Forensic Engineers and Consultants

Archive: Workers’ Compensation

Timber – Falling Beam Strikes Worker

As an experienced safety consultant, I have investigated many serious injuries and deaths at construction sites over the past 39 years. The United States Department of Labor reports that the fatal injury rate for the construction industry is highest of all industries in the nation. Out of 4,386 worker fatalities in private industry in calendar year 2014, 899 or 20.5% were in construction i.e., one in five worker deaths were in construction. Read More

Who is Responsible for a “Booby Trap” Opening on a Roof Top? Part 3

As an experienced safety consultant, I have investigated many incidents in my career in which a worker “falls through an opening.”  The majority of these incidents have occurred at construction sites and most resulted in serious injury or death. Read More

Not Falling for Your Job?

Periodically, Warren Engineers and Consultants are asked to perform inspections that require work at raised elevations. Typical jobs and tasks include climbing on commercial and residential roofs with steep pitches, working on scaffolding, climbing from one level to the next at a fire or industrial loss scene, riding in the buckets of lift equipment, and inspecting exterior structural elements such as windows and masonry.  Read More

Firefighter Burned Due to Improper Industrial Oven Design and Operation

Author

Industrial ovens and furnaces are used in many manufacturing processes.  One use of industrial ovens is for drying and curing coatings on fabrics.

We investigated a fire loss involving a very large oven, 10 stories high, used for curing coatings on an industrial fabric. A young firefighter was burned in response to this fire, one of a string of many fires that had occurred involving the oven.

Read More

Workers Compensation Subrogation Potential: Top 4 Data Needs for Experts

Author

Oftentimes, an insurance adjuster may suspect that the potential exists for a workers compensation claim to be subrogated, but would like a second opinion from an expert before launching a full-blown investigation; alternately, the adjuster may hold the opinion that the subrogation potential is not great, but would like a second opinion for confirmation of his view. Read More

Top Ten Photography Tips for Field Investigators

Author

Here at Warren, we often rely on photographs provided by our clients to make preliminary assessments of incoming cases.  Since we see quite a few client provided photos, and since we take plenty of photographs ourselves, we’ve developed an eye for what makes a good and useful field investigation photograph.  We’ve also struggled with a few bad ones from time to time.  Good photographs always end up saving time and money.  To that end, here are ten tips to help you take better photographs every time. Read More

Who Else Owns This Construction Loss Course

When a worker is badly injured on a construction site, adjusters or investigators are often hired to determine pursuit or defense of a subrogation case.  This slideshow gives an overview of several real-world investigations and helps viewers understand some of the issues involved in construction related subrogatable incidents. Read More

Where did that hole come from? Part I

As an experienced safety consultant, I have investigated many incidents in my career in which a worker “falls through an opening.”  The majority of these incidents have occurred at construction sites and most of the ones I investigated resulted in a serious injury or death. Read More

Harmless Appearing, Smooth Rotating Mixer Shaft Causes Serious Finger Amputation Injuries

I recently finished working on a case where an operator received a right hand injury when an unguarded, rotating mixer shaft caught his gloved hand between the right index finger and middle finger, twisting it around the shaft causing the index finger to separate from the hand and the middle and ring finger to be dislocated.  The mixer contained an unguarded rotating shaft, which created an uncontrolled motion hazard when rotating at speeds up to 450 RPM. Read More

Injury on Power Buggy

Author

When an operator is thrown from a ride-on vehicle when it tips over, such as a mud buggy, serious injury or death can result. In one such case we investigated, the issue centered on the maintenance of the vehicle, specifically whether a maladjusted hydrostatic drive caused the braking mechanism to malfunction. Read More

Type ofLoss

Not sure what you're looking for?
Browse All

Select Loss Category