Our chemical engineers are drawn from a variety of industrial backgrounds, and have considerable expertise in providing reports for the legal profession and giving evidence in Court, both in the UK and overseas.

Services

• Investigating incidents which may result in claims for plant and machinery, business interruption and consequential losses.
• Dealing with disputes concerning whether plants were properly commissioned and whether plants were being operated within their design parameters.
• We have a large number of scientists and engineers with a variety of expertise and experience. The chemical engineering team can call upon specialists in fields such as materials science, fires and explosions, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering.

Examples of Incidents we have investigated

• Overpressurisation of a reactor on an ammonia plant as a result of poor design.
• Failure of the packing within the third stage column of a sulphuric acid plant due to iron sulphate deposition.
• Steam explosion as a result of the failure of a thermostat in a large heater.
• Overheating of a heat exchanger as a result of a failure to follow the start-up procedure.
• Fatigue failure of a compressed air pipe due to pulsating operating conditions.
• Escape of chlorine gas into the environment due to the failure of control valves.