FORENSIC ENGINEERING CONSULTING PTY LTD specialises in the investigation, analysis and reporting of mechanical engineering aspects of matters that are the subject of legal action. Our technical expert is Dr Paul Carnavas. 

Dr Carnavas has more than 35 years of engineering experience and first gave expert evidence in 2002.

Dr Carnavas provides independent reports to a range of clients including plaintiffs and defendants, insurers, government agencies and the Coroner. Dr Carnavas has investigated and contributed opinions in more than 1000 matters relating to cars, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, bicycles and marine craft; machinery failures; industrial and mining plant and equipment; transport and agricultural equipment; safety of systems of work and compliance with standards, codes of practice, etc.

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

 Industrial / Commercial

       ·        Workplace and industrial accidents 

       ·        Mechanical failures

       ·        Plant and machinery operations / 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

 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

HISTORY

Forensic Engineering Consulting Pty Ltd was founded by Dr Frank Grigg who first gave engineering expert evidence in 1967.  Dr Grigg was joined by Dr Paul Carnavas in 2007. Dr Carnavas first provided expert evidence in 2002.

in 2019, Dr Grigg was awarded the Order of Australia for his services to the engineering profession. After a long and distinguished career, Dr Grigg retired in 2025.

Since 1967, over 3,500 industrial/commercial or vehicle matters have been investigated.  Many 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.