FORENSIC ENGINEERING CONSULTING PTY LTD specialises in the investigation and analysis of engineering aspects of matters that are the subject of legal action.  Our technical experts are Dr Frank Grigg and Dr Paul Carnavas. 

Dr Grigg has 55 years of engineering and expert witness experience. Dr Carnavas has 30 years of engineering experience and first provided expert evidence in 2002.

We have performed investigations and provided opinions in relation to cars, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, bicycles, aircraft, marine craft; industrial and mining plant and equipment; transport and agricultural machinery of various types; safety of systems of work, ergonomics and compliance with Standards and codes of practice, etc. 

Example topics of our Vehicle and Industrial/ Commercial work and investigations include:

 Vehicles

       ·         Accident analysis and crash reconstruction ­- including computer simulation

        ·         Skidding, braking, overturning and speed estimation

       ·         Bicycle, motorcycle and pedestrian impacts

       ·         Seat belts, crash helmets etc.

       ·        Engine, tyre and component failures

       ·         Vehicle and trailer loading, dynamics and off-tracking

       ·         Access and seating ergonomics

 Industrial / Commercial

         ·         Plant and machinery operations / accidents / failures / guarding / design / safety / fitness for purpose.

       ·         Compliance with specifications, standards and codes of practice.

       ·         Stability and safety of cranes, lifts, hoists and related equipment

       ·         Manual handling

       ·         Slips, trips and falls – compliance with the Building Code of Australia.

       ·         Ergonomics, including equipment design, seating, access and the safety of systems of work.

       ·         Compliance with the Workplace Health and Safety Act.

       ·         Product design and safety

       ·        Fires relating to mechanical equipment

EXPERT WITNESS EXPERIENCE

Since 1967, over 3,500 industrial/commercial or vehicle matters have been investigated.  Many have led to appearances by Dr Grigg or Dr Carnavas as an Expert Witness.  Opinions have been sought by Counsel for both the Crown and the Defence in criminal and civil cases in courts up to Supreme Court level in Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and Western Australia; in the Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea, and in the Federal and High Courts of Australia.  Dr Grigg was appointed a Special Technical Referee of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1993 and has been appointed as the Sole Expert in matters in the Supreme Courts of Queensland and New South Wales.

SPECIAL FACILITIES

In addition to a wide range of test and measuring instruments, Forensic Engineering Consulting has computer simulation software packages including PC Crash, Strand 7, AutoCAD and Photomodeller, an extensive library of standards, codes of practice, research papers and publications on the above topics and a large database of vehicle details.