Pict. 1:
Building detachment damage
Pict. 2:
Placing the straight corner telltale
Pict. 3:
Placing the angular corner telltale
Forensic engineering is the activity carried out by an expert engineer who works for the civil or criminal court. This is how Prof. Eng. Nicola Augenti (Professor at the Federico II University in Naples and director of the Italian post-graduate course in forensic engineering), together with other sector experts, define a forensic engineer.
In this brief and concise description of forensic engineering, we will define what forensics is and we will explain the reasons why a specific field knowledge is required before taking up any duties.
First of all, forensic engineering is carried out together with legal medicine, although whereas it has been used for 20 years in the USA, in Europe it has developed only in the recent years. As a matter of fact, the post-graduate course delivered by Federico II University first started in 2008, whilst in Europe the specilisation courses in this field are very few.
By referring to Prof. Augenti's words, a forensic engineer is an expert who, in the strict sense of the word, investigates in the causes of and in the liabilities deriving from damaging events, whereas, in a broad sense, he/she carries out his/her duties as a court-appointed or a party-appointed expert within a civil proceeding.
The basic knowledge of a "forensic engineer" comprehend several subjects, as he/she must know the civil law principles which concern his/her activities and the proceeding codes which rule the legal proceedings he/she is appointed to.
The activity of a forensic engineer starts from analysing the effects of an event in order to prove its causes "beyond any reasonable doubts" whatever the causes are.
It is generally asserted that the forensic engineer mainly deals with building collapse and afterwards with the industrial sector. In our opinion, the forensic engineer should be asked advice also when relevant building changes are occurring, so that he/she can better explain to his/her party which processes are occurring, whether these may be damaging and which are the best countermeasures to undertake.
For this reason, the forensic engineer may use both simple tools (such as lasers, meters, levels, cover meters, sclerometers etc.) and more complex ones (such as SEM scan electron microscopes, radiography equipment, spectoscopy tools etc.) while carrying out his/her duties.
As a matter of fact, beyond building collapse or a structural catastrophe, there could be problems detectable only by metallography. Therefore, the forensic engineer will need all his/her knowledge and tools to detect the cracked surface by means of a microscope.
Referring to houses and residential buildings, it is sometimes possible to encounter dangerous situations, such as the detachment of adjacent bodies, which could be still going on.
In such a case, as shown in picture 1 at the bottom of the page, the preliminary work of a forensic engineer is to define the state of the involved area. This can be done by monitoring the damage by means of corner telltales which, in this case, are placed in the proximity of building cracks. The first one (picture 2) is straight, the second one (picture 3) is angular to monitor corner cracks.
Only after an adequate damage analysis, it is possible to assess the building safety and decide which interventions to undertake.
Here we will list some requirements that are necessary to enter the profession of forensic engineering. Our list is not exhaustive, though. We will just mention some outlines. This list is taken from the "Course in Forensic Engineering" which was held by Prof. Nicola Augenti and took place in Ancona on 30th and 31st April 2012.
It goes without saying that the forensic engineer who is at public authority's disposal within a civil or criminal proceeding, has to be a moral, honest and incorruptible person, with a very high sense in Government. Without these characteristics, he/she cannot carry out the duty assigned as a party-appointed or a court-appointed expert.
On the work carried out by the forensic engineer will depend in fact one or more individuals' freedom or impunity, as well as liabilities, the right compensation for damages and, for instance, the workers' asbestos exposure assessment.
Furthermore, if duly motivated and determined to carry out his/her own duty in the best professional way, a forensic engineer will be able to confront him- herself with the party-appointed experts, with the lawyers or the parties, without being biased by them.
Therefore, when being questioned or when referring to the parties or to the lawyers about his/her job, the forensic engineer will be able to present what he/she found out during his/her operations without hesitating.
It is as well important that a forensic engineer deeply knows the rules applied to the specific topic he/she is called upon (such as a copyright authenticity, for instance), and that he/she is well informed about the matter in question.
This is very important, as each expert develops specific expertise and knowledge which are sector-based. Therefore, in order to carry out the assigned duties in the best possible way, he/she must focus on his/her competencies and sectors (it being understood that he/she can deepen his/her knowledge).
Finally, once a problem is analysed, a forensic engineer should have the capacity to solve it by summarizing the results and presenting them in a way others, non-technical people can understand them.
As a matter of fact, the investigating magistrate and the public prosecutor are not technical experts, but carry out other and different tasks. Therefore, they need a forensic engineer to integrate their competences. For these reasons, they need to understand what the forensic engineer reports to them.
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Pict. 1: Building detachment damage |
Pict. 2: Placing the straight corner telltale |
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Pict. 3: Placing the angular corner telltale |
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