Having an Open and Inquisitive Mind
for Accident Investigations

Getting to the bottom of what caused an accident can be a daunting task.  As an attorney, you already know that a thorough accident investigation is a critical aspect to many legal cases. Errors made during the investigation can lead to the wrong conclusions which can result in inappropriate damage settlements or more accidents in the future.

As an attorney, you have to rely on the information provided to you by other experts. But how do you know or determine that what you have been provided is complete and thorough? How do you know that something important has not been missed? The answers to both of these questions are critical, particularly if it is a legal matter. You do not want to find that something major was missed when the opposing counsel’s expert submits his or her report to the court.

So, how do you as a non-expert evaluate what you have been given? I suggest you be open minded and ask a lot of questions.

Being open minded is critical. Have you ever heard of the saying that goes something like “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail”? The same may be true during an accident investigation. For example, if your specialty is hoisting and rigging, that is what you know best and what you are most familiar with. Since you are most comfortable with hoisting and rigging you will of course spend a fair amount of time examining that aspect of the accident. But, what about materials related issues? How about shields and guards? Concrete? There are many important aspects to every accident investigation. Making an assumption as to what caused an accident before carrying out the investigation is a dangerous proposition.

The point is that one needs to arrive at the accident site with an open mind and take everything in with a very broad perspective. If possible, it is even better to have a team of investigators conduct the investigation. Why?  Because they will all look at the site with different perspectives, ask different questions, and make sure that all aspects of the investigation are considered. They will also be able to separate witnesses to the accident before they converse amongst themselves. 

Many years ago I worked at a site that had a facility requiring an oxygen free environment (inert environment). Needless to say, great attention was paid to the oxygen concentration within the facility. One day, the facility started to have problems with increased oxygen levels. This implied that there was a leak, and that leak needed to be found as soon as possible. A group of engineers, technicians, and I were put on the task to quickly find and resolve the problem. 

The information available indicated that the leak did not occur regularly, but happened on a random basis. Being knowledgeable in piping and flow, I focused on leaks that may have been occurring from those sources.  Remember the hammer and the nail analogy? It turned out that the leak was located near a piece of equipment that was operated from outside the facility, and when operated created a small crack allowing air to enter. I had looked at what I knew best, and others looked at what they knew best.  The problem was quickly resolved by a team approach.

As an attorney, how do you follow-up on an accident and determine if everything was considered? My answer is to be inquisitive and thorough; to aid in the process, remember to ask who, what, when, where, why, and how. These six basic concepts are part of any investigation. Yes – there are some very formal procedures that must be followed for certain types of investigations (fire and explosion investigations, for example, follow NFPA 921), but as a non-expert you can ask each of these questions as you review an expert’s report, talk with the expert, or view the accident scene yourself.

• Who? Who was involved in the accident and who witnessed or heard what happened? Who was responsible for maintaining the equipment? Who last used the equipment? Make sure to talk to all of these people as quickly as possible.
• What? What equipment was involved in the accident? Check the maintenance and operating history. What support equipment might be used for the maintenance of that equipment? What changes may have occurred to any of the related equipment recently? This will lead to many other questions such as why changes were being made to the equipment?
• When? When did the accident occur? Was there anything special going on at that time that was not normal? When was the next scheduled maintenance to occur? 
• Where? Where did the accident occur? Where were people positioned at that time? If something broke, where did the parts land? 
• Why? Why was the individual or piece of equipment at that particular location? Why did the part break at a particular location? Why had the inspection not occurred as scheduled?
• How? If all aspects of who, what, when, where, and why have been asked, the “how” will be clear.

The list of questions shown above is just a sampling, but I believe you will understand the concept and importance of asking many questions and going into an accident investigation with an open mind. The complexities of an accident investigation can be daunting, but don’t need to be with a good support team of experts working for you. The better prepared you are to ask questions of your clients, opposing parties, and experts involved, the more prepared you will be for the case at hand.

This article was written by Randy Clarksean, Ph.D., P.E., President of Kevin Kennedy Associates Inc. Randy has over 25 years of engineering, failure analysis and expert witness testimony experience. Randy can be reached at 317-536-7010 or via email at RandyC@KevinKennedyAssociates.com.