Ever wondered what goes in investigating an auto accident? Or how products are tested before being launched? Or how does a company ensure that their new vehicle is compliant and meets all the safety and other standards? The forensic engineering& consulting industry has a big role to play in that. It is absolutely necessary and important to have investigation and medical visualization services for varied needs, typically for analysis of failure. In fact, the demand for forensic engineers and consultants is constantly on the rise, and there are only a handful of companies that specialize in just testing, investigation, and related services, in the US.
The relevance of forensic engineering
There are several direct and indirect applications of forensic engineering, but in most cases, it is about establishing facts. For example – Assume a collision between a small car and a heavy truck on the highway. It would be easy to guess that the truck driver or car driver didn’t follow the rules, but that isn’t how investigation works. In fact, probing agencies, insurers, and all other parties involved, would want to know what may have caused or attributed to the incident. It could be the weather or overall time of that day, probably there were other cars or people on the road, maybe the lighting was poor, or in some cases, maybe one of the drivers was overworked and failed to note certain details. The investigation has to be fair and unbiased one, and with forensic engineering, it is possible to reconstruct the accident, to get accurate details.
Other things to know
Today, forensic engineering relies heavily on imaging, technologies like simulation, 3D graphing and other kinds of tests, which help clients in coming to a conclusion. There is no direct or straight way of approaching a case. This could be related to product testing, where a product is subjected to a bunch of tests, to find if all manufacturing and safety standards have been adhered to. All forensic engineering firms have a team of professional engineers and subject experts, who work together and have collaborative experience in handling a wide range of issues and challenges. Sometimes, their work may not involve extensive tests, but in other cases, they are expected to look beyond the surface.
Clients often also have custom demands and needs from forensic engineering firms, which they are expected to deliver. A good example of that would vehicle safety tests.