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SERVICES
Understanding how and why things fail and, in turn, how these failures can lead to fires and explosions is a large part of what BG&S is about. These failures may be mechanical, electrical, or material in nature; however, often times the root-cause may be attributed to human or organizational failures.
This is one reason why our clients have come to know and depend on BG&S to handle complex cases that require a perspective that only our experience and training can provide. However, ascertaining the facts-of-the-matter must be complimented by the ability to articulate the facts in a court of law. If a jury cannot understand an expert, or if an expert cannot offer credible and concise explanations, then we are not performing our job. Moreover, if the interests of our client, be it plaintiff or defense counsel, are inconsistent with our assessment and determination of the facts, our job is to make this evident as soon as possible.
Of course, all failures do not result in fires or explosions -- some may involve environmental impact from the release of hazardous materials with or without ignition, or some may involve a mechanical failure resulting in the flooding a high-rise building from a broken fire sprinkler pipe resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in water damage and business interruption. Assessing and analyzing the cause of such incidents is the key to understanding the damage consequences and assigning responsibility. It also allows owners and operators to learn from past incidents and hopefully prevent future losses – as we see it, this is the very essence of loss prevention engineering.
When an explosion or fire does occur, reconstructing the scene and determining the cause can be a challenging process that requires a combination of talents and experience. The starting place is to identify the place of fire origin. Without being able to determine the area of origin, establishing a cause is problematical and subject to question. Individuals who specialize in this type of technical-“detective work” are known as "origin and cause Investigators," or fire or arson investigators. All of the BG&S principals are Certified Fire and Explosion Investigators.
Designing and constructing facilities for fire and life safety is a multidisciplinary function requiring knowledge and experience. Our loss prevention engineering background provides a solid basis for multi-faceted forensic investigations. Due to a series of catastrophic and now infamous explosions, fires and releases of hazardous materials that have happened since the early 1970's, both industry and legislative initiatives were launched to find new ways to improve facility and operational safety. We understand process safety management and the role that human and organizational factors play in accident causation, and we understand what successful risk management programs must address. Analyzing losses by understanding their root causes --that's what BG&S is about.
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