Forensic Engineering
Forensic Engineer Information
When a product fails, forensic engineering comes into play. Forensic engineers are the men and women who work to prove or disprove that a product's failure led to accidents, injuries, and other issues that can lead to lawsuits. Forensic engineering is the most requested form of investigation after major explosions, fires, and other catastrophes that require immediate evaluation to find who is responsible. Those employed in forensic engineering spend long hours investigating things from explosions to gas build-ups, to holes or cracks in pipes, or to framing weaknesses or incorrect construction.
Think back to the major mine collapse back in the summer in which the mine owner claimed the mine collapsed due to an earthquake, and others claim poor safety practices and mine shaft deterioration was to blame. Men and women working for forensic engineering firms would have been the people to determine the true cause. Those working in the field of forensic engineering are skilled in digging deep to find the cause of calamities. They will dig through the rubble to find cracked beams, study charts with earth movement, or take measurements of gas levels to establish what the levels would have been at the time of a fire or explosion.
Men and women employed in forensic engineering will also handle tasks like finding out if a car’s tire ruptured because of incorrect inflation, high speeds, or product defects. The field of forensic engineering covers everything from accident reconstructions to carbon monoxide accidents to civil engineering issues (weaknesses with bridges, road design, etc.), or electrical failures, fire investigation, equipment failure, cracks in piping or plastic structures, and explosion causes.
A career in forensic engineering requires four years of college and usually relies on specialized knowledge in electrics, fires, gases, or vehicle structure. Forensic engineering firms usually hire a number of forensic engineers so that they have specialists to cover each sub-division of the forensic engineering field.
