{"id":1023,"date":"2013-01-18T13:51:45","date_gmt":"2013-01-18T13:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/?p=1023"},"modified":"2013-01-18T13:51:45","modified_gmt":"2013-01-18T13:51:45","slug":"falling-roof-ice-injures-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/18\/falling-roof-ice-injures-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Falling roof ice injures man"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(The following is one in a series of cases I have investigated that illustrate the different types of <strong>structural failures<\/strong> and <strong>accidents<\/strong> that occur <strong>resulting in civil litigation<\/strong>, and the <strong>forensic engineering methods I used to investigate the cause.\u00a0 <\/strong>The series is designed to\u00a0assist counsel gain an appreciation of the engineering investigative methods used by forensic engineers.<\/p>\n<p>The methods are most important for purposes of this illustrative series.\u00a0 As such, I do not report on the analysis of\u00a0the evidence uncovered during the investigation)<\/p>\n<p>The investigation is reported under the following main headings with several sub-headings:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">The case<\/span><\/strong> (A description of the accident and the scene, also, the client and the legal\/technical issues)<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Forensic engineering investigation\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>(Building construction\/snow and ice formation)<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Cause<\/strong><\/span> (Addresses the legal\/technical issues)<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><strong>Resolution<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Litigation<\/span><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Post mortem<\/span><\/strong> (<strong>Binoculars were an important investigative tool<\/strong>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">The case<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>A\u00a0man was walking along a sidewalk in a city in eastern Canada several years ago when a piece of ice fell from a building\u00a0hitting\u00a0him on the head and knocking him out.\u00a0 The man\u00a0regained consciousness\u00a0some time later in an ambulance on his way to the\u00a0hospital.\u00a0 A doctor diagnosed severe head trauma.\u00a0 The man took time off work and was treated for his injuries.<\/p>\n<p>The three storey building had a mansard roof &#8211; a roof with two slopes, covering the upper level.\u00a0 The roof had several dormer windows.\u00a0 The building was several decades old.\u00a0 The accident occurred on the sidewalk on the south side of the building below one of the dormers.<\/p>\n<p>The man retained counsel to assist him claim damages associated with his injuries.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Client<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was retained by the counsel\u00a0in connection with\u00a0the claim for\u00a0damages and asked to investigate the accident.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Legal\/Technical issues<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Counsel\u00a0identified the following issues\u00a0relevant to a resolution\u00a0of the\u00a0dispute by the court:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>The design\u00a0and construction of\u00a0a building and its roof in relation to safety issues\u00a0concerning the accumulation of ice and snow.<\/li>\n<li>Alterations that could be made to a roof or safety precautions that could be taken to\u00a0prevent accidents.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Forensic engineering investigation<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Following is a list of some of the methods\u00a0I relied\u00a0on during my investigation of the accident.\u00a0 The methods and tasks\u00a0are separated according to the issues identified by\u00a0counsel:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Building construction\/Snow and ice formation<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Review documents in general as provided by counsel<\/li>\n<li>Study photographs of the building and the scene taken at the time of the\u00a0accident, particularly those marking the location of the accident and the construction of the\u00a0roof<\/li>\n<li>Visually examine the scene and the exterior of the building.\u00a0 Note the\u00a0formation and location of icicles\u00a0on the roof<\/li>\n<li>Examine with binoculars details and features of the roof construction, and the general repair and condition of the roof<\/li>\n<li>Visually examine the formation and build-up of ice and snow on different buildings in other\u00a0locations I travelled\u00a0during the\u00a0forensic investigation.\u00a0 Reflect on the build-up of ice and snow on the roof of my home in\u00a0the past<\/li>\n<li>Research the formation of ice and snow build-up on roofs<\/li>\n<li>Study victim&#8217;s statement of accident noting, in particular, what the victim heard at the time of the accident and the extent of the victim&#8217;s injuries<\/li>\n<li>Study a floor plan of the building<\/li>\n<li>Read the pleadings<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Roof alteration<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Research methods of altering the roof at the scene of the accident to prevent the formation of ice and snow on the roof<\/li>\n<li>Examine products available in building supply stores for altering the roof<\/li>\n<li>Research safety precautions that could be taken to prevent accidents from falling ice<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Cause<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>Building and roof construction, including\u00a0collecting runoff from the roof,\u00a0were typical for the city.\u00a0 As such, as an\u00a0older building, the conditions were present in our climate for ice and snow to form and collect on the south side of the building.\u00a0 Inspection and maintenance of the roof drainage system would be necessary to prevent ice and snow\u00a0falling on people below.<\/p>\n<p>The roof could be altered by various methods, and the methods maintained,\u00a0to prevent ice forming and snow accumulating.\u00a0 These methods are sold in building suppy stores.\u00a0 One method would involve lining the roof above the eaves with metal sheeting to\u00a0prevent\u00a0ice and snow accumulating.<\/p>\n<p>The area of the sidewalk below could be roped off and signs posted cautioning people of the danger of falling ice.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Resolution<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>The claim was resolved by alternate dispute resolution (ADR).<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Litigation<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>The case did not go to trial.<\/p>\n<h1><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Post mortem<\/span><\/h1>\n<p>The extent of the man&#8217;s injuries was evidence in\u00a0giving some indication\u00a0of the\u00a0size of the piece of the ice that struck him.\u00a0 I now want to know the extent of a victim&#8217;s injuries in all accidents I investigate.<\/p>\n<p>Also, the sound\u00a0the\u00a0man\u00a0heard, suggestive of\u00a0ice hitting the\u00a0roof of the addition,\u00a0corroborated the location of the accident and\u00a0the area of the roof from which the piece of\u00a0ice\u00a0fell.\u00a0 It was easy to explain the formation of ice\u00a0at this area of the roof.<\/p>\n<p>Examining the roof with binoculars was the only way to assess maintenance of the roof drainage system.\u00a0 Less than adequate maintenance was a factor in my analysis.\u00a0 I wasn&#8217;t privy to\u00a0its importance in resolving the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(The following is one in a series of cases I have investigated that illustrate the different types of structural failures and accidents that occur resulting in civil litigation, and the forensic engineering methods I used to investigate the cause.\u00a0 The &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2013\/01\/18\/falling-roof-ice-injures-man\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,16,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1060,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions\/1060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}