About

Ponderosa Safety and Risk, LLC provides technical safety and risk consulting servicesfor high-hazard operations and emerging technologies across government and industry environments. The firm specializes in chemical and process safety, industrial hygiene, battery energy storage system (BESS) risk and consequence assessment, all-hazards emergency planning, and accident investigation.

The firm is led by Andrew Cullen, MPH, CIH, CSP, a safety and risk management professional with more than a decade of experience supporting chemical laboratories, pilot-scale research, industrial operations, and emergency management programs. His work focuses on identifying and evaluating chemical and process hazards, developing controls, strengthening safety management systems, and translating complex technical requirements into solutions that protect workers, facilities, communities, and the environment.

Andrew has extensive experience in chemical hygiene and laboratory safety, including chemical hazard assessment, exposure control, industrial hygiene evaluation, process hazard analysis, hazardous materials management, and the development of risk-based chemical safety programs. He has supported multidisciplinary teams working with bioenergy, hydrogen, energy storage, materials science, and other high-consequence technologies.

Andrew is also actively engaged in the BESS industry, supporting consequence assessments toxic gases and explosions. He works with developers, engineers, fire protection professionals, industrial hygienists, regulators, emergency responders, and community stakeholders to develop technically defensible analyses and communicate their implications for facility siting, permitting, emergency planning, and public safety.

Andrew holds a Master of Public Health and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed the Emergence Program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Security and Defense. He is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) and Certified Safety Professional and serves as a volunteer Firefighter/EMT in Colorado, bringing an operational emergency response perspective to his work to prevent accidents.