Dr. Matt Woolley

Causation Analysis & Reporting for Serious Workplace Incidents - Australia & New Zealand

Independent incident causation and control failure analysis for insurers, lawyers, counsel and coroners.

 

Background

Dr Woolley's investigative career began with the Queensland Police Service, where evidence-led method was not a preference but a requirement. He moved from that foundation into Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, serving as Principal Investigator and Prosecutor with a focus on serious injury and fatal workplace incidents, a body of work spanning numerous prosecutions and in-field investigations.

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While Dr Woolley is an admitted solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand, he has also sat on the other side of the ledger. As National Group Manager for Health, Safety, Environment and Training with a multinational construction and mining group, he was responsible for designing and implementing integrated, ISO-audited safety and health management systems. It is those systems and their failures, that he is now engaged to examine.

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Specifically, Dr Woolley is engaged to provide independent, expert analysis and opinion on incident causation, risk management failures and the preparation of enforceable undertaking programs.  

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Methodology

Dr Woolley's doctoral research at the University of the Sunshine Coast produced systems-thinking methods for investigating high-impact workplace incidents. That research, peer-reviewed and published in internationally recognised journals, informs an approach drawing on contemporary human factors and sociotechnical systems analysis. The practical consequence is an analysis that does not stop at the proximate cause. It identifies the full range of control failures, traces how and why those failures emerged, and attributes responsibility on a defensible evidentiary footing.

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Engagements

Instructions are accepted from plaintiff and defence, prosecution and respondent.

Typical engagements include:

• Independent causation analysis and expert reports for criminal, civil and coronial proceedings

• Review and critique of existing or opposing expert opinion

• Early causation and merits assessment before a forensic position is fixed

• Examination of safety management systems, chain of responsibility and the adequacy of risk controls

 

Focus Areas

Dr Woolley accepts briefs across all industries, with a specific focus on:

• Psychosocial injury causation and workplace systems failure

• Building, construction and mining operations, risk and project delivery systems

• Workplace relations, bullying and harassment incidents and investigations

• Manufacturing, heavy vehicle and mobile plant

• Local and State Government operating environments

• Emerging industries, including surf parks, wave pools and adrenaline sports

 

Independence

Every report is prepared on the footing that it must comply with the expert evidence code applicable in the relevant jurisdiction, with opinion that is reasoned and supported.

 

Jurisdiction

Reports are prepared for proceedings throughout Australia and New Zealand. Dr Woolley is based in Queensland and accepts instructions nationally and across the Tasman, with availability to travel, participate in teleconferencing, and to give evidence.

 

To discuss a matter or request a conflict check, contact Dr Woolley directly.