Industrial Forensics

Product claims can involve design, materials, manufacturing, application, durability, and maintenance that result in property damage, injury, or business liability.  Thornton Tomasetti helps interested parties determine what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.  We identify root cause through our expertise in modeling, advanced analysis, and understanding of materials. Our expertise in handling product liability disputes allows us to support our clients by looking beyond the obvious to solve the real problem.

When plant operations fail, production commitments are in jeopardy resulting in delays, business interruption, and even loss of market share.  Plant operations involve raw material input, material processing and manufacturing, product output, storage, and material and product handling.  Losses, quality excursions, and unsafe conditions can be related to operator performance, equipment failure, raw material variability, measurement systems, and environmental conditions.  Thornton Tomasetti helps asset owners and interested parties determine what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.  Through systems-level analysis, we identify root cause, extent of damage, and scope of dispute to support repair, recovery, claims, and resolution. Our expertise in manufacturing operations, industrial equipment, mechanical and electrical systems, utilities, machinery, design, maintenance, quality systems, and safety allows us to support our clients by looking beyond the obvious to solve the real problem.

Root cause forensic investigations inherently include materials evaluation.  Industrial materials may include metals, concrete, coatings, sealants, polymers, composites, and specialty materials. Damage mechanisms may include corrosion, fatigue, fracture, embrittlement, wear, contamination, thermal damage, material flaws, and other mechanisms that affect durability or performance. Stress analysis is used to evaluate the effects of load on the materials.   A proper materials investigation includes a comprehensive written testing protocol with identification of standards, preservation of evidence, chain of custody documentation, and interpretation of test results.  Thornton Tomasetti helps interested parties determine what happened, why it happened, and what to do next. Our expertise in destructive and non-destructive materials testing, stress analysis, fitness for service evaluation, and welding allows us to support our clients by looking beyond the obvious to solve the real problem.

Process failures can develop through pressure excursions, temperature imbalances, chemical incompatibility, flow interruptions, contamination or loss of control within interconnected systems. Forensic process analysis helps determine how a process deviated from expected performance and what technical conditions contributed to the outcome. Thornton Tomasetti helps asset owners and interested parties determine what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.  Through systems-level analysis, we identify root cause, extent of damage, and scope of dispute to support repair, recovery, claims, and resolution. Our expertise in manufacturing operations, industrial equipment, mechanical and electrical systems, chemical processing and reactions, utilities, process design, maintenance, fires and explosions, hazard analysis, and process safety allows us to support our clients by looking beyond the obvious to solve the real problem.

Industrial control system failures may involve instrumentation, alarms, software logic, sensors, communications, data trends or operator interface issues. Evaluations focus on basis of design and interrogation of how the control environment functioned before and during an incident, whether system responses were appropriate, and where breakdowns in monitoring or control occurred.  Through systems-level analysis, Thornton Tomasetti helps asset owners and interested parties determine what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.  Our expertise in controls integration, control system design, process design, manufacturing operations, industrial equipment, mechanical and electrical systems, management of change, data analysis, calibration, and maintenance allows us to support our clients by looking beyond the obvious to solve the real problem.

The potential for fires and explosions from chemicals, dust, batteries, electrical, or other hazards is inherent to many industrial processes and facilities. Thornton Tomasetti provides pre-loss consulting services including code compliance, hazard identification, hazard analysis, and Process Safety Management.  Post-loss services include emergency response, origin and cause, scope of damage assessment, and reinstatement recommendations. Our certified fire and explosion investigators (CFEIs) identify the cause and our team of chemical, structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers works to identify affected systems and best course of action for reinstatement.  Thornton Tomasetti helps asset owners and interested parties determine what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.  Our expertise in chemical engineering, hazard identification, structural hardening, emergency response, industrial equipment, and mechanical and electrical systems allows us to support our clients by looking beyond the obvious to solve the complex problems and provide actionable solutions.

Industrial structures including towers, support frames, pipe racks, tanks, silos, trusses, buildings, bulkheads, levees, berths, and foundation systems are exposed to demanding operational and environmental conditions. Structural failures can result from material overload, design and construction defects, environmental loads, material deterioration, operational factors such as fatigue, unanticipated process loads, and geotechnical conditions.  Thornton Tomasetti helps asset owners and interested parties determine what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.  Through systems-level analysis, we identify root cause, extent of damage, and scope of dispute to support repair, recovery, claims, and resolution. Our expertise in structural analysis and design, emergency response, fires and explosions, materials, blast resistant design, geotechnical engineering, advanced analysis, and process engineering allows us to support our clients by looking beyond the obvious to solve the real problem.

As the world transitions to clean energy with renewable technologies, new risks affecting operators and those that insure these assets have surfaced.  Renewable energy losses can involve battery energy storage systems, solar farms, wind turbines, hydropower, electrical distribution and infrastructure, and associated equipment.  Failures of renewable systems include fires, damage from environmental loads, performance deficiencies, equipment failures, and commissioning delays. Renewable technologies using hydrogen, wave energy, and biogas will create additional risks as they develop.  Thornton Tomasetti helps asset owners and interested parties determine what happened, why it happened, and what to do next.  Through systems-level analysis, we identify root cause, extent of damage, and scope of dispute to support repair, recovery, claims, and resolution. Our expertise in electrical engineering, equipment, structural engineering, geotechnical engineering, fire engineering, and materials allows us to support our clients by looking beyond the obvious to solve the real problem.

Safety is essential in an industrial setting because of the inherent risks of heavy machinery, hazardous materials, high operating temperatures and pressures, utility hazards, and complex processes.  Implementing safety in an industrial setting is necessary to protect workers and prevent injuries and fatalities.  Safety management includes hazard identification, risk assessment, and risk mitigation.  Safety-related investigations often require more than a compliance review. They require a technical understanding of hazard development, system behavior, human interaction, safeguards, and failure escalation. Our expertise in regulatory compliance, hazard recognition, hazard assessment, chemical engineering, process engineering, advanced analysis and threat modeling allows us to support our clients by looking beyond the obvious to solve the real problem.