September 25, 2006

Forensic Engineering

Going where most engineers fear to tread

Firm's focus is now on property related cases and major vehicle accidents

Suzanne Zwarun

Correspondent

The Case of The Boy Who Plunged Down An Elevator Shaft riveted Albertans a couple of years ago.

A youth, held in detention in Edmonton, was being moved to court, shackled and accompanied by two guards.

There was a scuffle, an elevator door somehow opened when the elevator wasn’t there and the young man died in a fall down the shaft.

The question was whether he’d fallen against a faulty door or whether the guards had used undue force and slammed him into elevator doors that popped under the pressure.

In a scene that could have come from a John Grisham novel, dueling experts duked it out at a fatality inquiry into the accident.

A Toronto witness called by the elevator manufacturer said one thing, Edmonton engineer Mark Hughes offered what he tactfully calls “an alternative opinion”.

In the end, the inquiry ruled the door was improperly installed on its frame and the guards had not used excessive force against their prisoner.

Another case of forensic engineering going where most engineers fear to tread.

Most engineers would rather jump off a bridge than spend their days talking to people, writing reports that convey complex concepts to laypeople and testifying in court.

Hughes admits court appearances are not his favourite part of the job but he handles them well enough that his Sintra Engineering Inc. has grown into the largest forensic engineering firm in Alberta.

The word forensic means used in courts of law and forensic engineers use their engineering skills to determine how and why an unfortunate event occurred.

This involves forensic engineers in the investigation of fires, vehicle accidents and “failures”, anything from roof collapses to plumbing breakdowns.

They are hired to unravel mysteries by insurance companies, lawyers and risk managers working for large corporations.

“We look at the aftermath of something that happened and figure out what happened before” says Hughes. “Most engineers are problem solvers. I like figuring out puzzles. Every case is different and intellectually challenging.”

Because universities offer no forensic engineering specialty, forensic engineers are made, not graduated.

After getting his engineering degree from the University of Alberta, Hughes began forensic work with a mainstream engineering firm that sometimes “used to help insurance companies and lawyers understand technical issues around catastrophic events”.

He grew so fascinated with solving puzzles he launched his own forensic engineering company in 1997. It has grown into Western Canada’s second largest forensic engineering firm, employing 15 people in offices in Edmonton and Calgary.

"We look at the aftermath of something that happened and figure out what happened before"

Mark Hughes

Sintra Engineering Inc. Single>The forensic engineering specialty “grew like gangbusters” after the term began to be commonly used in the late 1980s but, in Alberta, recent changes that capped accident claims have put the brakes on the business.

Hughes estimates there are no more than 30 forensic engineers among the province’s 44,000 engineers.

Some forensic engineers left the business after the Alberta government put a $4,000 cap on soft tissue injuries but Hughes and his company adapted to the loss of small accident claims.

“A whole segment of work doesn’t exist any more for forensic engineers but that was just a segment of work. It was never the more interesting, challenging part of the business,” he says.

Sintra, named for a Portuguese castle that yielded up its own secrets only reluctantly, focuses now on property loss-related cases and major vehicle accidents.

Forensic engineers are on the scene with their cameras and measuring tools almost before the dust has settled after an accident or failure.

The courthouse door was still half hanging on its frame when Hughes and a couple of other engineers from his firm arrived to begin unraveling the puzzle of what had happened to permit the youth to fall down the shaft.

“The work can be very detail-oriented,” says Hughes. “But at the same time, you have to be able to see the big picture.”

Hughes doesn’t sport a deerstalker cap and carry a magnifying glass but, like Sherlock Holmes, he studies the details that paint a big picture, employing science to solve mysteries.

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