A Year of Growth
At ATC Williams, we understand that effective governance and risk assessment are fundamental to safe, efficient, and sustainable tailings, water and waste management. We recognise the challenges our clients face in navigating complex regulatory landscapes, mitigating risks, and optimising asset performance throughout the lifecycle of tailings, water and waste-retaining facilities. We provide industry-leading expertise through our Governance and Risk Assessment (GRA) practice to support our clients in meeting these challenges.
Building on 2024, Strengthening for 2025
Established in 2024, our GRA Technical Community brings together specialist engineers, risk professionals, and industry leaders to drive best practices, share knowledge, and develop tailored solutions for our clients.
Over the past year, we have laid the foundation for a thriving knowledge network, starting with key initiatives such as ATCW risk assessments and governance framework developments.
In 2025, our commitment to advancing governance and risk assessment remains steadfast. We are building on our strategy to enhance engagement, streamline processes, and expand our community so that we can offer the best service to our clients.
Our GRA Capability
To address the unique challenges of mining, infrastructure, water and waste management, we offer tailored risk management strategies. Our key services include:
- Regulatory compliance review and audit
- Governance Framework development
- Dam Safety Management System implementation and audit
- GISTM implementation and compliance audit
- Risk review and profiling of existing and proposed water and tailing dams: Risk identification, analysis and evaluation
- Risk management and mitigation strategy
- As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) and So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable (SFAIRP) Assessment
- Risk-informed design and optimisation studies
- Training and Awareness Programs
Strengthening Our Strategic Plan
Our strategy for 2025 focuses on four key pillars:
- Clients, Markets & Reputation
Strengthening relationships with current clients and showcasing our capabilities in international markets. - Brand – Technical & Innovation
Developing governance guidelines to centralise compliance requirements across regions. - People, Culture & Resources
Delivering targeted training sessions based on the knowledge gap assessment outcomes. - Organisation – Systems and Support
Enhancing our peer review process to meet our Quality Management System (QMS) requirements.
Meet the GRA Team
Our dedicated core team continues to lead the GRA Technical Community, driving key initiatives and fostering knowledge-sharing across ATC Williams.
Arezoo Farhadi
Governance and Risk Technical Community Lead / Senior Principal Engineer
Melbourne Office
Arezoo is ATCW’s Governance and Risk Leader, bringing nearly 30 years of experience in dam engineering across the water, hydropower, and mining industries. She has held key roles as a designer, design lead, and project lead, contributing to major infrastructure projects worldwide.
Her expertise spans a comprehensive range of dam safety management activities, including compliance audits, implementation of dam safety management systems, risk-based design and optimisation studies, development of dam safety plans, and regulatory advisory. She is highly skilled in qualitative and quantitative risk assessments, risk mitigation strategies, ALARP/SFAIRP assessments, and facilitating FMEA and risk workshops.
Arezoo is recognised for her leadership in governance, risk assessment, and regulatory compliance, ensuring robust safety frameworks for critical dam infrastructure.
Alex Campbell
Associate Engineer
Melbourne Office
Alex is a civil engineer with ten years of experience designing mine waste and water containment structures. Alex has experience in embankment design, tailings management, hydrological and hydraulic modelling, risk assessment, geotechnical investigations, and reporting. He also has experience in site construction supervision and office-based construction support roles.
Kathy Tehrani
Senior Engineer
Brisbane Office
Kathy is a Senior Tailings Engineer at ATC Williams’ Brisbane office. With eight years of experience in the tailings sector, her career has spanned a wide range of projects across various stages of tailings storage facility (TSF) lifecycles, with primary expertise in tailings governance, risk assessment and management, and compliance (e.g., GISTM, TSM, Australian regulatory guidelines and standards). Recently, she joined the ICOLD 2024 – Committee H Working Group to prepare the new Bulletin on Risk Assessment and Management for Dam Safety.
Kathy is involved in academia, providing tutoring, lab demonstrations, and research assistance for undergraduate and master’s thesis projects in Geotechnical Engineering.
Beyond her professional role, she actively contributes as the vice chair of the Queensland Tailings Group (QTG) and the committee member of the Mine Waste and Tailings Conference (MWT), reflecting her dedication to industry advancement and collaboration. Additionally, she supported the technical committee for GEOANZ#2 and the GeoAsia8 technical committee through paper reviews.
Meri Sadeghipour
Senior Associate Engineer
Melbourne Office
Meri is a civil and geotechnical engineer with over sixteen years of experience as an engineering consultant. She specialises in the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries, as well as tailings and water management. She has extensive experience managing large-scale projects across the asset lifecycle, from conceptualisation through detailed design, construction, and commissioning to operations, closure, and rehabilitation.
Meri’s expertise spans a broad range of civil and geotechnical applications, including risk assessment, dam safety review, numerical and predictive modelling, field investigations, embankment and water management infrastructure design, foundation design, and project engineering and management.
Nathan Podlich, NSW
Associate Engineer
Newcastle Office
Nathan is a civil engineer with a Ph.D. in Engineering. Along with studying engineering, Nathan has a Bachelor of Computer Science. He has expertise in numerical modelling of geotechnical stability problems, programming, and high-performance mathematical routines for solving geotechnical stability problems.
Dedicated to Excellence
AT ATC Williams, we champion governance, regulations, and risk assessment as the main pillars for the management of tailings, water and waste storage facilities. Through meticulously assessing risks and implementing robust governance frameworks, we mitigate hazards and fortify operations, fostering a culture of compliance and resilience and safeguarding environmental integrity and community welfare.
To learn how our Governance and Risk Assessment Technical Community can support your next project, contact Arezoo Farhadi on 613 8587 0900.
