Abstract
Forensic engineering is an industry that investigates the causes of property loss and potential human injuries or fatalities resulting from major and minor engineering failures. Structural forensic engineers face the challenging task of determining the cause of a disastrous incident following structural failure; this is an example of an engineering discipline that operates in the forensic engineering space. The causation determination process that structural forensic engineers use may involve supplementary professionals such as attorneys, registered engineering experts, and law enforcement, who will need input from the structural forensic engineer to settle an insurance claim or hold third parties accountable for the structural failure of an entity (building).
Failure of a structural forensic engineer to promptly inspect an incident may result in key evidence being removed from an incident site, thereby decreasing the likelihood of discovering the root cause of the failure. The failure to reach a definitive conclusion on the proximate cause increases the likelihood of a recurrence of the incident, subsequently endangering ordinary citizens. The problem identified for this research is the presence of limiting human factors in the forensic engineering industry, specifically during site inspections, data and evidence collection, and the analysis of the gathered information. These limiting factors prevent the industry from conducting business during unexpected interruptions. The purpose of this research was to identify the challenges and limitations caused by human errors in forensic engineering and to determine which technologies can be effectively and efficiently implemented to overcome them.
This was done by answering two research questions: What are the challenges and limitations of implementing different technologies within the forensic engineering process? Which technologies can be used effectively and efficiently to improve the deficiencies of human functions and approaches in the forensic engineering process? Structured interviews were conducted, which is a qualitative research method. The interviewees were professionals in the forensic engineering industry disciplines and one legal practitioner.
The research findings indicate that there are 17 stages in the forensic engineering process, from the forensic engineer's commissioning to the drafting of the final report released to the client. The process is driven by human activities such as professional engagement (including site visits), enquiries and investigations of details, analysis of documentation and reasoning, performing technical functions such as hypothesis generation and testing, planning and supervision of the forensic engineering process, document management, and ethical compliance. The challenges and limitations experienced by the interviewed practitioners include ineffective communication and knowledge gaps between the forensic engineer and the commissioning client, difficulties with evidence integrity and documentation, restrictions on on-site access, misalignment between the forensic engineer and the client for the site visit, and cognitive bias.
The technologies found in the literature (scoping review) and revealed through the structured interviews that can be used effectively and efficiently are unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) or unmanned aerial systems (UAS), 3D printing, motion amplification technology (MAT), high resolution cameras, non-destructive testing methods, MS Office, artificial intelligence (AI), light detection and ranging (LIDAR) cameras, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), computer-aided design (CAD) and photogrammetry. The research implies that the forensic engineer and the structural forensic engineer, in particular, need to balance the integration of technology, which is a mixture of current and innovative new technologies, to assist humans in executing the forensic engineering process. A balanced approach to using different tools may reduce investigation costs. The forensic engineering industry needs to be more receptive to and open to preventive services that help forensic engineers better understand failures. Ultimately, the forensic engineer, particularly the structural forensic engineer, needs to combine their technical competencies with knowledge of South African law.