What is Forensic Engineering?
Forensic engineering is the application of engineering principles, knowledge, skills, and methodologies to answer questions of fact that may have legal ramifications.
Forensic engineers typically are called upon to analyze car accidents, building collapses, fires, explosions, industrial accidents, and various calamities involving injuries or significant property losses. Fundamentally, the job of a forensic engineer is to answer the question: what caused this to happen?
Forensic engineering, failure analysis, and root cause analysis are used interchangeably. However, there are sometimes implied differences in emphasis among the three descriptors.
What should a Forensic Engineer be?
· Relying on actual physical evidence found at the scene, verifiable facts related to the matter, and well-proven scientific principles.
· Applying accepted scientific methodologies and principles to interpret the physical evidence and facts which are mostly highly interdisciplinary.
· Familiar with codes, standards, and usual work, this includes building codes, mechanical equipment codes, fire safety codes, electrical codes, material specifications, product codes, rules, laws, regulations, and company policies.
The process of Forensic Engineering
- assessing what was there before the event, and the condition it was in before the event.
- assessing what is present after the event, and in what condition it is in.
- hypothesizing plausible ways in which the pre-event conditions can become the post-event conditions.
- searching for evidence that either denies or supports the various hypotheses.
- applying engineering knowledge and skill to relate the various facts and evidence into a cohesive scenario of how the event may have occurred.
Investigation Pyramid
There should be a large foundation of verifiable facts and evidence at the bottom. These facts then form the basis for analysis according to proven scientific principles. The facts and analysis, taken together, support a small number of conclusions that form the apex of the pyramid.
Conclusions should be directly based on the facts and analysis, and not on other conclusions or hypotheses.
Source: Randall K. Noon, Forensic Engineering Investigation, CRC Press LLC 2001