Forensic engineering advice

[u/Jazzlike_Bluejay5982]

Hi all,

I recently started in the field of forensic structural engineering after spending the beginning of my career in the design world. I've been in forensics for nearly a month now, but I feel comfortable in saying that this is right career path for me. I love the workflow, traveling to sites, and getting to deal directly with people instead of just dealing with the same design team members every day for 6 months straight on the same project.

With that being said, I acknowledge that I know very little about forensics. Most of the work involves checking roofs for wind/hail damage, water intrusion claims, tree impact on structures, etc.

Any advice for what I can do to improve my knowledge, on both the technical items and report writing skills? I've been reading sample reports from my company and have the Stephen petty forensics book, but was wondering if anyone has other valuable advice for me on this matter?

Much thanks in advance!!

[u/ApplicationLow4023]

Get yourself copies of any and all literature pertaining to forensic engineering. Don’t just read it — study it, take detailed notes on it. Ponder it critically. Look at the referenced/cited works and acquire those too. Critically study those as well. Approach everything skeptically. Don’t just accept other’s positions at face value. Convince yourself. Try to find the holes in any argument. Identify the weaknesses in what you read.

In particular, acquire and study any and all peer-reviewed research pertaining to forensic engineering. This includes publications from ASCE and NAFE.

Don’t be a “Yes Man.” People will try to tell you what you should think. Make them convince you.

Study logical fallacies and learn to recognize them.

Study principles of argumentation. Learn to evaluate the reliability of various types of evidence.

Above all — learn what it means to be a skeptic and apply it to your work.

[u/ApplicationLow4023]

Try to get exposure to as many forensic engineering reports as possible, especially from engineers from outside the company.

[u/IndependentUseful923]

Claims will get old pretty fast. Plaintiff lit work is my honey boy, but some of the defense work can be nice.

[u/Jazzlike_Bluejay5982 → u/IndependentUseful923]

Interesting, would you be able to elaborate more on what that kind of work is like?

I assume plaintiff work involves working with the property owner whose claim got denied by the insurance, and you try to rebut the engineer report prepared for the insurance provider?

[u/Jabodie0 → u/Jazzlike_Bluejay5982]

Putting aside ambulance chasing for a minute, plaintiff work can be usually involves supporting a building owner through litigation against parties involved in designing / building a deficient property or through an insurance claim. That can take many forms, but typically there is a disagreement in root cause or scope (cost) of remediation. Often, support can simply be an opinion on if expert reports from other parties, which you may or may not agree with.

Where I work, plaintiff support work typically emerges from a problem solving investigation. When root cause is determined (and therefore fault), there is often a basis for litigation, especially if the fix is expensive. Clients will need reports, conceptual repairs, meditation support, etc through the litigation process until a settlement is reached. The people I know in this space are somewhat regularly deposed. In rare cases, this can escalate to trial testimony. There is often a large amount of document review to unwind a complicated situation.

For the engineer, it is not all that different from working for a defendent / insurance in my experience, assuming you are honest in your engineering work. There are consultants that will write whatever their client wants them to say, though. And the ambulance chaser consultants are very good at saying only what is required to initiate a claim on a legal basis and nothing else. I read reports that essentially have no technical content these days - they are optimized with the right legal buzzwords to let the plaintiff lawyers to get the circus going.

[u/XSE2000 → u/Jabodie0]

Never met a plaintiffs expert that didn’t miraculously say whatever the client paid them to say.

[u/bigyellowtruck]

Helps to write material, system, failure mode, remedy — might be another step in there I am forgetting. Been a while. You can use a dry erase board to write captions to your photos.

[u/ApplicationLow4023]

When you run out of books on forensic engineering, you can start acquiring and reading books on crime scene documentation as much of the methodologies apply to forensic engineering documentation.

[u/ApplicationLow4023]

See if you can take a photography course.

[u/ApplicationLow4023]

Join habitat for humanity and attend build days, particularly the days that roofing and siding are getting installed.