Recently in Engineering Category

To reduce the risk of another accident as catastrophic as the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill, a new report from the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council says, companies involved in offshore drilling should take a "system safety" approach to anticipating and managing possible dangers at every level of operation -- from ensuring the integrity of wells to designing blowout preventers that function "under all foreseeable conditions."  In addition, an enhanced regulatory approach should combine strong industry safety goals with mandatory oversight at critical points during drilling operations. 

Engineering expert Donald C. Winter, former secretary of the Navy, professor of engineering practice at the University of Michigan, and chair of the committee that wrote the report states, "Industry and regulators need to include a factual assessment of all the risks in deepwater drilling operations in their decisions and make the overall safety of the many complex systems involved a top priority."

Read more: http://sites.nationalacademies.org/BlowoutPrevention/index.htm

The Air France jet in the news this week had 30 screws missing from one of its wings when it was grounded in Boston.  An aircraft construction expert said:

The piece itself may not have endangered the flight if it came off.  But there is always the risk that it could have struck and damaged another very important part of the aircraft as it became detached and blew away in flight.

Read more: www.mailonline.com.

The American Society of Safety Engineers is presenting a seminar entitled Providing Expert Witness Testimony.

Seminar Description:
As you progress in your career as a safety and health professional, opportunities may arise for you to act as an expert witness in litigation or as a witness for your own or your company's work. Or perhaps you are thinking about self-employment as an authority for litigation on safety and health matters. This seminar will provide you with a foundation of skills needed to take on the role of an expert witness.

Learn to
* Provide expert witness testimony in accordance with the laws of the U.S. Legal System and its litigation process
* Use the rules of civil procedure and evidence to establish the functional framework for your testimony
* Respond in the role of a safety expert in depositions and at trial
* Conduct the business aspects to support your expert witness services
* More effectively communicate as an expert

Start Date: 2/4/2012, End Date: 2/4/2012 - 1 Day / .7 CEU - 3.5 IH CM Points

Instructor(s): Neil A. Feldscher, CIH, CSP, Esq.
Chief, EHS Compliance, NYC Environmental Protection, Bureau of Engineering Design & Construction, EHS Compliance Directorate, Corona, NY

Product liability expert Peter Chen will testify for Joseph and Nancy Bertrand in  a Massachusetts lawsuit against General Electric.  Federal judge Judge Richard Stearns has allowed  the Bertrands to sue General Electric over a stove they claim one of their cats turned on.  The resulting fire destroyed their house. 

The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities is a regulatory authority with a statutory mandate to ensure safe, adequate, and proper utility services at reasonable rates for customers in the state. The NJBPU voted recently to have Jersey Central Power & Light appoint an engineering expert to investigate the underground explosions that have occurred in Morristown.  There have been a series of events including a manhole cover that blew 30 feet in the air.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has filed a complaint against H. Kramer & Co. over dangerous levels of lead emissions from its copper smelter in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood.  On Friday Madigan obtained an agreed preliminary injunction order against the company, requiring it to immediately reduce lead emissions from its plant and conduct a ventilation study by an outside engineering expert.

A year after the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill, efforts to resume drilling continue, even as some experts say new safeguards don’t go far enough.  "It's just a matter of when, not if, we have another deep-water disaster,” says engineering expert Robert Bea of the University of California-Berkeley. As gas nears $4 a gallon and unemployment stays high, he says, “there’s a horrible pressure to get a vital industry back to work.”

One of the few fortunate things about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was the relative calm of the northern Gulf of Mexico last summer, says physical oceanographer Robert Weisberg of the University of South Florida. “While the oil was spilling, at least on the surface we could see where it was going.”

Read more: jconline.com.

Steve Jobs is looking to eliminate the need for wires in a majority of their products starting with wireless syncing on iTunes.  Jobs plans to wirelessly sync devices in a similar way to how Wi-Fi works. The general idea is that the iPod will connect to iTunes like a wireless network and automatically sync upon connection.

Apple has hired engineering expert Kevin Kenney to help aid the project. Kenney specializes in carbon fiber, which is the most likely material that the new casing will be made from, with the existing cases being made from aluminum.

Read more: onlinesocialmedia.net.

An FDA special committee met this week to determine whether a GE fish -- AquAdvantage salmon, genetically engineered by AquaBounty Technologies to reach mature size more quickly, thanks to genes from the Chinook salmon and from the eel-like ocean pout -- is safe for human consumption. The approval process for the GE salmon will set a precedent for all future GE animals; if the FDA does not set the bar high for solid science, it will mean a lack of scrutiny for other, perhaps less safe, GE animals in the future.

The FDA is regulating the GE salmon as a "New Animal Drug," in agency terminology, and it is thus being evaluated by a special Veterinary Medicine Advisory Committee (VMAC).  The FDA added four "temporary voting members" for the GE salmon meeting.  Serving on the committee are genetic engineering expert Kevin G. Wells, biotechnology expert Alison L. Eenennaam, fish expert Gary Thorgaard, and consumer advocate Gregory Jaffe.

Read more: grist.org.

Pacific Gas & Electric is responsible for the gas line which exploded in a San Bruno subdivision, leading to the destruction of over two dozen homes and the deaths of at least seven people.  Reports are coming in, and Advocacy groups say that PG&E didn't do a thorough enough inspection of the line that exploded.