing areas including licensing, compliance, Ministerial Statement auditing, complaints, incidents and emergency response. Established the WA State Pollution Response (HAZMAT) Unit through a Cabinet Submission in 2003. The Unit has been extremely successful over the years and has been the model for other states. He brought United States EPA trainers to WA on five occasions, training government and industry officers to the highest standards of safety and environmental protection in the world.
One of the most experienced experts in pollution/hazmat incident response, management and recovery in Australia. He managed the environmental response to over 300 incidents/emergencies including some of the worst pollution incidents in Western Australian history. These include the Bellevue Hazardous Waste Fire, the Esperance Lead Contamination, Fremantle lead concerns, Brookdale liquid waste facility issues, and more. He also was the Project Director for the Wooroloo bush fire coordinated residential clean up program that was awarded a State Government Resilience Award in 2022. He also deployed to and coordinated the emergency response to asbestos contamination of Kalbarri and other towns due to Tropical Cyclone Seroja in April 2021. More recently, in 2022 he managed the emergency environmental response to a major HAZMAT fire in Bridgetown where a copper-chrome-arsenic facility burnt down, causing the evacuation of surrounding residences.
At the strategic level, Ken has been a representative on the State Emergency Recovery Committee, State HAZMAT Emergency Coordinating Committee, CBR Technical Group, Evacuation (All Hazards Working Group), Pesticides Advisory Committee, COVID Metropolitan Incident Support Group, the convenor of numerous interagency working groups, Chair of the AELERT Emergency Operations Group, EHA Legislation Review Committee and many more.
Ken is the recipient of a number of prestigious awards for excellence.
Developed and ran numerous training courses at local, state and interstate levels. An impressive list of real-life examples of failure and success at both tactical and strategic levels, alongside his friendly demeanour and expertise lends to an engaging and effective environmental emergency management, compliance and enforcement training program.
He has delivered training in compliance, enforcement, pollution response, illegal dumping, noise, stop and search, infringements, evidence management, emergency management, media management, risk communication, emergency waste management, selection and use of PPE, Field Safety and dealing with aggression in the field.
38 years experience as a statutory law enforcement officer under the Health Act and also the Environmental Protection Act and has undertaken numerous complex investigations and enforcement actions.. He has appeared in court as a prosecution witness for successful and sometimes complex cases. He has seen prosecutions fail due to technicalities and evidence handling, so can provide real-life advice on avoiding critical failures. He has trained in Hazard Analysis at Critical Control Points and accident investigations as well as crime scene management.
He has extensive experience in workplace safety and health, training, public health risk communications, industry regulation, emergency management, law enforcement, relevant scientific disciplines including chemistry, physics, mechanics, biology, human biology, toxicology, and human factors. He was trained in the United States to the level of HAZMAT Technician and HAZMAT Specialist.
Ken has extensive successful experience in creating legislation and policy, strategic reports (to State level committees and government Ministers/Cabinet).
