Both need to be thorough and objective, but the sameness ends there. Data analysis is based on numbers and the scientific method and is more precise. Evidence assessment is based on case law and legal principles – words – and is less precise. A hard analysis compared to a soft analysis. Where does that leave the accident victim, the property owner, the claimant? It leaves them some wiggle room, or the butt of some. Think what lawyers – wordsmiths as they say – can do with wiggle room. I’m not sure where these thoughts came from but they are relevant to recent blogs on the role observation play ..read more

A lecturer in drone technology said so last evening, and I would agree in a heart beat. And I would also say that it’s a BIG lead in both civil litigation and insurance and getting bigger as we speak. This quickly came to mind last evening when I attended an introductory lecture on drones by Dr. Ian MacVicar entitled Drones – Detectives, Deliverers, Deceivers, Spies, and Murderers. He outlined what he was going to talk about in the six, two hour lectures organized by SCANS (Seniors’ College Association of Nova Scotia). I was there as the one time guest of another student. The course is filled ..read more

I chatted with a stranger sitting next to me at a concert recently. He told me about a concrete slab on his property that settled 10 cm in a few days after 10 years. The slab supported a small out-building. I don’t know the location of the property. A vibratory roller was compacting layers of soil during construction of an eight (8) foot deep fill on the next lot. The chap attributed settlement of his concrete slab to the work on the adjacent property. He filed a claim with his insurance company who had an engineer investigate the problem. I gather from the concert friend’s comments that the e ..read more

(I thought to post this blog again after chatting with a friend and engineering colleague. He mentioned some time ago that he had been retained as an expert on a structural failure. I was surprised to learn the case was going to trial – in 2025, two years from now. This in spite of the fact the expert reports are in. (I know that cases still go to trial. I also understand the courts are busy. But two years? This in spite of the fact there are good dispute resolution procedures like the “hot-tub” method – to use legal jargon – that has been well received and relied on in Australia, New Zealand ..read more

There are hired guns out there who are wearing the Iron Ring: Engineering experts hired to do a specific and often ethically dubious job. (Ref. 1) This contrary to their taking part in the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer – their Obligation – and agreeing to a certain standard of practice. Then accepting the Ring as a reminder. (Ref. 2) There are a few of this type out there in spite of the fact that the great majority of experts in Canada are ethical. (Ref. 3) Question them on what they said during the Ritual. Come down hard on them, is what you do. Read the Calling, the Ritual below in t ..read more

I was sitting and watching people walk back and forth at an accident site while recording some measurements I had taken earlier. The walk included stepping up and down at a change in level. It was a hot day and good reason to sit in the shade and do this. It came to me how valuable this was: Just sitting and looking and thinking. A real soft, empirical forensic technique. I’ve done this before during a forensic investigation – look at something unfold – but it was during a re-enactment of an accident. This simple looking and thinking was different. It was natural not a re-enactment. It also wa ..read more

I was struck by how educational a good read of the National Building Code (NBC) can be, and how easy a read. Your eyes might glaze over sometimes but you’ll learn a lot about buildings and their components where most failures and accidents occur. Buildings are the most frequently built structure in the world. You’ll get this education from generally quite good writing – small paragraphs (not fat), short declarative sentences, concrete words and good punctuation. For example, simple commas placed so the nuance is well understood – this really stood out for me. The NBC sets out technical provisi ..read more

I blogged on the extent to which an expert’s investigation of cause relies on Observation compared to laboratory and field testing. (Ref. 1) An example like the following will help understand this – a surprise observation at the end made it an enlightening investigation too. The observations are italicized in the following. *** I was retained to determine the cause of water on the floor of a finished basement of a commercial building in Halifax. It was only a mini-flood but dangerous because the water was running down a basement wall, at the location of the electric supply to the building, and ..read more

The word empirical keeps coming back to me after posting a recent blog about the importance of peer review in forensic work. (Refs 1, 2 and 3) This because many forensic engineering investigations of failures and accidents in the built and natural environments are empirical in nature. Meaning, they are based on observation or experience not laboratory and field testing. The Observational Method – or Empirical Method, if you like – is widely used and accepted in both the theoretical and applied sciences. Check out Dr. Google: Civil, geotechnical and environmental engineering. The OM method is ..read more

What should I do about accident and injury-prone defects I see in the built environment? For the most part, tiny defects like the following: Old stairs down to a sloping sidewalk from the main entrance of an old church. The stairs have been in place for many decades. I’ve been in and out of this church to concerts. We descend the steps and onto the sidewalk at the upslope end where the riser is the proper height and it’s easier to step onto the sloping sidewalk. New stairs down to a steeply sloping driveway from the front entrance to a house. It’s scary what the homeowners will need to manage ..read more