Benjamin Coughlan

Ben is a passionate environmental scientist with over 10 years’ experience in contaminated land and hazardous materials consulting. Ben has worked across a broad spectrum of projects ranging from contaminated land investigations for greenfield developments to decontamination planning for mine closure. Ben is accomplished at managing and delivering a variety of projects including Preliminary Site Investigations, Detailed Site Investigations, Hazardous Building Material Assessments, and the preparation of site management plans and technical specifications.

Ben specialises in the assessment and management of Hazardous Building Materials during ongoing operations, demolition and as part of closure planning for mines and heavy industry. Ben has acquired a unique skillset in the assessment of a range of hazardous materials within buildings, structures, and plant/equipment at manufacturing and industrial sites, including asbestos (all forms), lead, polychlorinated biphenyls, ozone depleting substances, compressed gases, fuels and oils, dusts and residues, contaminated concrete, and radioactivity.

Ben also has a strong understanding of the work health and safety, and environmental regulatory frameworks within Victoria and across Australia pertaining to contaminated sites and hazardous materials. He is also formerly trained in hazard identification and risk assessment and has worked under several different integrated management systems to successfully delivery large field investigation programs without incident or injury. This included a secondment with Ford Motor Company of Australia to manage environment compliance during decommissioning and demolition activities at the former Broadmeadows Assembly Plant.

Ben brings a strong attention to detail to each project he works on and dedicates himself to maintaining a high standard of quality in all deliverables prepared and submitted over the course of a project. In his time within the contaminated land industry, he has also served on the Executive Committee of the Australian Contaminated Land Consultants Association (ACLCA), including in the role as President of ACLCA Victoria in 2020.