INGENIEUR
Integrity of Forensic
Engineering Investigation
By Mohd Shamsuri Khalid
Factories and Machinery Inspector
Forensic Engineering Division
Department of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia
D
isasters to people, the environment
and property, caused by explosions,
fire, toxicology, environmental damage,
carcinogen caused by deadly exposure to
chemicals, building collapse and structural failure
are among many incidents caused by human
negligence. The magnitude of a disaster could be
severe enough to cripple the country. The impact
of severe incidents may involve several complex
patterns and uncertain factors that may have
contributed to the incident. The complexities of
individual disasters require the participation of
competent persons or subject matter experts
(SME).
Therefore, disaster terminology needs to be
refined and correlated with forensic investigations.
Disaster means a calamitous event (which causes
great loss of life and property), and forensic
denotes the application of scientific methods and
techniques in accident investigations.
Generally, occupational, and health accidents
are attended to by the Department of Occupational
Safety and Health Malaysia (DOSH) state office
investigators. To conduct a proper and thorough
investigation of individual cases, the officers
follow the processes mentioned below:
1. Incident Site Investigation Strategy
a. Response to the incident,
b. Pre-visit and site investigation,
c. Creating a hypothesis,
d. Establishing the chronology of the
event, and
e. Fact finding and documentation.
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Jaya Supermarket collapse
2. Gathering facts at the place of incident
a. Tagging and labeling evidence,
b. Taking photographs,
c. Sketching,
d. Evidence management and chain of
custody,
e. Witness interviews, and
f. Report writing and incident analysis.
Those are the things that the officers from
DOSH must do. However, in complex cases and
high profile accidents, which caused huge damage
to life and property, DOSH’s state office will seek
assistance from SME in the Forensic Division,
DOSH, Putrajaya.
Forensic investigation is a comprehensive,
delicate and time consuming process. A full
forensic report is prepared before it is submitted
to top management. One of the main issues