Engineering (General) Consultants: 58

Independent system-level evaluation, failure analysis, and lifecycle assessment of fall protection and access systems (design, manufacturing, installation, and operation)

Summary

Rauch Safety & Engineering operates as an independent engineering authority focused on fall protection systems, façade access systems (including Building Maintenance Units – BMUs), and permanent access infrastructure.

Engagements occur in complex, high-consequence environments where system performance, lifecycle conditions, and alignment between design, manufacturing, installation, and operational use directly impact safety, liability, and asset integrity.

RSE is engaged to evaluate system conditions, discrepancies, and performance across the full lifecycle, particularly where misalignment exists between design intent and real-world execution.

Scope includes:

• Design intent and engineering integration 
• Manufacturing constraints and system configuration 
• Installation and commissioning conditions 
• Operational performance and lifecycle exposure

RSE does not perform construction, installation, maintenance, or operational services, and does not act as a contractor or project manager. All work is conducted as an independent, non-operational authority focused on system-level evaluation.

Engagement is typically driven by complexity, ambiguity, or conditions where standard project delivery does not resolve system-level risk.

Principal Areas of Specialization:

• Fall Protection Systems — system performance, configuration, and failure conditions
• Façade Access Systems (BMU) — design alignment, installation conditions, operational performance
•  Suspended Access Systems — system behavior and lifecycle conditions
• Permanent Access Infrastructure — anchors, lifelines, integrated access systems
• Design vs. Installation Discrepancy Analysis
• System Failure & Performance Analysis
• Commissioning Condition Review (non-operational)
• Lifecycle Condition Evaluation
• OSHA / ANSI / IWCA Standards Interpretation
• Independent System Review across full lifecycle

System-Specific Focus :

Building Maintenance Units (BMU) & Facade Access Systems

• Design intent vs. building integration
• Installation alignment with system specifications
• Commissioning conditions and readiness
• Discrepancies between manufactured and installed systems
• Operational and lifecycle performance conditions

Custom & Specialized Access Systems

• Non-standard or project-specific system configurations
• Design integration and manufacturing constraints
• Installation alignment and system behavior in operation

Lifeline & Anchor Systems

• System configuration and structural integration
• Installation conditions relative to design and standards
• Performance, loading conditions, and lifecycle exposure

Infrastructure Environments 

RSE engages across infrastructure environments where fall protection and access systems are critical to ongoing operation and asset integrity:

• High-rise and commercial buildings
•  Airports and transportation infrastructure
• Industrial facilities and processing plants
• Power generation and transmission infrastructure
• Bridges and specialized structural systems
• Mining and heavy industrial environments
• Marine and shipping infrastructure
• Towers and vertical access structures

Professional Associations

• Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC)
• Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA)
• Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME)
• Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA)
• National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP ASE)
• National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE)

View Rauch Safety and Engineering's Expert Witness Profile.

Expert Background: Dr. Thomas L. Read is the Principal and CEO at A. Read Consulting, LLC. He received his PhD. from Stanford University in 1972 and has over 25 years of manufacturing experience in electronics, metallurgy, factory safety, failure analysis, glass fracture, glass failure and bottle failure. As a member of the electronics industry, he has earned process patents and has an extensive background in manufacturing techniques. In parallel, Dr. Read has spent over twenty five years as a consultant to attorneys and engineers. He has given more than 100 depositions and has appeared in court numerous times. Company Profile: Read Consulting, LLC is a full service laboratory providing services in the following areas:

• Failure Analysis; Factory Safety and Personal Injury (including machine guards and manufacturing safety)
• Glass Failure Analysis - Glass Fracture, Glass Failures and Bottle Failure
• Metal and Ceramic Failure
• Grinding Wheel Failures
• Intellectual Property and Patent Disputes
• Product Liability and Product Quality
• Manufacturing Disagreements (such as Intellectual Property, Failed equipment and Contract Disputes)
• Reverse Engineering

Since 1988, Real-World Forensic Engineering, LLC ("RWFE") has provided engineering services to industries and government labs, as well as litigation support to both plaintiff and defense attorneys practicing in many areas.

RWFE Areas of Expertise Include:

Components & Machinery Metallurgy & Corrosion Dynamics of Impact & Collisions Friction Analysis / Slips, Trips and Falls Intellectual Property & Patent Review Accident Reconstruction / Animation Computer Aided Design Education & Training

Electrocution & Switch Malfunction Grounding & Lightning Protection Lightning Impulse Testing Products and Premises Liability & Safety High-Voltage & Current Power Systems Bridge Design and Safety Fire & Explosion Cause and Origin And Much More...

At RWFE, we proudly distinguish ourselves by our Four C's:

CREDENTIALS. COMPETENCE. CREDIBILITY. COMMUNICATION.

Credentials:	B.S., M.S., M.Eng., M.B.A., J.D., and Ph.D. Degrees Licensed Professional Engineers in Mechanical, Electrical, and Civil Engineering Tenured University Professors and Professionals NAFI Certified Fire and Explosion Investigators (CFEI) Licensed Master Electricians
Competence:	Over 80 Combined Years of Experience in Engineering R&D, Industry, Academia, Consulting, and Expert Witness Litigation Support Over 120 Combined Deposition and Court Testimonies
Credibility:	Internationally Recognized in Our Areas of Expertise More Than $19 Million in Peer-reviewed and Funded Research Grants Over 200 Combined Scientific Publications and Journal Articles
Communication:	Over 20 Different Undergraduate and Graduate-level University Courses Over 30 Invited Short Courses, Talks, and Lectures

Design Evaluation – Accident Investigation – Intellectual Property - Failure Analysis – Fire Cause & Origin – Component Testing - Computer Aided Drafting – Accident Animation - Expert Witness & Litigation Support

www.ExpertEngineering.com

Award winning, Oxford Educated scientist whose areas of expertise include medical imaging, electronics, semiconductors, medical devices, sensors, MEMS, signal processing and image processing. Dr Daft has deposition and trial testimony experience. Extensive Intellectual Property experience including patent development, analysis, licensing, and litigation. Serial inventor who holds 23 U.S. Patents with several pending. Completed more than 98 hours of SEAK Expert Witness Seminars, including patent-specific training. Diverse industry experience including multi-nationals such as GE, Medtronic, Fujifilm, Samsung and Siemens as well as several start-ups. Well published. Winner of grants from National Institute of Health. Extensive international consulting experience. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) Senior Member since 2004. Three years’ experience teaching electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois. Holds BA and MA in Physics from Oxford University as well as Doctorate from Oxford in Materials Science.

View Dr. Christopher Daft's Expert Witness Profile.

Shatec Engineering Consultants provides engineering consulting services in a variety of areas including highway engineering, traffic engineering, pavement engineering, geotechnical engineering, materials engineering, forensic engineering, construction support services, and other civil engineering matters. Example services include the following:

Traffic Engineering Highway Design Standards/ Geometric Design/ Plans and Specifications Highway Specifications / Guidelines Highway and Traffic Safety Highway Safety Traffic Control Devices / Traffic Control Plans/ MUTCD Sight Distance Requirements Road and Roadside Hazards ADA Requirements Surface Conditions - Friction, Skid Resistance Road Defects Code Violations

Pavement Design/ Materials Pavement Management Geotechnical Engineering Construction Quality Construction Defects Construction Claims Drainage Requirements Hot Mix Asphalt/Modified Asphalt Structural and Pavement Concrete Standards Mass Concrete/ Thermal Control Plans/ Instrumentation Highway Repairs / Maintenance Public Agency Policies / Practices

President, Shakir Shatnawi, PhD, PE, is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the Transportation Engineering industry. He has over 30 years of practical and extensive engineering and transportation expertise covering industry and public agencies including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). He taught highway and transportation engineering at California State University.

Dr. Shatnawi served as a principal investigator on multi-million dollar transportation projects. He held various positions in Caltrans including a Senior Transportation Engineer, a Supervising Transportation Engineer and a Division Chief.  Dr. Shatnawi's education and experience demonstrates a wealth of engineering knowledge stretch in highway design, traffic engineering, pavement design, geotechnical engineering, materials and construction . As a recipient of many acknowledgements from the government, Dr. Shatnawi has an impeccable reputation within the industry for his significant professional contributions. As an expert orator, he frequently shares his knowledge at major conferences around the world. 

View Dr. Shatnawi's Expert Witness Profile.

Dr. Ghjassan Hamarneh's professional experience extends over 20 years. He obtained his Ph.D. from Chalmers Univ. of Tech. in 2001, was a Post-doc fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, and at the Dept. Med. Biophysics at the Univ. of Toronto. Since 2003, he has been on the Computing Sciences faculty at Simon Fraser University. 

Dr. Hamarneh's research area is Medical Image Analysis (MIA) (computer vision and 3D image processing for biomedical imaging applications). He is a leader on a large number of technical projects in collaboration with local and int'l health centers. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a Senior Member of the Association for Computing Machinery. 

Under Dr. Hamarneh's leadership, members of his group won several awards (e.g. 6 best papers), recognitions, and media coverage. His group secured funding from NSERC, CIHR, MSFHR, MITACS, NIH, and the Qatar Foundation. Furthermore, he played a leading role in the organization of major workshops: Two highly successful workshop at the Banff International Research Station on "Math. Methods for Medical Image Analysis" and "Geometry for Anatomy", as well as the first MICCAI workshop on functional medical image analysis.

Dr. Hamarneh has over 200 scientific publications in high impact journals and peer-reviewed conferences, 7 book chapters, and several software contributions with tens of thousands of downloads, e.g. TurtleSeg, MATITK, N-SIFT, I-DO, and VascuSynth. He has given many invited talks at top universities and companies. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE TM. He has been on the editorial board of JIVC; a reviewer for int'l high impact journals: J MedIA, IEEE TMI, PAMI, TBME, SIAM Imaging Science, NeuroImage, etc. He served on the program and review committees of many int'l conferences/workshops: MICCAI, CVPR, ICCV, IPMI, MMBIA, ISBI, etc. 

Dr. Hamarneh is the co-founder/director of the Medical Image Analysis Lab at SFU, a founding member of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Chapter - Vancouver Section, Rehabilitation Aimed at Muscle Performance (RAMP), and the SFU Centre for Disability Independence Research and Education (CDIRE). He is a member of the Int'l Society on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) and the Vancouver Brain Research Centre, a NeuroDevNet Network Investigator, and a Faculty/Mentor in the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Bioinformatics Training Program.

William C. Stein, Jr., PE, CCM, has more than 45 years of Roadway / Heavy Highway Construction and Materials Engineering experience. He has a rich and varied work history that includes construction materials engineering for highways and bridges, industrial plants, high rise offices, and power plants. He has worked for private owners and general contractors as well as the Department of Transportation.

Litigation Support - Mr. Stein Offers consulting and expert services for attorneys on issues regarding road, street, highway, temporary traffic control, runway, and earthwork; asphalt, concrete, coatings and other construction materials; designs, plans, specifications, CPM scheduling (Primavera) and contract documents; right-of-way issues; and work zone safety. Licensed in Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas, he performs contract performance forensic investigations and provides consulting, expert reports, rebuttals, and testimony if required.

Areas of Expertise:

Highway Construction Roadway Construction Bridge Construction Highway Engineering Materials Engineering Construction Site Work

Traffic Safety Concrete / Cement Building Contractor Liability Construction Damages Scheduling Delay and Analysis Soil Analysis

Certifications:

• Certified Construction Manager (CCM)
• Certified Primavera Basic (CPM)
• Certified Primavera Advanced (CPM)
• Certified LADOTD Structural (bridge)
• Inspector/Technician Certified Troxler
• Humboldt Nuclear Moisture/ Density Operator
• Lead Abatement
• Certified Quality Compliance Surveillance in Fossil Power Plants, Organic & Inorganic Coatings Application and Inspection
• Certified Traffic Control Supervisor
• Certified Flagger Instructor

Mechanical Engineer - Turbomachinery Expert. Gas turbine engines, steam turbines, jet engines, compressors, pumps, expanders, generators, cogeneration, combustion equipment, diesel engines, and reciprocating compressors. 

Failure analysis, stress analysis, mechanical design, design analysis, troubleshooting, performance analysis, durability assessment. Access to metallurgical laboratory. Experienced Expert witness. 

Please see our Service List at https://sbkushnick.com/servicelist.pdf for a concise description.

Summit Associates of Bedford is a Materials and Manufacturing firm offering growth strategy, operations improvement, and international sourcing to commercial clients ranging in size from $3 to $150 million.

Summit Associates has a record of fixing troubled organizations and driving growth in complex technology based operations. Skilled at positioning small and middle market companies for sustained growth, they have commercial experience in ten countries, including creation and oversight of global partnerships in Europe and India and acquisition, sale, and licensing of fifteen technologies in seven countries.

Consulting Services:

Turnaround Leadership Organizational Change and Alignment Accelerated New Product / Market Development Product Launch

Lean Manufacturing Technology Acquisition Sale and Licensing International Partnerships Technology Valuation

Principal, Thomas W. Caldwell, PE, has over 40 years of experience in Materials Research and Development, Process and Product Development, and Manufacturing Operations in the Precision Cast and Machined Products industry.

Mr. Caldwell has designed and manufactured components for consumer and industrial products, including safety-critical applications such as aircraft landing gear brakes, seat belt lockup devices, windshield wiper, and window lift motor systems. He has experience creating and guiding technology development and manufacturing partnerships in Europe and Asia, licensing and selling intellectual property and creating supply chains in China.

Mr. Caldwell has lectured in the USA, Germany, Switzerland, and India on manufacturing premium quality metal products and manufacturing processes, and was a technical paper peer reviewer for 20 years for the Society of Automotive Engineers. A United States patent holder, he has published peer reviewed research in electrochemistry and materials processing, and has written and spoken numerous times on the subject of Materials Selection.

View Thomas A. Caldwell's Expert Witness Profile.

Bransford Pickett, PE, BSc, MScBA, has over 25 years of experience as a Mechanical Engineer. A California Registered Professional Engineer, Mr. Pickett holds a BSE from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a MScBA in Finance from San Diego State University. His Materials Handling and Engineering Consulting Services are offered to insurance and end user companies nationally and internationally. The combination of field expertise, engineering, and regulatory compliance experience provide Mr. Pickett's clients with a complete package of services. The depth and breadth of his expertise covers many successful design projects including commercial and military ships, many complex material handling activities, testing requirements of shipboard system, and development and implementation of compliance programs. Many of the major projects include first of a kind challenges such as the Exxon Valdez post - accident docking and structural repairs, commission testing of navy auxiliary ships’ equipment including fueling systems, the US Navy Shughart Class Container Ship Conversion program, as well as shaft and appurtenance handling on the US Navy Watson Class ships. Included in these projects were planned engineered multi - crane lifts that reached in excess of 400 tons. These projects focused on safe, economic, simple designs compliant with applicable state and federal regulations, and national standards.

Engineered Material Handling Design and Review:

• Services include single and multi-crane lift plans, material transport, and equipment testing. Design, review and analysis of supporting calculation of stresses imposed on lifting, supporting structure, and material handling equipment, and rigging gear. Equipment specification scope and review

Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering:

• Perform intact, damage and probabilistic damage stability, and structural analysis on marine structures including barges, ships, and complimentary structures in accordance with regulatory bodies; ABS, Federal or State government

Training and Compliance:

• Operator training compliance to National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators, NCCCO, requirements for tower crane, mobile crane, overhead crane, articulating crane operator training and certification, signal person, and rigger certification
• Compliance covers applicable national and international standards that include the ABS, ASTM, ASM, ASME, ANSI, WSTDA, ALI, etc. and DIN, EN, FEM to list a few. National regulations include state and federal OSHA requirements as well as DOE, military specifications and standards

View Bransford Pickett's Expert Witness Profile.

Dr. Tal Lavian holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from UC Berkeley, specializing in network communications. 35+ years as a scientist, educator, and technologist; 20 years researching, studying, and lecturing at UC Berkeley; Industry Fellow and Lecturer at UC Berkeley's College of Engineering.   90+ cases · 60+ depositions · 8+ trial testimonies · 100+ patents supported in IP litigation · 120+ patents as inventor · 60+ pro-se prosecuted · 25+ peer-reviewed publications 

Areas of Expertise:

Telecommunications  - Computer Networks - Network Communications - Internet Protocols (TCP/IP) - VoIP - Streaming Media - Mobile Wireless: Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth (IEEE 802.15), cellular, routing and switching (MPLS, BGP, OSPF), network security, streaming media, and network management (SNMP) expert witness. 

• Network Communications: TCP/IP suite, TCP, UDP, IP, Ethernet (IEEE 802.3), SNMP, packet switching, network architecture
• Mobile Wireless: Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11), Bluetooth (IEEE 802.11), Wireless LAN (WLAN), cellular systems, SMS, mobile devices
• Internet/Cloud: HTTP, web applications, cloud computing, distributed computing
• Routing/Switching: LAN, WAN, VPN, VLAN, LAG, ARP, DHCP, DNS, quality of service (QoS).
• Network Protocols: IPv4, IPv6, RIP, BGP, MPLS, OSPF, multicast
• VoIP/Streaming Media: SIP, RTP, H.323, PSTN, circuit switching, SS7, WebRTC, video/audio conferencing.
• Network Security: Firewalls, VPN, IPSec, SSL/TLS, deep packet inspection, L4-7 switching, NAC
• Network Management: NMS, SNMP, device management, OSS, alarm systems
• Communication Standards: IEEE, IETF, ITU, ISO

Case Experience:

Dr. Lavian has served as an expert in over 90 patent cases involving more than 100 patents. He has provided reports and testimony in U.S. federal district courts, state courts, the USPTO PTAB (IPR, CBM, PGR, ex parte reexamination, interference), the ITC, and international courts. Cases have involved Apple, Google, Facebook (Meta), Microsoft, Amazon, Tesla, Cisco, Juniper Networks, Arista Networks, Ericsson, T-Mobile, Samsung, LinkedIn, Huawei, Netflix, Broadcom, SAP, and others. 

While at UC Berkeley, Dr. Lavian conducted research projects in data centers (RAD Labs), network communication service architecture (SAHARA), and wireless systems (ICEBERG); he also served as an industry fellow and lecturer at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology (SCET) and as a scientific liaison between Nortel Research Lab and UC Berkeley. Dr. Lavian was also part of UC Berkeley's SkyDeck start-ups, where he worked on technology research and implementation. 

Credentials:

• Inventor of over 120 U.S. patents; over 60 prosecuted pro se
• 20 years UC Berkeley - 10+ years Nortel Research. 
• Over 25 peer-reviewed publications in IEEE and ACM
• Principal Investigator on three DARPA projects
• IEEE Senior Member
• Nortel Networks Principal Scientist

About Dr. Lavian

Dr. Lavian's Website

Dr. Lavian's Expertise

Dan W. Wall, BSME is a Mechanical Engineer who specializes in the fields of Accident Reconstruction, Biomechanics and Motor Vehicle Injury Causation, Human Factors, and Injury Prevention in Motor Vehicle Design. Mr. Wall offers his consulting services to attorneys, vehicle manufacturers, insurance companies, cities, states, counties, and individuals, both nationally and internationally.

Background Experience:

Wall Accident Reconstruction, Inc., 1996-Present, Investigation and reconstruction of traffic collisions, highway traffic safety, biomechanics of impact trauma, injury causation, engineering analysis of design and design failure, statistical analysis, human factors, slip and falls and expert witness testimony.

For more information, visit www.wallaccidentreconstruction.com

Also view Dan Wall's article in Attorney At Law Magazine at http://attorneyatlawmagazine.com/phoenix/2014/01/17/accident-reconstruction-expert-dan-wall/

Cromack Engineering Associates, Inc., Tempe, AZ, 1987-1998, Investigation and reconstruction of traffic collisions, product liability, biomechanics, and expert witness testimony.

Martin Marietta Aerospace, Denver, CO, 1980-1987, Senior Engineer, Design and analysis of aerospace systems. Projects included Man Maneuvering Unit with special recognition by NASA, Titan 34D Missile Systems, and Strategic Defense Initiative.

Summary of Experience:

Building & Roadway Construction & Design Automotive Technology Aircraft Technology and Maintenance Motorcycle Technology and Experience Off-road Experience and Design ATV Technology and Experience Slip and Fall Heavy Vehicle Trailer Design Commercial Trailer Under-ride Guard Design

FMVSS Standards Vehicle Design and Performance Tire Design and Failure Analysis Crash Worthiness Roadside Design Signage, Lighting, and Conspicuity Environmental Conditions and Effects Animation and Computer Simulations Crash and Acceleration Testing Low Speed Vehicle Collision Testing

View Dan Wall's Expert Witness Profile.

James D. Wamble, PE, RLS has over 40 years of experience as a Professional Civil Engineer and Registered Land Surveyor. During the course of his career, Mr. Wamble has worked on land planning, land surveying, or civil engineering projects in all counties of the middle and west Tennessee regions, and several counties in east Tennessee. 

Selected Recent Projects:

• Lake Forest Estates – Approximately 5000 residential units and numerous commercial parcels.  This residential development, located in La Vergne, Rutherford County, Tennessee, is the largest subdivision in the state.  My company provided land planning, land surveying, and civil engineering services. 
• Nashboro Village – A mixed-use development on 393 acres consisting of a golf course, commercial development, and 2507 residential units (single-family, townhomes, and apartments) on 28 sites in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee.  My company provided land surveying, land planning, and civil engineering services on approximately half of these sites in this Master Plan.
• Morrison Estates – 1,352 mixed-use residential development and six commercial lots on 155 acres in Morrison, Warren County, Tennessee.  My company provided land planning, land surveying, and civil engineering services.
• Provincetown - 470 residential townhome units in a Traditional Neighborhood Planned Unit Development in Antioch, Davidson County, Tennessee.  My company provided land planning, land surveying, and civil engineering services.   

Services Include:

Civil Engineering Land Use Planning Land Surveying Retail, Res., Industrial, Comm. Site Design Construction, Grading, Drainage Plans Roadway, Detention, Basin Design Erosion Control Water Quality Design Engineering Studies Cost Estimates / Financial Analysis Developability / Constructability Analysis Feasibility Studies Residential, Industrial, Commercial, Mixed-Use Zone Change Request

Planned Unit Development Design Specific Plan Design Natural Resource Analysis Graphic Presentation Site Selection Consultation Boundary Topography As-Built Route ALTA Land Title Utility Aerial Ground Control Construction GPS

View James Wamble's Expert Witness Profile.