Our Team

Our Leadership Team

Paul Dean

Creator of Plant Assessor, Technical Director & Co-Owner

Product and software development is Paul’s true passion having invented Plant Assessor in the early 2000s.

Paul spent 10 years in the commercial construction sector in Sydney.  During this time he was exposed to very high safety standards as he worked principally on large projects such as the Olympic site and numerous high rise buildings in Sydney CBD.

Keen to get back to the country, Paul moved into the motor vehicle and machinery auction industry in the NSW Riverina. During the next six years he was exposed to a wide variety of machinery in the agricultural, construction, earthmoving, materials handling, industrial, manufacturing and transport sectors.It was during this time that Paul identified how difficult it was to conduct thorough and accurate machinery risk assessments.  From this, the idea for Plant Assessor was born, culminating with the foundation of Plant Assessor in 2004.

Paul is responsible for the maintenance and development of Plant Assessor, keeping abreast of changes in legislation, standards, codes of practice as well as continually reviewing the existing safety info in PA.

Matt Turner

Managing Director & Co-Owner

Matt has been involved with Plant Assessor since 2004, and in his full time role since January 2008.

Matt is responsible for Corporate Strategy, General Management and Sales at Plant Assessor.  As part of his role he works closely with Paul on product development strategy and development of Plant Assessor’s conceptual model for managing safety in high risk operations.

Matt spent almost 10 years as an insolvency practitioner and business consultant, followed by eight years as General and Regional Manager of substantial multi-site manufacturing and distribution businesses in the steel industry.

During his time in the steel industry, Matt learnt about safety systems, strategy and behavioural safety from some of the best in the business.

Matt combined these learnings with a desire to link improved safety with improved productivity, quality and culture, and assist organisations achieve “systematic simplicity” when it came to safety management. This drives his work in the area of product and corporate strategy.

Mark McLachlan

Team Leader Enterprise Clients

Mark leads the enterprise client team at Plant Assessor. He joined Plant Assessor in 2015 in the role of Key Account Manager where he was responsible for managing relationships with a range of strategic enterprise clients Nationwide.

Mark has a wealth of experience in sales, operations and general management in heavy industry and the plant and equipment supply chain. He has held a number of senior roles for various professional services and equipment related businesses.

Mark is somewhat of a cricket fanatic having played many years of first grade cricket in the Newcastle competition. He still rolls the arm over on the weekend when required and now also coaches and manages junior teams. He enjoys spending time with his young family, especially out on Lake Macquarie in his boat.

Kate Ryan

Team Leader Customer Success

The success of our customers is critical to the success of our business and this function is managed by Kate Ryan.

Kate is a native of the Hunter. She was born and raised in Singleton and, along with her husband and two growing boys, now calls Maitland home. She started her career in the mining sector working in HR and moved into the workplace health and safety a few years ago.

In her role immediately prior to joining Plant Assessor she was the business co-ordinator for a safety consulting business where she was exposed to a broad range of safety related issues across a diverse section of clients. Given she has also owned and managed a retail business, she has a very strong appreciation of the importance of delivering excellent customer service.

Matt Ireland

Professional Services Manager

Matt heads up our Professional Services team who are responsible for completing on site risk assessments and a range of other services for various clients.  Matt is also heavily involved with ensuring Plant Assessor is updated in relation to new plant and machinery and changes in machinery safety requirements.

Matt has extensive “hands-on” experience in the field having spent five years as a plant operator with Daracon working on projects including the Port Waratah Coal Loader upgrade, Charlestown Square redevelopment and the Craven Rail Loop.

Prior to that Matt spent almost a decade working as a landscaper. In this role, he worked on major projects including the Sydney Olympic Village and Williamtown Airport upgrade as well as numerous smaller residential projects.