May 1, 2010

Forensic Engineering: A Valuable Tool in Incident Investigations

Angela Neville, JD

Much like the crime scene investigators on the CSI TV shows, power plant investigation teams are increasingly employing forensic engineering methods to gather evidence and determine the causes of malfunctions of equipment, materials, or products that result in personal injuries or property damage. Case studies show how different investigation teams used their forensic engineering expertise to examine a dust collector explosion, a coal terminal fire, and the failure of a forced draft fan.

It’s common for a power plant that has experienced a serious fire, explosion, or equipment failure to assign a cross-functional team to conduct an investigation. A recent development, however, is investigation teams’ increasing use of sophisticated forensic engineering techniques when they conduct inquiries into serious incidents at power plants that involve personal injuries or damage to property.

Forensic engineering is the investigation of products, materials, structures, or components that fail or do not function properly and, as a result of such malfunctions, cause personal injuries, property damage, or monetary losses to a business. This discipline involves retracing processes and procedures related to accidents in the operation of machinery, products, structures, or components.

Many universities and training facilities now offer courses on incident investigations, which usually incorporate forensic engineering methods. Such training typically covers the principles of incident investigation, the responsibilities in the investigation process, investigation planning and preparation, the tools and techniques used in investigations, the collection and examination of information, root cause analysis, preparation of the incident investigation report, and effective real-world corrective actions (see "Lessons Learned from a Hydrogen Explosion," POWER, May 2009).

The forensic engineering process can be applied in civil law cases, although it also may be used in criminal lawsuits. In particular, the law of products liability deals with the consequences of failure of equipment and machinery in the civil law arena.

The application of forensic engineering ranges from investigations in industrial settings such as electric power plants to inquiries into incidents involving individuals in automobile accidents that are suspected to have been caused by malfunctioning vehicles. Typically, the individuals or teams who conduct such forensic engineering inquiries seek to find the cause or causes of failure in order to improve the performance or extend the life of a machine or piece of equipment, or to help a court of law in determining the facts related to an accident.

In the context of power plants incidents, such inquiries usually involve either a knowledgeable team of plant personnel who use forensic engineering methods while conducting their incident investigation or the facility hiring a consulting engineer who has been trained and certified as a forensic engineer to lead the investigation efforts (see sidebar).

Following are case studies of actual incidents that occurred at three different U.S. power plants. The investigation teams looking into these three events used forensic engineering methods to uncover the underlying causes of each incident and provide formulated recommended corrective actions to prevent similar incidents from happening again at these facilities.