Expert Witness Blog

In the Guidebook for Airport Safety Management Systems aviation accident analysis expert witness Mac McCall, A.A.E, writes:

There are two ways of thinking about safety. The traditional way is that safety has been about avoiding costs. In this sense, many aviation organizations have been bankrupted by the cost of a single major accident. This makes a strong case for safety, but the cost of occurrences is only part of the story. Efficiency is the second way of thinking about safety. Research has shown that safety and efficiency are positively linked. Safety pays off in reduced losses, enhanced productivity, and lower insurance costs. In 2006, the Port of Seattle opened a ramp tower to assist with ramp operations and improve safety and efficiency. The Port’s insurance company agreed that the liability had been reduced due to the ramp tower and lowered the insurance costs. This is an excellent example of how safety, efficiency and costs are linked.

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Building envelope performance expert witnesses may opine on issues relating to the National Association of Home Builders/Bank of America Home Equity Study of Life Expectancy of Housing Components

Siding and Accessories
Outside materials typically last a lifetime. Brick, vinyl, engineered wood, stone (both natural and manufactured), and fiber cement will last as long the house exists. Exterior wood shutters are expected to last 20 years, depending on weather conditions. Gutters have a life expectancy of more than 50 years if made of copper and for 20 years if made of aluminum. Copper downspouts last 100 years or more, while aluminum ones will last 30 years.

Building distress expert witnesses may opine on issues relating to the National Association of Home Builders/Bank of America Home Equity Study of Life Expectancy of Housing Components

U.S. HOUSING STOCK:
The 2005 American Housing Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that there are more than 124 million homes in the housing stock, with a median age of 32 years. About one-third of the housing stock was built in 1960 or earlier. About 10 percent was built in the 1960s, and another 20 percent was built in the 1970s. Of the remainder, 13 percent was built in the 1980s, another 13 percent was built in the 1990s, and 8 percent in the first years of the 21st century. Of the total stock of 124.3 million housing units, about 109 million are occupied housing units, 11.6 million are vacant and about 4 million are seasonal. Two-thirds of all units in the nation’s housing stock are single-family detached or attached, 8 percent are in buildings with 2 to 4 units, and about 17 percent are in buildings with 5 or more units. The remaining 7 percent of the stock is in HUD-code homes. About 18 percent of the occupied housing stock is in the Northeast, 23 percent is in the Midwest, 37 percent is in the South, and 21 percent is in the West.

In the Guidebook for Airport Safety Management Systems aviation expert witness Mac McCall, A.A.E, writes:

The aviation industry always has quoted safety at the forefront of its priorities, and as a general rule, has demonstrated diligence in learning from its mistakes and implementing changes that lead to further improvement. This somewhat reactive approach produced a steady decline in accident rates until the mid-1980s. Since then, the fatal accident rate in air transport operations has remained fairly stable, despite a growth in traffic during the same period. This trend implies little improvement in safety on the operation/accident ratio and suggests that as traffic grows, the total number of accidents also will grow.

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Structural failures experts may opine on the National Association of Home Builders & Bank of America Home Equity Study of Life Expectancy of Home Components:

How many years of service can a home owner reasonably expect from the various components of a home? An NAHB study sponsored by Bank of America Home Equity takes some of the mystery out of the subject.

The life expectancies of the components of a home depend on the quality of installation, the level of maintenance, weather and climate conditions, and the intensity of use. Some components may remain functional but become obsolete due to changing styles and preferences or improvements in newer products while others may have a short life expectancy due to intensive use. The average life expectancy for some components has increased during the past 35 years because of new products and the introduction of new technologies, while the average life of others has declined. NAHB’s last such study on the life expectancy of housing components was published in Housing Economics in August 1993.

Building regulations expert witnesses at the The National Association of Home Builders work with other organizations to develop and revise building codes and standards that affect single and multifamily housing, commercial buildings, and remodeling in the areas of structural, fire, energy, mechanical, plumbing, electrical, ventilation, and accessibility. NAHB studies proposed changes to decide whether they improve quality at a cost that’s affordable to first-time home buyers and supports those that increase value to the consumer.

For more, see www.nhb.org.

In Procedures for Evaluating Bathing Facility Slip and Fall Accidents, accident investigation expert witness Melvin M. Friedlander, P.E. writes:
The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards for evaluating the slip resistance of walkway and bathing facility surfaces are accepted, almost universally, by experienced and reliable slip and fall experts in the United States. The protocol for testing bathing facility surfaces is contained in ASTM Designation F 462 that is entitled “Standard Consumer Safety Specification for Slip-Resistant Bathing Facilities” [1].

This standard was published in 1976 by ASTM Task Group 15.03 and was developed specifically for wet, soapy bathing surfaces consisting of either combined bathtub/shower or shower stalls alone and for a test material that resembles the texture of the bottom of the human foot as closely as possible. The standard is based on test results from 50 different bathtub and shower surfaces with such surface materials as porcelain enamel, acrylic, terrazzo, ceramic tile, synthetic castable marble, sheet molding compound, pressed steel, cast iron, and fiber glass reinforced plastic.