Our Team
David Cockbain
David is the Director and Principal Consultant of SAFEgroup. He is also the Founder and a Director of SAFEgroup Automation (SGA) which is a leading Australian provider of control system engineering services.
David is both a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Health and Safety (FAIHS) and Certified Generalist OHS Professional registered with the Australian Institute of Health and Safety (ChOHSP) as well as being elected a Companion Member of Engineers Australia, which is recognition of attainment in a field related to engineering that is equivalent to that of Fellow of Engineers Australia.
David was one of the first Certified Practising Risk Managers (CPRMs) in Australia which is the pinnacle of professional practice in risk management as well as a professional member of the American Society of Safety Professionals, formerly American Society of Safety Engineers.
David specialises in the provision of Expert Witness Reports assessing liability and negligence and providing risk-based practical preventative control measures for workplace incidents and public liability matters.
David is passionate about emergency services and rescue with over 30 years of experience as an emergency services specialist, manager, rescue operator, firefighter, and is a current State Rescue Board Accredited General Land Rescue operator with one of the busiest volunteer Road Crash Rescue/General Land Rescue units in New South Wales.
David is also passionate about environment management systems and sustainability and implements sustainable practices when managing his various agricultural and business endeavours.
David has over 35 years of Work Health Safety and Risk Management experience gained through working in leadership and consulting roles within various industry sectors including but not limited to:
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Underground and Open Cut Mining
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Resources
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Metal Processing
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Coal Seam Gas
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Water/Wastewater
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Drilling
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Construction
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Manufacturing
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Processing
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Logistics
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Rail
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Agriculture
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Hospitality
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Abattoir and Meat Processing
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Electrical Distribution
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Electrical Contracting
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Cleaning and Maintenance
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Logistics, Fast Moving Consumer Goods
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Road Transport
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Emergency Services including operations interagency training for Police, Ambulance, Fire, SES, Mines Rescue, and Marine Rescue Teams.
Tony Reczek
Tony is a qualified electrical engineer and has worked as a consultant with SAFEgroup for the last 20 years as a lead safety auditor, incident investigator, and risk management specialist.
His experience includes 15 years as a senior engineering manager within underground coal mines and 18 years with the NSW minerals industry regulator as Chief Inspector and Statutory Official.
Tony’s experience includes demonstrated technical competence in the following industries and specialties:
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Coal & Metal Mining
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Electricity & Water Utilities
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Oil & Gas
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Minerals Processing
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Petrochemicals
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Manufacturing
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Rail
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High-voltage Systems
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Explosives
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Machine Failures/Guarding
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Catastrophic Plant Failures
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Electrical Failures
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Fires & Explosions
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Confined Spaces
Tony has recognised competencies in semi-quantified and quantified risk management systems using numerical techniques in reliability and fault trees based on the Management Oversight & Risk Tree (MORT) methodologies and has been authorised by DUAP to perform safety audits for major hazard facilities in NSW.
His experience extends to the development and implementation of risk management systems based on the United States (DOE), System Safety models for technological systems and United Kingdom (HSE) Safety Case for High-Risk Systems.
Tony was appointed as an independent engineering expert for the Pike River Royal Commission and has recently been co-operating with Australian and New Zealand regulators to determine societal safety benchmarks when implementing regulatory changes following major disasters based on the United Kingdom HSE models.
Gracie Robinson
Gracie has worked as the Risk & Safety Manager with SAFEgroup for 10 years and has over 30 years' experience in the mining industry as a Safety Advisor.
Gracie is a Health, Safety & Environment Lead Auditor, Accident/Incident Investigator, WHS Management System Specialist and Risk Management Specialist. Gracie facilitates, plans, co-ordinates and undertakes complex technical risk assessments, audits and investigations. Gracie processes and manages countless workers compensation claims as a return-to-work coordinator, implements Health & Safety Management Systems, Integrated Management Systems, Training Systems Management and Contractor Management Systems.
Gracie has achieved demonstrated technical competence in:
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Technical audits of Safety, Quality and Environmental Management systems in mining, manufacturing and construction.
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Incident investigations into electrical failures, explosions, and equipment failures in underground and surface electrical installations.
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Risk assessments for government departments, coal and minerals mining, and construction.
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The development of leading practice and work, health and safety compliant Safety Management Systems for transport companies, local councils, water and waste providers.
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The development and implementation of Training Systems Management and Contractor Management Systems.
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Project management.
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The development and implementation of Integrated Management Systems with a proven reduction in injuries by 90%, no environmental issues and workers compensation costs reduced to less than 1% of payroll.
Paul Donkin
Paul Donkin is a Mechanical Engineer and qualified slip test technician (Wessex Pendulum tester by Wessex (UK)) with experience in the coal mining industry as a CHPP reliability engineer, project engineer and shift engineer. Paul specialises in plant failures, asset management, defect elimination and risk management. Paul is a trained ICAM lead investigator and has undertaken complex technical investigations.
Paul has completed a Graduate Certificate in Asset and Maintenance Management and is currently completing a Graduate Certificate in Workplace Health and Safety. Paul is qualified in work safely at heights, confined spaces and complex plant isolation.
Paul is a member of a State Emergency Services Rescue Unit qualified and training in road crash rescue and storm operations, vertical rescue/working at heights, industrial and domestic rescue and flood rescue.
Paul provides consultation services in his area of experience and expertise and undertakes complex data analysis and testing for our clients.
Dedicated In-House Expert Legal Administration Team
SAFEgroup also has a dedicated in-house legal administration team who are trained to support our experts, managing the matter from initial instruction to report completion.
Our administration team are trained to analyse factual matters and utilise their collective skills and experience in the legal and safety industry to provide support to our clients and deduce the necessary factual information and evidence required to enable the expert to provide an opinion.
Our administration team provide regular updates to clients at various stages and we encourage our clients to liaise with our team with any questions or advice they need.
Where required, our administration team can also provide scribing services for conclaves and joint reports and facilitate the preparation of the joint report from initial collation to final approval by all participating Experts, signing and on-forwarding to all instructing parties.
Our administration team provide the value of services which a third-party would provide, without the additional fees.
