Guidelines for Failure Investigation

To continue improving the built environment, engineers must learn from failures. This chapter describes forensic engineering, which involves a full spectrum of services ranging from failure investigation to participation in the legal proceedings that often follow. Five steps are common to the failure investigation process: investigation planning and coordination, data collection, development of testing protocol, data analysis and interpretation, and presentation of opinions and conclusions. Assisting in the legal process may involve determining the facts surrounding an accident, including the cause or causes of a failure, and identifying the responsible parties. A forensic investigator requires fundamental personality characteristics such as objectivity, open mindedness, respect for confidentiality, honesty, integrity, and good communication skills. The chapter also presents an overview of this book’s key concepts.

A successful failure investigation requires deliberate, thoughtful preparation and a clear understanding of the investigation’s objectives and obstacles. While failure investigations vary significantly in scope and required resources, several elements are common to most investigations. This chapter addresses some of these common elements. Understanding the investigation’s scope allows proper staffing and better budget estimates, facilitates project research and document requests, and aids project planning and coordination. The chapter also discusses the steps involved: initial client contact, preparation of an agreement of engagement, initial planning and research, and initial site visit. Such site visits vary from a simple reconnaissance site visit to a more robust site visit with preliminary testing and surveys.

In the context of a forensic engineering investigation, data support understanding the conditions and circumstances that led to the failure and environmental factors that influenced the constructed facility’s behavior. This chapter discusses data collection, which usually begins before the initial site visit. Typical steps include data acquisition, information identification and validation, information evaluation, and information processing. The chapter also discusses how to preserve and maintain the collected data. The forensic engineering team may be required to locate and acquire all relevant available documents, or the documents may be furnished to them. Either way, the team is responsible for vetting the documents. Documents relating to the facility’s design, construction, operation, and maintenance are usually fundamental to the investigation.

Testing aims to gather specific quantitative information that helps explain the cause of a failure, or factors that led to the failure. Several types of testing are available for consideration, including in situ destructive and nondestructive testing, laboratory testing, and testing of mock-ups. The investigator is responsible for identifying the testing methods, sampling protocols, and data collection methods needed to answer questions about factors that may have influenced or caused a failure. ASTM International, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and the American Wood Protection Association are examples of standards-writing organizations that provide relevant testing, construction, or product standards. When dictated by industry standards, certified personnel should conduct testing.

All collected forensic investigation data must be reviewed, synthesized, and analyzed in accordance with the scientific method. The scientific method is a research method in which a problem is identified, relevant data are gathered, a hypothesis is formulated from the data, and the hypothesis is tested empirically. As part of the investigation, materials or assemblies may be field or laboratory tested to determine material or assembly behavior, using parameters intended to replicate failure conditions. The next step is data analysis and interpretation. Developing hypotheses is integral to the scientific method and the forensic investigation process, and developing valid hypotheses requires remaining open to all possibilities and attempting to restrain all prejudice. Brainstorming is one method of conceiving of alternative hypotheses.

This chapter examines the purpose and use of forensic engineering reports, discusses their content and structure, and describes effective report-preparation strategies. When preparing a forensic engineering report, the author must understand the report’s purpose and audience and anticipate how the author’s client and other parties in the dispute resolution process will use it. To that end, considering how the forensic engineering report fits into the larger dispute resolution process is helpful. The forensic engineering report’s purpose is to assist retaining counsel in communicating relevant technical issues to opposing legal teams and the trier-of-fact in a way that is consistent with retaining counsel’s legal strategy. This is true whether the dispute resolution process involves settlement negotiations, mediation, arbitration, litigation, or some combination of these proceedings.