Meet Mark Collen: Bringing a chemist’s precision to healthcare water systems

We caught up with Mark Collen ahead of his NSW/ACT PD Day session

With the NSW Professional Development Day at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, followed by a networking cruise on Sydney Harbour, fast approaching on Friday 14 November 2025, we are speaking with our presenters about the practical lessons they will share

Full event details and registration

Meet Mark

Mark Collen is Senior Consultant and National Water Manager at CETEC. He brings a chemist’s precision to healthcare water systems, supported by an Honours degree in Chemistry from UTS and early work developing an award-winning environmental management system that covered waste, energy and water. He then spent more than 13 years with Nalco specialising in water treatment for healthcare. Since 2013 he has focused on Legionella management and water quality in critical clinical and research environments. Much of his consulting work now involves diagnosing failures and ensuring treatment packages match the equipment and the local supply water quality.

A long-standing contributor to IHEA

Mark has been an IHEA member for more than 20 years and a regular presenter at Queensland and national forums. He brings practical, site-tested insight to the community.

What Mark will cover

Session: Water Treatment selection for critical equipment.

Incorrect water treatment can damage expensive, sensitive equipment. The flow-on effects include patient risk, treatment delays and higher costs. Mark will share steps to get specifications and commissioning right from the start. He will include real-world lessons, and address how to avoid a common pitfall - the assumption that a vendor will handle every detail.

Mark will reference the National Construction Code and key Australian Standards, including AS 3500.4, AS 5369 and AS 3666, and explain how they inform day-to-day decisions in hospitals and capital projects.

Who should attend

Biomedical engineering and maintenance teams, hydraulic engineers, project managers and constructors, and equipment operators who specify, purchase, install or operate critical equipment that depends on managed water quality.

See Mark at the NSW/ACT PD Day

When and where: Friday 14 November 2025, at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown.

The day closes with a Sydney Harbour networking cruise.

Event details and tickets