Engineers and Geoscientists BC

Forensic Engineering and Failure Analysis

Date(s):
Thursday, September 23, 2021 - Friday, September 24, 2021
Registration & Login: 8:00 AM – 8:30 AM Pacific Time
Course: 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM Pacific Time
 
Format:
Webinar
Status:
Advanced registration is closed. Please contact Jennifer Chan at [email protected] for inquiries. Thank you.

14.0 CE Hour(s) of Technical Learning in the Formal category

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Event Details


Cost

Engineers and Geoscientists BC Registrant Early Bird Price: $795.00 + GST = $834.75 until Sept 9, 2021

Engineers and Geoscientists BC Registrant Regular Price: $895.00 + GST = $939.75

Non-Registrant Price: $895.00 + GST = $939.75

Student Price: $497.50 + GST = $522.38

Contact

Jennifer Chan

Event Presenter(s)


Dr. Doug Perovic, P.Eng. (Professional Engineers Ontario)
University of Toronto

Event Description


The course provides participants with an understanding of scientific and engineering investigation methods and tools to assess potential sources, causes, and solutions for prevention of failure due to natural accidents, fire, high- and low-speed impacts, design defects, improper selection of materials, manufacturing defects, improper service conditions, inadequate maintenance, and human error.

The fundamentals of accident investigation principles and procedures for product failure investigations are demonstrated through a wide range of real-world case studies including: medical devices, sports equipment, electronic devices, vehicular collisions, structural collapse, corrosion failures, weld failures, fire investigations, and patent infringements. Compliance with industry norms and standards, product liability, sources of liability, proving liability, defense against liability, and other legal issues will be demonstrated with a wide range of case studies.

About the Event


Seminar Objectives

As engineered products age, they fail. Such failures need to be explored and explained. This seminar gives participants the benchmark for assessing the damage endured by existing structures and how to identify potential failures.

Participants will learn the fundamentals necessary to understand and appreciate methods of investigating engineering failures. The seminar will provide an overview of potential sources and causes of engineering failures and the basis for prevention of failure. A wide range of procedures for investigating engineering failures will be described with a view to understanding product liability. Fundamental principles will be demonstrated through real world case studies.

Prerequsites

General knowledge of science and/or engineering fundamentals. The course provides participants with an understanding of scientific and engineering investigation methods and tools to assess potential sources, causes, and solutions for prevention of failure due to natural accidents, fire, high and low speed impacts, design defects, improper selection of materials, manufacturing defects, improper service conditions, inadequate maintenance, and human error.

Seminar Outline

  • Introduction to Forensic Engineering
  • Root Cause Failure Analysis Methods
  • Product Liability Law Fundamentals
  • Accident Investigation and Failure Analysis Framework
  • Materials Engineering Fundamentals/Materials Selection in Mechanical Design
  • General Procedures for Failure Analysis
  • Forensic Engineering Toolbox
  • Case Studies in Failure of Manufactured Products
  • Workplace Accidents
  • Criminal Cases
  • The Engineer as an Expert Witness

Unique Features of the Course

  • Development of forensic engineering investigative knowledge to complement design engineering skills.
  • Understanding the difference between engineering and legal questions associated with product liability.
  • Illustration of fundamental principles using world case studies lead by course instructor.
  • Knowledge of how to identify potential failures in design and operation of engineered structures.

Target Audience

This course is directed towards engineers of all disciplines, including practitioners in the legal profession and in the insurance industry who are concerned with product performance, product liability, and engineering claims.

Instructor

Dr. Doug Perovic, P.Eng. (Professional Engineers Ontario)

University of Toronto

Dr. Doug D. Perovic, P.Eng., is a Professor and Past Chairman of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto. He has given undergraduate, graduate, and professional development courses covering a wide range of topics, including mechanical behaviour, materials engineering and design, materials characterization, forensic engineering, and failure analysis and materials in manufacturing. He developed and teaches the only university-level course on Forensic Engineering in Canada. He has led many forensic engineering investigations and provided expert witness testimony in Canadian and US Courts concerning topics such as mechanical and electronic equipment failures, biomedical device failures, environmental degradation, improper materials selection and design, vehicular collisions, and fire investigations.

Dr. Perovic often serves as a voice of the profession in the media on high profile cases. Dr. Perovic is a licensed professional engineer in Ontario, Celestica Chair in Materials for Microelectronics, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.