Incident evaluation
Sub-specialties: Explosions, Fires, Explosives incidents,
Metallurgy & materials failures, Non-metallurgical components
failures, Traffic accident reconstruction, Tachographs: hours
analysis, Tachographs: vehicle movement analysis, Tyre
examination.
The evaluation of fires, explosions, transport
accidents or engineering failures is carried out by practitioners
registered in the specialty of Incident evaluation.
These are usually graduates in science or engineering who use
their knowledge and expertise to establish why an incident
happened. They attend scenes and examine exhibits. They may also
assess documentary or photographic evidence of incidents where
primary evidence is no longer available.
The work involves recording, documenting and preserving
exhibits, and analysing and evaluating them using sound scientific
and engineering principles. The resulting report enables a decision
to be taken on whether a case should proceed and, where
appropriate, forms the basis of expert testimony in court.
Note: Also working in this field are various types of
specialised scene examiners who examine scenes in particular kinds
of incident. We distinguish between the evaluative stage in this
specialty and the investigative stages, which form the separate
specialties of Fire scene examination and Road transport
investigation under the Incident Investigation Sector.
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