FORENSIC ENGINEERING DIVISION

Forensic engineering is the application of engineering principles to the investigation of failures or other performance problems. Forensic engineering also involves testimony on the findings of these investigations before a court of law or other judicial forum, when required. Failures are not all catastrophic, such as when a building or bridge collapses, but include facilities or parts of facilities that do not perform as intended by the owner, design professional, or constructor. The purpose of the Forensic Engineering Division is to develop practices and procedures to reduce the number of such failures, to disseminate information on failures and their causes, to provide guidelines for conducting failure investigations, and to provide guidelines for ethical conduct in forensic engineering.