The SSSafe Team

Craig Adams - Director / Course Facilitator / BA Soc. VA

• Key advisor on venomous animal "safe handling"
• Venomous snake expert and former Operations Manager for the Australian Reptile Park
• Managed the Park's life-saving snake and spider venom program*
• Facilitated the Occupational Health and Safety portfolio, with an emphasis on emergency procedures.

With his wife Jackie, Craig has travelled to remote areas of Australia in search of venomous snakes and spiders for inclusion in the Reptile Park's venom collection program for scientific purposes and for the collection of new data on endangered species.

Craig has featured in numerous National Geographic and Discovery Channel programs on the world's most venomous creatures. He worked alongside Steve Irwin as a consultant on his film "Oceans' Deadliest" and continues to work periodically with Steve's best friend John Stainton in an advisory and "to camera" role. Together with Jackie, he has also starred in numerous other television, print media and documentary films and is acknowledged by his peers as the "go to" person in this field.

Having developed the Australian Reptile Park's Snake Awareness Program and delivered it to a wide audience Craig could see the need for the Snake Safety Seminars to become more focussed and specialised to enable industry to deal with their many 'on the job' safety concerns. With his expert knowledge and accessible presentation style, ALL attendees leave the seminar confident that they can react calmly and correctly if ever they find themselves in a life-threatening situation.

* The Australian Reptile Park is the sole provider of terrestrial snake and funnel web spider venom to the CSL, saving approximately 300 lives every year.

Jackie Adams - Director / BA Psych. Dip Ed.

For eight years Jackie was chief Education Officer and Head Spider Keeper at the Australian Reptile Park. There she supervised the funnel web spider Venom Program and was curator of Australia's largest exhibition of exotic tarantulas. A qualified teacher, Jackie also designed and implemented the Park's education program. Jackie continues to be a regular wildlife presenter appearing in numerous television, documentary and print media forums.

Garon Staines - Principal Ecologist

Garon has more than 15 years experience in natural area, environmental management, ecological survey and assessment; working in both the private and public sectors. He is a qualified and experienced ecological restoration practitioner and a NSW accredited Biobanking Assessor

Currently the Director / Senior Ecologist at Pygmy Possum Ecological Consulting Pty Limited, Garon brings to SSSAFE a range of highly client focussed and professional services including:

• Threatened species surveys
• Assessments of significance for threatened species issues listed under the NSW Threatened Species Conservation Act and/or the Commonwealth Environment Protection & Biodiversity Conservation Act
• Provide expert advice on ecological and threatened species matters
• Supervise, induct and audit vegetation clearing and civil contractors for compliance with all relevant ecological, fauna management and construction plans
• Write habitat and ecological restoration plans, threatened species management plans, contractor and construction environmental management plans

Michael has been practicing law for over 20 years and has been integral in the set up and content of SSSAFE seminars. During that time he has represented numerous organizations on occupational health and safety issues. This has included the representation of both employers and employees during government investigations following fatalities and other serious workplace incidents. He also provides seminars to lawyers on the operation of the relevant legislation, including the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 (and the Regulations 2001).

Jan Richens - B.Bus

Marketing, Media and Communications Jan has an extensive background using all media channels and excels at building strong business relationships.