cases is very important to be fair to both
claimant and defendant.
Challenges as Expert Witness
D uring t he c our t p ro c e e ding s , a lo t
of questions will be asked as shown in Figure
6. However, leading questions are usually
avoided as there only two options in answering
the question i.e. Yes or No. Therefore, the
expert witness needs to be careful in answering
any question. The expert witness needs to
be familiar with the code of etiquette in the
court before testifying in any case.
Another challenge is related to digital
equipment. The digital camera, video and mobile
phone play an important role in digital recording,
especially in on-site investigation and in the
laboratory. Some Government agencies have
established a digital evidence management
procedure. Thus, the technical procedure,
especially related to SOPs is really critical.
Defendants’ counsel normally use any gaps in
the SOPs too. The most common mistakes occur
during the transfer of the original version of the
digital files to another device in order to make it
the control copy file. Therefore, the expert witness
needs to be trained based on relevant SOPs in
order to confirm the digital source. In addition,
the investigation team that handles the digital file
needs to be certified and competent enough to
perform the job.
CONCLUSION
All experts have to go through their first
experience of testifying their opinion in court. Some
of them are accepted at the first try, but for others,
only after several attempts. Therefore, it is important
to understand the rights of judges. The basic
principles of establishing an expert witness during
proceedings must be adequate. Furthermore, many
factors affect the time consumed in investigations
such as the gathering of all related documents,
interviewing appropriate parties and politics
involved. However, professionalism in forensic
engineering is one of the key points to success in
investigations, without bias to any parties. Most
What is your current job?
How long have you had experience
in construction?
What are your qualifications?
What is your expertise?
How many times have you become
an expert witness?
How do you choose the sample to
analyse?
Why do you cut at that position?
How frequently do you perform the
inspection?
How do you carry out on site testing?
Do you think the results are
accurate?
Figure 6: Example of questions during proceeding
investigations focus on reducing risk, avoiding
failure and improving technology with health and
safety considerations. Therefore, the presence of
a professional expert witness is a must to ensure
credibility and public trust.
REFERENCE
Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Act
514)
Evidence Act 1950
Noon, Randall K. (2000), Forensic Engineering
Investigations, Florida, CRC Press.
Technical council on forensic engineering
(American Society of Civil Engineers) Task
Committee on Guidelines for Failure Investigations
(1989), Guidelines For Failure Investigations, USA,
ASCE.
Charper, K.L (2000), Forensic Engineering –
Second Edition, US, CRC Press LLC
Investigation Guidelines: A forensic engineering
approach (2009), DOSH Malaysia.
Jack V.M et. al (2004), Effective expert witnessing-
4 th Edition, Florida, CRC Press.
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