International report on forensic engineering practice in eastern Canada

“Built Expressions”, is an engineering magazine published monthly with a readership of about 10,000 engineers and architects in Asia, the U.K, and the U.S.  The magazine published three of my blog postings last year (Ref. 15, pg. 74 to 80):

• What is forensic engineering?
• Steps in the forensic engineering investigative process
• Writing forensice engineering reports

My articles reflected what I have experienced practicing forensic engineering in eastern Canada.  Requests to publish these articles in the magazine suggests to me that we have a standard of practice in forensic engineering in eastern Canada of interest to the world.

(These postings and their publication dates are contained in the References below.  The References list 12 postings forming a series I published last year for counsel.  The series was on the role of a professional engineer assisting Counsel at the different stages of the civil litigation process)

These three articles were included in the December 2012 issue of Built Expressions that featured several articles on ‘Forensic Civil Engineering’.

(Please contact me if you would like to review an electronic version of the magazine, or contact the publisher (Ref. 15). The file containing the magazine is quite large at 14.8 MB and not included in this posting for that reason)

Learning from others about the cause of failures in the built environment

But we can learn from the others as well.  There were nine articles in the Cover Feature including my three articles.  The articles described various aspects of forensic civil engineering as experienced by the authors.  Most of the articles would be of interest to forensic engineers.  One or two would be of interest to Counsel.

One article in the magazine, ‘The expert witness and professional ethics’, (Ref. 15, Rao, B.S.C., pg. 38), reports on the categorizing and classifying of the causes of structural failure as determined by researchers in the U.S. and Europe.  This research reviewed the causes of hundreds of failures.  Based on the research the primary causes of failure were categorized as follows:

• Human failure
• Design failure
• Material failure
• Extreme or unforseen conditions or environments
• Combinations of the above

When professional engineers were at fault (human failure) the causes of failure could be classified as follows:

• 36%…Insufficient knowledge on the part of the engineer
• 16%…Under estimation of influence
• 14%…Ignorance, carelessness, negligence
• 13%…Forgetfulness, error
•   9%…Relying on others without sufficient control
•   7%…Objectively unknown situation
•   1%…Imprecise definition of responsibilites
•   1%…Choice of bad quality
•   3%…Other

When the percentage distribution of the failures were summarized the research found that almost half were due to errors in the planning and design of a structure and a third occurred during construction:

• 43%…Planning and design
• 36%…Construction
• 16%…Use and maintenance
•   7%…Others and multiple factors

I reviewed research a few years ago that found many, possibly most, foundation failures were due to inadequate geotechnical investigation of the foundation soils.

This type of information based on what appears to be quite exhaustive research is valuable to a forensic engineer in forming an initial hypothesis of failure at the beginning of an investigation.

Counsel can also learn from engineering research

The information is also valuable to Counsel in assessing whether or not to take a case or gaining an appreciation of where a forensic investigation may be leading based on initial oral reports by the professional engineer investigating the cause of the failure.

References

1. What is forensic engineering?, published, November 20, 2012
2. Writing forensic engineering reports, published, November 6, 2012
3. Steps in the civil litigation process, published, August 28, 2012
4. Steps in the forensic engineering investigative process, published October 26, 2012
5. The role of a professional engineer in counsel’s decision to take a case, published June 26, 2012
6. The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel prepare a Notice of Claim, published July 26, 2012
7. The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel prepare a Statement of Claim, published September 11, 2012
8. The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel prepare a Statement of Defence, published September 26, 2012
9. The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel prepare an Affidavit of Documents, published October 4, 2012
10. The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel during Discovery, published October 16, 2012
11. The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel during Alternate Dispute Resolutionn (ADR), published November 16, 2012
12. The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel prepare for a Settlement Conference, published November 29, 2012
13. The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel prepare for a Trial Date Assignment Conference, published December 12, 2012
14. The role of a professional engineer assisting counsel prepare for Trial, published, December 19, 2012
15. Built Expressions, Vol. 1, Issue 12, December 2012, Argus Media PVT Ltd., Bangalore, E: info@builtexpressions.com, info@argusmediaindia.com