Karen is the Chief Inspector High Hazards, within the High Hazards, Energy & Public Safety group in WorkSafe New Zealand/Aotearoa. As Chief Inspector Karen is responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership to managers, specialist investigators and inspectors undertaking investigations, safety case assessments and hazardous substance inspections across New Zealand/Aotearoa. She has 26 years’ experience delivering, leading and transforming frontline regulatory operations in WorkSafe across New Zealand. Her career has focussed on high-hazard and complex risk environments including oversight of high hazard industries, MHF and sub-MHF facilities, hydrogen, explosives, rocket launch, waste oil, and management of hazardous substances. She is also a health and safety practitioner having previously spent 10 years carrying out inspections, investigations and prosecutions in high-risk sectors. She has experience in leading major incident responses, targeted interventions and project management. She holds a Massey University diploma in OH&S, a member of IOSH/NEBOSH/NZISM and an alumni graduate in Leadership & Governance, Strategy & Finance.

As Chief Executive Officer, Ms Hughson leads Energy Safe Victoria’s work to support a safer energy future for Victoria. Ms Hughson is an experienced safety regulator and has overseen an increase in Energy Safe’s capability and capacity, introducing an enhanced compliance and enforcement approach as well as increased engagement with industry and the community. Ms Hughson chairs the Regulators Taskforce for Victoria’s Transition to Renewable Energy. Ms Hughson is an IPAA Victoria Board member, serving as Treasurer and Chair of the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee. She is also a member of the Executive Committee. Previously, Ms Hughson held senior roles at WorkSafe Victoria, including General Counsel, Executive Director, Health and Safety, and Chief of Transformation. She also served as Commander, Enforcement and Compliance, as part of Victoria’s COVID-19 response. Ms Hughson holds a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws, a Master of Taxation, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She has served as Chief Executive Officer since April 2021.

Fiona Mitchell-Corbett is an Executive Director of Regulatory Operations at NOPSEMA, Australia’s offshore petroleum safety and environmental regulator. She leads the Well Integrity function as part of NOPSEMA’s transition toward a lifecycle-based, risk-informed regulatory model spanning exploration, development, production and decommissioning. A Chartered Chemical Engineer, Fiona has 20 years’ experience in process safety across offshore and onshore energy projects, working with major operators, global engineering consultancies and specialist risk firms across the oil, gas and emerging energy sectors. Her expertise includes the application of inherently safer design and risk-informed engineering to support decision-making throughout the asset lifecycle, complemented by extensive experience in hazard identification, qualitative and quantitative risk assessment and consequence modelling within objective-based regulatory frameworks. Fiona holds a BE (Hons) in Chemical and Process Engineering from the University of Canterbury and an MSc (Distinction) in Safety, Risk and Reliability Engineering from Heriot-Watt University. She now brings this technical foundation to the regulation of well integrity risk, helping shape NOPSEMA’s risk-based regulatory approach and supporting industry to integrate process safety considerations throughout the lifecycle of Australia’s offshore energy assets.

Paul Newell FRACI CChem is Director – Major Hazard Facilities with Workplace Health and Safety Queensland and a senior regulatory, safety and enforcement executive with more than 25 years’ experience across State, Commonwealth and international jurisdictions. Paul leads Queensland’s Major Hazard Facilities regulatory function, with delegated responsibility for safety-case assessment, licensing and regulatory intervention across high-consequence operations including LNG, chemical processing and explosives manufacture. He leads a multidisciplinary team of chemists, chemical engineers, process-safety engineers and inspectors focused on process safety, critical-risk assurance and risk-based regulation. Previously, as Director Operations – Compliance & Enforcement with Western Australia’s Department of Water and Environmental Regulation, Paul led a statewide team of approximately 135 compliance and enforcement officers, assessment officers, technical and support staff working across mining, oil and gas, power generation, chemical manufacturing and other high-risk sectors. His career also spans environmental protection, major project facilitation and approvals, emergency response, forensic science, law enforcement and intelligence, including work with the former Australian Crime Commission and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Since 2010, Paul has worked internationally as a Subject Matter Expert and Special Advisor to the UNODC, chairing expert forums, developing global technical guidance and delivering operational programs across West Africa, Southeast Asia, Central and South America. He has authored and contributed to international guidance on synthetic opioids, officer safety, and the safe and environmentally sustainable management and improvised disposal of illicit drugs and hazardous chemicals in non-secure environments. Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute and previously a Board Member of the National Chemistry Committee of the Australian Academy of Science.