Forensic Accident Investigation Services
Accident Expert Witness

UTC accident experts and fire expert with extensive relevant experience were engaged by government agencies (MOM, SCDF, ESG, PUB), MNCs and insurance companies for investigating a number of high profile accident and fire cases, lecturing "Failure Investigation Analysis" course for RSAF & "Vehicle Fire Investigation" for LTA and testifying in court as accident expert witness. UTC expert had been featured in Straits Times and MediaCorp TV programs for failure analysis and accident investigation.

Effective accident investigation can not only discover the truth and real evidence of the accident to assist court judgement and litigation but also to improve reliability of facility/product and safety of human in Singapore and beyong. UTC's scientific and engineering experts provide effective, relaible, fast and cost-saving forensic accident investigation services beyong Singapore, based on solid evidences, sound scientific & engineering principles, and logical inference.

To contact our forensic accident investigation experts, please click EMAIL enquiry@ut.sg or Call (+65)81380509.

Accident Types under Investigation and Reconstruction
There are different types of accidents, including industrial accidents, work related accidents, machinery related accidents, traffic accidents, fire accidents.

• Traffic accident reconstruction and investigation, please click TRAFFIC ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTION AND INVESTIGATION


• Fire accident investigation, please click FIRE ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION


• Crane accident investigation, please click CRANE ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION

Accident Investigation and Reconstruction

Incident or accident happens in many ocassions such as workplaces, transportation, amusement, etc. often resulting in huge econormic loss and even human life loss, thus initiating litigation process or even legal proceeding. Accident investigation and reconstruction is a systematic process of collection and analysis of information, data and evidences relating to an incident or accident that led to the loss of property, time or health of individuals, or even lives. Accident investigation and analysis is the scientific and academic examination of the facts and informtions that occurred during an incident or accident. Accident investigation services are demanded by not only Singapore but also other countries's industrial and governments.

In litigations, forensic accident investigation is necessary to reconstruct what happened during the accident and prepare investigation report for litigation, the investigator will be called as accident investigation expert witness to testify in Court of Singapore or other countries. For more details about expert witness, click Expert witness in litigation and insurance claims.

Forensic Investigation and Analysis
Forensic investigation or forensic analysis is to apply scientific and engineering knowledge as well as proven methodology to legal issues and / or criminal investigations of the subject cases to discover the truth of events and reconstruct what happened at that time, thus it can assist the Court or litigation for justifications.

OBJECTIVE: Support the party with financial difficulty for pursuing deserved justification in accident related litigation.

AID MODE: Up to 100% professional fee for accident expert witness on accident investigation is NOT payable until winning or favourably settling down the litigation case.

TERMS & CONDITIONS:

UTC to assess relevant party's financial status;

Accident experts to review available information to assess the accident case conditions.

Accident experts to receive the case update timely and participate all necessary actions when needed.

NOTE: Professional fee for accident expert witness on accident investigation and reconstruction is fully claimable when winning or favourably settling down the litigation case.

UTC is one of leading independent investigation company in Singapore, consists of experts with more than 35 years failure analysis, accident investigation and reconstruction experience and relevant qualifications.

UTC's forensic accident investigation experts have successfully led and completed thousands of consultation projects in forensic accident investigation/reconstruction and failure analysis for aerospace, marine, petrochemical, electronic and microelectronic, construction, amusement, oil & gas, transportation industries and governmental agencies

UTC's failure analysis and accident investigation services had been well recongnized by industries and government agencies including Republic of Singapore Air Force, DSTA, Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Hyundai (Korea), PUB, SBS Transit, China Taiping Insurance, Rajah & Tann, WongPartnership, Universal Terminal,Takenaka (Japan) and MSIG Insurance, etc.

UTC's failure analysis and accident investigation services are cost-effective, validated by a number of awards on relevant projects from government tenders in GeBiz.

UTC's expert witness services and reports on failure analysis and accident investigation were proven and accepted by High Court, State Court, Criminal Court and Arbitration Court.

Accident investigation on various vehicle fires for MSIG Insurance.

Failure analysis and accident investigation on liquid dispenser fire for Consumer Safety Department of SPRING /Enterprise Singapore.

Failure analysis and accident investigation as well as expert witness in High Court on building cladding (aluminium composite panel - ACP) fire at Toh Guan Road in Singapore.

Failure analysis and accident investigation on explosion of electric storage water heater by Consumer Safety Department of SPRING Singapore/Enterprise Singapore.

Failure analysis investigation on damaged items at and/or recovered from fire incident sites (two year contract + one year option) by Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

Failure analysis on fractured manhole framesets from Public Utilities Board (PUB).

Click HERE to download the brochure of failure analysis and accident investigation services or contact UTC's accident expertCall (+65)81380509 or EMAIL.

Our experts had successfully accomplished thousands of failure analysis and accident investigation projects, some typical cases are listed as follows:


• Investigation and failure analysis on damages of mechanical system of amusement rides (track, roller coaster vehicle)
• Forensic investigation on mass rapid transport system (MRT) / subway accident (trains, power supply, track)
• Forensic investigation on taxi/car/vehicle fire and explosion
• Investigation on accidents of cranes (wire rope breakage, boom frame fracture, brake system failure, bearing damage, crane topple)
• Forensic investigation on building cladding (aluminium composite panel -ACP) fire and expert witness in high court
• Failure analysis on aerospace engine damages (turbine blades, fan blades, vanes, etc.)
• Forensic investigation and reconstruction of lorry vehicle collision fire at expressway
• Reconstruction on car and cyclist collision
• Forensic investigation on automotive steering system and shaft failure(transportation)
• Failure analysis on lift wire rope fracture/breakage/snapped of building
• Investigation and failure analysis on aerospace landing gear system failure
• Failure investigation on hovercraft accident (gearbox, propeller) in shipyard
• Failure analysis on damages in gas and steam turbines
• Failure investigation on notebook computer burning
• Failure analysis on gearbox explosion
• Forensic investigation on failures in jack-up rigs (pipe corrosion, glass cracking)
• Failure analysis on fractures of wire ropes in multi-wenches lifting system
• Failure investigation on extra-hydrogen release in huge battery of Submarine
• Investigation on failures of PCB, PCBA, LCD, passive components and IC
• Forensic investigation on heat exchanger burst
• Failure analysis on submarine power cable damage
• Failure investigation on winch wire rope snapping in construction site
• Forensic investigation on transformer fire in plant
• Failure analysis on engine components (piston, crankshaft, camshaft, bearings, connecting rod, bolts, engine block, etc.)
• Forensic investigation on explosion of power distribution system in plant
• Failure investigation on large ship-lifting system welding joint cracking in shipyard (marine)
• Forensic investigation on incidents in Singapore Flyer
• Failure analysis of pipeline and piping system according to FITNET FFS
• Investigation on failures in building & structures etc.

Failures and accidents may relate to damage, fault or fire caused by mechanical, chemical, material, electrical factors or human factors.

After accident happened, accident experts are engaged to investigate the accident to achieve following objectives:

reconstruct what happened in the accident.

identify the root cause of an incident or accident.

make recommendations to prevent the future occurrence of the same or a similar incident or accident.

improve relevent health and safety conditions.

determine whether a violation of government safety and health standards contributed to the incident or accident.

determine company or individual liability in case of future legal action.

determine the need for repairs or replacement of damaged items.

determine the personnel need for additional education and training.

Official analysis and investigation

In Singapore, offical failure analysis & accident investigation works are distributed in different government agencies, as follows:

• Occupational Safety and Health Division of Ministry of Manpower (MOM) - focus on workplace accident investigation, including those accidents happened in plants, factory and construction sites.
• MINDEF, investigating all military related failures and accidents for RSAF, Navy and SAF while Defence Science Technology Agency (DSTA) outsource necessary failure analysis and accident investigation services.
• Fire Investigation Unit of Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) - focus on investigating various fire accidents including structure fires (building fires), plant fires and vehicle fires investigation.
• Land Transport Authority (LTA) - focus on investigating various accidents in rails, trains, vehicles, roads and associated transport infrastructures.
• Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) of Ministry of Transport (MOT) - TSIB is the air, marine and some land accidents / incidents investigation authority in Singapore.
• SPRING/Enterprise Singapore - investigating accidents / failures of consumer products including home electrical and electronics.
• Public Utilities Board (PUB) - focus on failure and accidents related to public utilities, especially water supply (pipelines, pumps etc.) and processing systems.

When personnel injuries and crimes involved or fatal accidents, Singapore Police Force may participate the investigation. In case of some high profile or complicated accidents, the goverment agencies except TSIB may engage third party investigation team(s) for accident investigation or failure anayis

Un-official analysis and investigation

Private analysis and investigations are needed for companies and individuals when they encounter failures in products, equipment, as well as accidents related to companies or individuals.

Private failure analysis & accident investigation works are conducted by following organizations:

• Companies encounter failures and/or accidents, they often carry out their own failure analysis or accident investigation for most of ordinary cases. They may outsource third party investigator for challenging or litigation related cases.
• Third party investigators, they carry out independent failure analysis and accident investigation upon outsourcing or request of government agencies, companies or individuals.
• Third party testing companies, their main business are product and/or material testing, they may give some interpretations based on their testing results.
• Insurance companies, they conduct investigation on accidents and failures for settling claims.
• Loss adjusters, they mainly assess the damages and loss of accidents or failures.
• Surveyors, they mainly survey the accident sites and write a report.


Status of UTC's accident investigation and analysis

UTC is one of leading independent third party investigators in Singapore. UTC's experts are often engaged by government agencies and companies for accident investigation and failure analysis.

UTC had been awarded goverment's accident investigation and failure analysis projects from all relevant goverment agencies except TSIB (never outsourcing). e.g.

• Failure analysis investigation on Taxi fire and explosion near Buona Vista MRT, awarded by Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF)
• Investigating fatal gate toppling at construction site and as expert witness testifying in Criminal Court, awarded by Occupational Safety and Health Division of Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
• Failure analysis and accident investigation on explosion of electric storage water heater, awarded by Consumer Safety Department of SPRING Singapore/Enterprise Singapore
• Investigation and failure analysis on damaged items at and/or recovered from incident sites (two year contract + one year option), awarded by Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF)
• Failure analysis on fractured manhole framesets, awarded by Public Utilities Board (PUB)
• Failure analysis and accident investigation on liquid dispenser fire, awarded by Consumer Safety Department of SPRING /Enterprise Singapore
• Conducting "Vehicle Fire Investigation" course, awarded by Land Transport Authority (LTA).
• Failure investigation analysis on landing gear system failure of UAV, awarded by MINDEF/DSTA/RSAF.

Examples of UTC's industrial failure analysis and accident investigation projects

• Investigating building cladding (aluminium composite panel - ACP) fire at Toh Guan Road and as expert witness in High Court
• Investigation on various vehicle fires for MSIG Insurance
• Forensic investigation on crane collapse accident at National Art Gallery, engaged by Takenaka (Japan)
• Failure investigation analysis on 29" oil pipeline leakage, engaged by Universal Terminal
• Failure analysis and investigation on high pressure cylinder flying away incident at shipyard.

A thorough and complete accident investigation involves several steps, specifically:

accident related background investigation

literature research on related accident

survey on accident site

laboratory investigation

interview personnel related to accident

data analysis and inference

writting investigation report.

UTC provides professional services in following areas:


• Investigation and analysis on factory / plant accident, incident
• Forensic investigation on traffic incident or accident
• Analysis and investigation on incident or accident at construction sites
• Investigation on amusement incident or accident
• Analysis and investigation on oil or toxic gas leakage incident / accident on pressure vessel or pipe cracking / corrosion
• Investigation on collapse incident / accident of structure or building damages (damage analysis or damage investigation
• Analysis and investigation on toppling accident / incident of equipment or structure

UTC other expert areas, please refer to
• Failure analysis services
• Corrosion engineering
• Crane accident investigation and failure analysis
• Fire investigation
• Expert witness in litigation and insurance claims.
• Condition assessment
• Design and structural analysis
• Industrial technical training courses:
1. Industrial Failure Analysis - Investigation, causes, mechanisms and prevention
2. Applied Metallurgy - Compositions, microstructure, process and properties of metals and alloys
3. Corrosion - mechanisms, investigation and prevention
4. -Fire Investigation
5. Structual analysis in design and failure investigation
6. Human factors in design and accident investigation

What is effective accident investigation

After conducting failure analysis or accident investigation, the conclusion could be wrong, inconclusive or inrelevant, lack of logical or evidence, such kind of conclusion would be misleading, not only the analysis and investigation money as well as precise time are wasted, but also the failures or accidents could not be solved and prevented, it would further damage reputation and even litigation loss.

The effective failure analysis or accident investigation must be comprehensive, logical, adapt scientificaly proven methods, and get right conclusion with solid evidence.

How to validate effective failure analysis and/or accident investigation

Effectiveness of failure analysis and accident investigation can be evaluated from following aspects:

Explain all observed phenomena and findings or data.

Feedback from the clients.

Peer review.

The effect after investigation and implementation.

Whether Court accepts investigation conclusions?

Only the evaluations from all the above aspects are positive, such failure analysis or accident investigation would be effective.

Key elements for effective accident investigation and failure analysis

Qualified investigator(s)

Good track records

Proven analysis or investigation procedure and approach

Multi-discipline and cooperative team

Adequate analysis and investigation tools – instruments

Impartial and objective mind

CORE of effective accident investigation or failure analysis – Selecting analyst or investigator.

To ensure the failure analysis or accident investigation be effective, it is crucial to select right analyst or investigator. Requirements of good analyst or investigator They shall be able to take a comprehensive approach, covering a large spectrum of disciplines, to derive the correct cause(s) of failures or accidents.

Comprehensive knowledge of related fields;

Abundant relevant experience;

Hands-on skills and familiar to instruments/analytical techniques;

knack for gathering information;

Ability to filter artificial/distorted information;

Logical thinking;

Absolute honesty and integrity;

Open minded;

Team work;

Professional sense.

Cost vs. quality of failure analysis and accident investigation Effectiveness of failure analysis and/or accident investigation can be evaluated from following aspects:

According to a study by IBM, > 72% consumers are more concerned with quality of medicine and food they buy rather than price.

Why? Medicine Quality i.e. its effectiveness is more crucial / important for curing diseases.

Similarly, only effctive failure analysis or accident investigation would be beneficial to people and society.

Ineffective analysis or investigation would result in non-conclusive or wrong conclusions, they not only do not have any value or but also waste precise time and cause misleading.

Only the evaluations from all the above aspects are positive, such failure analysis or accident investigation would be effective.
Lower price is not equal to saving

Ineffective analysis or investigation - no value or even negative value, no matter how cheap.

Price comparison must be based on the same experience and track records of investigators.

Cost effective investigation and analysis

First of all, the analysis or investigation must be effective - quality report with right conclusion supported by solid evidence and scientific theory.

Secondly, the price shall be competitive.

They must be open market proven, demonstrated in GeBiz government tenders

Traceable track record

Traceable track records of analyst or investigator

Basic qualifications

Education

Accreditation

Experience

Outstanding performance

Publications in international journals and conferences

Acceptance showing in Court statements

News paper reporting

Positive peer review on analysis or investigation report/conclusions

Recognition feedback from clients

UTC's experts as analysts or investigators

- Qualifications and accreditation

PhD in relevant disciplines/areas

Fellow of Institution of Engineers, Singapore (IES)

Chartered Engineer in relevant areas (UK)

Member, National Association of Fire Investigators (USA)

Certified Pressure vessel inspector API 510 (American Petroleum Institute)

Expert/Technical Assessor of Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC)

Executive committee member of The Institute of Materials (East Asia)

Accomplished thousands of relevant projects, please refer to "Typical UTC failure analysis and accident projects" Section of this web page.

- Outstanding performance

A number of technical articles published in international journals and conferences, e.g. Forensic investigation on crane accidents, published in International Journal on Forensic Engineering, Vol.3 No 4, 2017

Reports and conclusions Accepted by Court(s), e.g The judge’s statement: “The analysis report was not challenged. It was clearly at the odds ...”, in Singaporelaw.sg(MovingU Pte Ltd vs. Trans-cab Service Pte Ltd) (Clause 27).

Recognition by governments, e.g. Dr Yu's contributions in investigating major MRT disruptions, Committee Of Inquiry (COI) Report – Ministry of Transportation 2012

Dr Yu correctly determined the root cause of massive MRT breakdowns, reported by Straits Times, Top of News, 30 July 2015 (A4)

Recognition feedback from clients, e.g. DSTA procurement manager' email:“SAF has cooperated with UTC several times previously and UTC has proven to be capable of fulfilling our requirements. We are very satisfied with UTC's performance.”

- Proven cost effective failure analysis and accident investigation records

UTC's analyses and investigations are competitive, which are demonestrated markets, e.g. in Gebiz tenders, UTC was awarded many projects such as:

MOM, Investigation on fatal gate toppling at construction site.

SCDF, Period contract of accident investigation (2015-2018).

SCDF, Period contract of accident investigation (2019-2020)

LTA, Conduct training course “Vehicle Fire Investigation” (3 runs)

SPRING, Investigation on explosion of storage water heater

Enterprise SG, Investigation on liquid dispenser fire

RSAF, Investigation on unmanned aerial vehicle structure fracture

RSAF, Investigation on aircraft brake bolt failure

SCDF, Investigation on taxi fire and explosion near Buona Vista MRT

SCDF, Forensic investigation on taxi fire @ Maymount Road

PUB – 1 year contract for failure analysis and damage investigation

• accident involving a lorry, a taxi and a car on 23/04/2020
• India power plant accident-fly ash dyke break
• road bridge-in-north-italy-collapses-two-suffer-minor-injuries
• gas-explosion-outside-moscow
• Fatal taxi fire in Seletar
• tain derail accident by landslide
• fire-breaks-out-at-18th-storey-of-liat-towers-in-orchard-road
• Fatal aircraft accident - Australia
• chemical plant explosion accident - one died
• Philippine-national-police-chief-archie-gamboas-chopper-crashes
• Australian-train-derails-killing-two
• train derail accident in Italy
• chair lift collapse accident
• worker-killed-in-russian-sports-complex-collapse
• gas-truck-explodes-in-lima-killing-two-and-injuring-dozens
• bridge collapse accident in Indonisia
• MRT tain fault - train disruption accident
• flying-metal-from-spanish-factory-blast-may-have-killed-man-2km-away-say-authorities
• bus-catches-fire-in-road-accident-in-india-20-feared-dead
• failure analysis of HDB window fall accident
• worksite fatal accident involving crane
• gas-pipeline-blast-kills-seven-in-bangladesh
• oil-rig-incident
• fatal accident fortlift steel bar to lorry
• expressway viaduct collapse accident investigation
• worker-killed-sentosa-construction-site
• fatal-workplace-accidents-caused-falling-heights-down-24-8-past-10-years
• chemical plant fire accident in Jurong island
• fatal crane collapse accident at Novena
• septic-tank-explodes-jakarta
• hong-kong-worker-crushed-death-plummeting-elevator-lift-shaft
• factory fire accident caused 19 died
• electrocution accident at airport
• crane-operator-crushed-death-kl-worksite
• singaporean-worker-dies-kranji-loop-workplace-incident
• fatal ceiling collapse incident
• fatal accident of shipyard explosion
• PMD fire incidents
• PMD charging fire accident

Recently, UTC had published articles on accident investigation as follows:


• "Letter to the Editor: A case study on engineering failure analysis of link chain" in Journal of Safety and Health at Work, 2021



• "Forensic investigation on crane accidents" was published in International Journal on Forensic Engineering, Vol.3 No 4, 2017.



• "Improving quality and reliabity through effective failure analysis" was presented in Symposium on Materials Processing, Inspection and Testing held on August 24, 2017, Malaysia.


Other relevant publications on failure analysis and forensic accident investigation:


• Investigation on cable bridge collapse accident
• Failure analysis on Beoing fuel tank damage
• Investigation on cable bridge collapse accident
• Accident investigation on cyclist motor vehicle collision
• Real-time accident detection investigation
• Road traffic accident investigation
• Investigation on taxicab crashes modeling
• Modelling braking behabiour of accident and probability
• Spatial analysis of traffic accidents
• Investigation of leaf gate jam accident
• Accident investigation of storage tank explosion using FEM
• Investigation of oil refinery boiler tube damages
• Corrosion analysis of Ni-P film of aircraft fire detector
• Learning from Fire Accident at Bouali Sina Petrochemical Complex Plant
• Quantitative Detection of Remanence in Broken Wire Rope
• Fire and Explosion Risk Investigation in Petrochemical Plant
• Failure Analysis of MW-Class Wind Turbine Blade Root Bolt
• Investigation on atmospheric Corrosion of Carbon Steel, Aluminum, Copper and Zinc in Airport
• Investigation on durability of galvanised fasteners in timber construction
• Investigation on human errors on the occurrence of coastal ship accidents
• Analyzing fault and severity in pedestrian–motor vehicle accidents
• Investigation on crash Compatibility of Cars and Light Trucks
• Journal of Accident Analysis & Prevention
• Fire resistance investigation of composite non-load bearing light steel framing walls
• Critical ventilation velocity analysis of two fire sources in road tunnel
• Assess on hydrogen generation and its venting from nuclear reactors
• Fire incident data for Australian road tunnels
• Time-dependent probabilistic model for fire accident analysis
• Reinforced concrete slabs post-fire performance investigation
• Evaluation on prestressed concrete box bridge after fire exposure
• Collapse accident investigation of 16-Story plasco building in Tehran due to fire

A mobile crane toppled when lifting an 40 feet container, resulting in damages amount to several hundred of thousands dollars. UTC was engaged to investigate the accident causes and as expert witness in legal litigation. According to the court record, the Judge accepted our conclusion that the crane toppled was due to defective/malfunctional AML system.
------------------------------------------------------

A heavy gate toppled during installation and caused a worker death. UTC was engaged by MOM for accident investigation and as expert witness in this court case.
According to Straits Times and Channel NewsAsia's reports, the court ruled that the contractor was fined S$280,000 for fatal gate toppling. The contractor filed appeal, but lost the appeal and punishment was increased from S$280,000 to S$330,000 for fatal gate toppling. UTC had successfully determined the root causes of the accident and testified in the court hearing by providing solid evidences with scientific methodolody.

------------------------------------------------------
One crane collapsed in a construction site, which severely damaged the nearby plant facilities and workshop during lifting operation. China Taiping Insurance engaged UTC to investigate the accident and as expert witness in legal suit. We successfully determined the root causes of the accident. Shortly after receiving our report, the case was settled favourably before court hearing.
-------------------------------------------------------
Traffic accident happened during a cyclist overtaking a car. Expensive bicycle was damaged and cyclist was injured. Who shall be responsible for this accident? This task was handed over to the court.
UTC had investigated and reconstructed the accident, engaged as traffic expert witness for testifying in the court.