A 7-year-old male collided with an unpadded wooden utility pole located within the skiable terrain of a ski resort. The male sustained serious pelvic and femur fractures that later affected his growth and development. The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the injury biomechanics and determine whether or not the presence of protective padding on the pole would have mitigated injuries sustained.

In the insurance industry, adjusters frequently rely on engineering and other specialty firms to provide an opinion of the cause based on the facts in their claims from that expert’s understanding of the issues.

The wildfire problems of the United States continue to plague homeowners, firefighters,and insurers. In fact, the drought of the western U.S. is going into its 10th year, and its effects are showing increasingly. Georgia experienced its largest wildfire in history in April of 2007. A large, stubborn wildfire tied up federal resources in the Lake Superior region for several weeks in 2006. The state of California in particular continues to be plagued with high-loss fires. During the large Oakland fire several decades ago, one home was being consumed every 45 seconds.

During the 1990’s, asphalt shingles and other roof coverings were found to perform below reasonable expectations during multiple hurricanes. This fact is reiterated by the publication of the Wood Building Performance and Analysis (Bradford K. Douglas, P.E. A Special Report of the National Forest Products Association, November 1992). The roof coverings (shingles) were the first portions of the buildings that failed during Hurricane Andrew. This failure included both asphalt and tile roofing products.

This article has been published in the September 2006, Vol. XXIV, No. 8 issue of Interface Magazine, The Journal of RCI, Inc., the Institute of Roofing, Waterproofing, & Building Envelope Professionals.

Most people are familiar with “black box” technology in modern aircraft as a means to record information in the few minutes before a crash.  However, most individuals are not aware that this very same technology might be present under the passenger’s seat of their personal vehicle.  It is referred to as an automotive Event Data Recorder (EDR), and it has tremendous implications for any accident reconstructionist....

What is a Construction Defect?

It seems logical to begin the discussion by first defining a construction defect.  Although logical, this is not so simple since there seems to be no standard definition for the term. 

Marianne Sparks at the American Re-Insurance Company has summarized this dilemma best by stating that “what constitutes a ‘construction defect’ is essentially defined by state laws and court definition and interpretation.  In defining “construction defect,” the states and laws and trial courts have created a complex issue.”  She goes on to say, “Generally, this is because each state has its own approach to defining ’construction defect.’  Not only do approaches vary widely by state, but the individual state statutory schemes themselves can be ambiguous, and it can be left to the courts to determine the applicability of the definition of “construction defect” on a case-by-case basis.”1

Fire investigations have been going on for centuries and we all recall historical references from Nero's burning of Rome to Mrs. O'Leary's cow.  Over those years the art and craft of the fire investigator developed many techniques and applications.

The wildfire season started early in 2002. Colorado experienced significant wildfires in early April at altitudes up to 10,000 feet. Snow is usually still falling at this time in the mountains and foothills, but low snow pack
and warm temperatures led to an early wildfire season. As portions of the U.S. experience extreme drought with an uncertain future for the next few seasons we can expect to see an increase in the amount of wildfires. According to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, in 2002 there were 73,457 reported wildfires in the U.S. with over 71,847 acres burned.With wildfires destroying hundreds of homes in the western United States last year, determining the cause of the wildfire has become an important issue for many insurance companies who wish to explore possible subrogation potentials. In some cases the wildfire started in a structure and then spread to the adjacent forest. A standard structural investigation can usually reveal the cause if the fire started in a home; however an added component is then to determine how and where the fire was communicated to the forest or adjacent structures.