Company — HazEL - Chemical Hazard Evaluation

Hazard Evaluation Ltd

HazEL™ is designed to promote transparency in the chemical supply chain

Hazard Evaluation Ltd (or HazEL™) is a New Zealand based company whose purpose is to reduce chemical harm. Our SaaS tool ranks chemicals according to their environmental and human health effects, and alerts users to new information that indicates a product might be considered a chemical of emerging concern*.

Our mission is to build simple tools that improve efficiency in chemical decision making.

Our story

While climate change and biodiversity loss dominate environmental concerns, early in 2021 the United Nations, in their report Making Peace with Nature, declared chemical pollution to be the third spoke of the triple planetary crises.

There are over 300,000 products and substances already in regular daily use, and over 500,000 academic papers specific to chemistry and its related fields are published every year - and this number is growing. When combined with ever-changing regulatory environments, the mass of material is challenging to navigate. It is getting harder and harder to compare substances and analyse which are most harmful to human health and the environment. However, it is the legal duty of Company Directors to manage the environmental effects of products and substances used by their company, and as the TNFD gains traction, reporting on chemical harm, and steps to reduce that harm, is becoming more important.

How HazEL works

HazEL distills the available information and rapidly identifies where additional attention should be focused. This maximises efficiency and streamlines resource allocation. Our flexible simplicity neatly compliments existing systems being used to make chemical risk management decisions.

We have systemised chemical risk management for ESG reporting at Board level.

The HazEL software enables people to commence the urgent action required to reduce the degradation of natural habitats. Reducing harm from chemical pollution has the additional benefit of improving human health outcomes by contributing to a reduction in the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination.

The team

We have a mix of backgrounds, from regulatory to industry, insurance to finance and business, but we are all motivated by the desire to reduce chemical harm. We value transparency in the chemical supply chain because we are committed to ensuring that the chemicals essential to modern life, are less harmful to people and the planet far into the future.

*We define Chemicals of Emerging Concern (CECs) as chemicals that lack information on hazard potential or are suspected to be harmful, and show evidence of new pathways to humans or the environment, or there is new information on their persistence or bioaccumulation.

The Team

Kate Bromfield

CEO AND FOUNDER
DIRECTOR OF HAZEL-UK
Kate has a PhD in marine palaeontology/climate change, and prior to establishing HazEL, she made her career enhancing environmental benefits and sustainability in a sound economic framework.
Kate had the idea for HazEL while she was leading a team of specialist scientists working on the toxicology and ecotoxilogical effects of chemicals in New Zealand. She was responsible for visionary scientific input into the NZ EPAs chemical risk assessment and represented NZ at the OECD panels (in Paris) on chemical risk assessment and chemical hazards.
Richard Coomber

CTO & FOUNDER
Richard is responsible for change, development, and integration and has a background in strategy and programme establishment.
He has worked in banking processes, dynamic CRM, FMCG start-ups, B2B, cross platform app development, cyber security and enterprise integration. He has led multiple developments in .net and other technologies.
Alan Buxton

DIRECTOR OF HAZEL AND HAZEL-UK
Alan is a seasoned tech executive who has been helping tech startups and scale-ups grow for over 2 decades. He fosters the creation of high-performing teams and leads those teams to take new technologies and turn them into innovative products. His background lies at the intersection of humanities and coding, meaning he has a keen interest in creating products that make a positive difference for their users. He likes to keep things "small l" lean and "small a" agile.
Nick Jackson

DIRECTOR
Nick is an experienced director and energy sector executive, running a New Zealand based energy consultancy. He is constantly evaluating investment opportunities. These range from something as simple as entering an overseas market to blue sky thinking that assists with the global transition to renewable energy. In all negotiations he looks for solutions that are win-win for all key stakeholders, the environment and future generations. His background is in geosciences, and his interests lie in providing energy solutions to local and global communities to ensure both energy security and equity as we transition away from our reliance on hydrocarbons.
James Alexander

DIRECTOR & STRATEGIC PARTNER UK
James is responsible for the production, programme design and placement of environmental risk internationally (except in the US. He assists clients in understanding the extent and nature of environmental risks, the coverage available and the placement of policies. James also has world-leading experience in insuring de-watering activities, waste storage facilities and environmental liabilities faced by companies as they transition to a low-carbon future. James says that his duty is to “consistently stay ahead of incoming challenges [to help clients] prepare, meet their risk management goals and protect their organisation even during uncertain times”.
Garry Mooney

RISK MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT
Garry has a vast knowledge of The Risk Management and Insurances Industries with worldwide contacts that Hazel has connected to. As a Qualified Risk Manager (ARM) Garry understands the benefit to Business both for insured And uninsured risks.
Alex Cliff

CHEMICAL ENGINEER
Alex joined HazEL in 2022 on a Callaghan Innovation Career Development Grant, but has become a mainstay of software development. He bridges the teams understanding of chemical hazard and software development.
Stephanie Jervis

SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER
Steph has a regulatory background having worked with the ZAA as their Regulatory Manager before joining HazEL as Special Projects Manager. She has a MSc in marine biology and prior to her work with ZAA she worked in several US publishing startups. She excells in communication and client liason.