Litigation Support and Expert Witness
We provide independent and unbiased assistance in litigation for a wide variety of process industry-related incidents. This includes fires, explosions, releases or generation of toxic materials, and other types of incidents that have caused injuries, property losses, or environment impacts. Our highly skilled and professionally recognized staff of scientists and engineers can provide expert witness testimony and litigation support based on their experience, scientific knowledge, and research capabilities to identify and prioritize the likely causes of incidents. Also, our investigations of incidents are supported by our laboratories and the ability to perform tests that are pertinent to the case of interest. We are prepared to respond promptly to an incident scene and to work with other investigators and authorities to examine evidence, review and comment on statements of witnesses, and study and comment on the reports of other investigators. Thus, we can provide legal teams with scientific inputs to assist in the resolution of litigation cases.
Our experts can provide independent professional litigation assistance on a wide range of process hazards including:
- Fires or Explosions involving gases, vapors, aerosols or mists, combustible dusts, powders, and solid materials
- Hazards of ignitions resulting from electrostatic discharges, mechanical sparks and hot surfaces, and from electrical equipment ignition sources, and the consequences of such events
- Spontaneous and pyrophoric combustion
- Overpressures and hazardous material releases caused by thermally-unstable materials or by runaway chemical reactions
- Hazards involved in the transport and storage of dangerous goods
- Unusual or unanticipated hazardous properties of materials
- Process Safety Management (PSM) and key elements of the program
- Violations of process safety regulation or hazardous area classifications
Our litigation support of both plaintiffs and defenses experiences includes incidents in a wide variety of chemical, pharmaceutical, oil/petrochemical refining and distribution, food, metallurgical, powder processing, paint, consumer products, energetic materials, and agricultural industries.
Our focus in litigation support is not only on what caused an incident but also on proving what did not cause the incident of interest. Thus, our support in incident investigation follows the guidance in the publication of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 921 “Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations”.
Successful litigation-support investigations utilize science and technology to validate information and evidence collected from an incident scene . Our seasoned staff members are prepared to assist you in extracting valuable information from the scene and other pertinent data, evaluating hypotheses, or at any point in the investigative process. Our conclusions and opinions are based on our knowledge of chemistry; physics; chemical, mechanical, and electrical engineering; and our experience in industrial processes and incident investigations.
Also, our laboratory facilities are equipped to conduct thermodynamic tests on chemical reactions, tests to determine flammability and combustibility properties of chemicals and other materials, tests to evaluate electrostatic hazards, and non-routine or special-purpose tests in blast-resistant test cells. For a complete list of test details and methods, please refer to our Laboratory Testing section.
In addition, our consultants and laboratory staff are experienced in providing testimony in depositions and in court settings, to aid the progress of litigation and in settling claims.
A process safety expert witness is a qualified technical professional who provides independent analysis, expert opinions, reports, and testimony concerning industrial incidents and complex engineering matters. Process safety expert witness services can help courts, attorneys, insurers, and organizations understand issues involving process safety management, fires, explosions, chemical releases, equipment failures, and accident causation.
A process safety or industrial accident expert witness may support cases involving:
- Industrial explosions
- Chemical releases
- Combustible dust incidents
- Fires
- Equipment failures
- Process safety management (PSM) compliance issues
- Workplace fatalities
- Catastrophic industrial accidents
- Insurance and liability disputes
These cases may require an engineering expert witness to evaluate technical evidence and identify contributing factors.
A process safety expert witness may review documents, evaluate physical and technical evidence, conduct engineering analyses, assess compliance with relevant standards, perform root cause investigations, and prepare expert reports. The expert may also provide process safety expert testimony during depositions or trials, explaining complex findings clearly and objectively.
A consultant typically helps an organization solve technical problems or improve its operations. A process safety consulting expert witness applies similar technical knowledge within a legal context, providing independent opinions about engineering practices, standards, evidence, and causation issues relevant to a dispute. The expert must communicate conclusions objectively and support them with technical analysis.
A process safety expert witness should possess extensive engineering and process safety experience, relevant industry knowledge, incident investigation expertise, and familiarity with applicable regulations and standards. Effective experts must also be able to analyze complex evidence and communicate technical findings clearly to attorneys, courts, insurers, organizations, and nontechnical audiences.
A process safety or engineering expert witness may evaluate incidents involving:
- Fires and explosions
- Combustible dust events
- Chemical process failures
- Pressure vessel incidents
- Flammable liquid and gas releases
- Process safety management failures
- Electrostatic ignition events
- Emergency relief system failures
Yes. Root cause analysis is often an important part of process safety expert witness services. The investigation may examine technical, operational, organizational, human, and management system factors that contributed to an incident. It may also evaluate whether appropriate safeguards were identified, implemented, maintained, and functioning as intended.
Process safety litigation support helps attorneys and courts understand complex engineering and process safety issues. Through technical analysis and process safety expert testimony, an expert can assist with evaluating causation, compliance with industry standards, risk management practices, and the sequence of events that contributed to an incident. Process safety litigation consulting may also support evidence review and case preparation.
An organization may engage a process safety expert witness following a major industrial incident, regulatory action, insurance claim, equipment failure, workplace fatality, or legal dispute. Early involvement can help preserve and evaluate technical evidence, identify critical questions, support the investigation, and provide informed process safety litigation support.
Independent expert analysis provides an objective technical evaluation based on available evidence, engineering principles, applicable standards, and accepted methodologies. This independence helps ensure that conclusions presented through reports or process safety expert testimony are supported by documented facts and technical analysis rather than assumptions or speculation.
