Saturday, 10 July 2010 12:38 Written by Maxwell Shifman

We pleased to announce the merger of Forensic Consulting Engineers and Delta-V Experts, effective 1 July 2010. The new group shall continue to trade under the “Delta-V Experts” name. Forensic Consulting Engineers Principal, Dr Len Cubitt, will continue to operate with Delta-V Experts.

The complimentary capabilities of these two businesses provided a great opportunity for this merger. In particular, Delta-V Experts can now assist you in the areas of slips, trips and falls, manual handling, guarding of machinery and injuries of all sorts. We also offer continue to offer all of our existing expertise, including expert witness reports, vehicle handling testing, biomechanics and injury, and safety advice and consulting. 

Expect an even better level of service and a wider range of capabilities from the newly expanded Delta-V Experts!

Should you have any comments, questions, concerns or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact Delta-V Experts’ General Manager, Maxwell Shifman, on (03) 9481 2200.

Thursday, 08 July 2010 10:43 Written by Maxwell Shifman

Dr George Rechnitzer has been asked to take part on the panel in an Engineer's Australia & VicRoads "Hot Topics" member breakfast. From the invitation:

"VicRoads works alongside many individuals and organisations to find innovative solutions that will improve safety on our roads. Some of these include facial recognition systems, drug and alcohol testing, automatic number plate recognition and intelligent speed assist.

A diverse panel of experts will delve into case studies where innovation and safety come together for the benefit of the community."

The panel consists of a Policy Director, Traffic Superintendent, Technology Commercialist, Engineering Consultant and of course, Dr Rechnitzer as a Forensic Engineer.

The breakfast will be held at Zinc, Federation Square at 7am pm on Monday, 2 August 2010. The full invitation and registration form may be downloaded here.

Saturday, 19 June 2010 08:50 Written by Maxwell Shifman

Delta-V Experts Road Safety Consultant, Roger Sanders, has been interviewed by Steve Price on Melbourne's MTR1377 radio station regarding the fatal crash in Egypt in January 2006. 

Download the interview here if you are unable to use the embedded player.

Delta-V Experts were the first Australian crash investigators at the scene and prepared a preliminary report into the factual evidence collected at the site immediately after the collision. This preliminary report was subsequently tendered as part of the Coronial Inquest, and assisted the Coroner and members of the Victorian MCIU in conducting their full investigation.

The Victorian Coroner, Paresa Spanos, made the following key findings:

• ".. whichever legal entity was responsible for organising this tour which ended so tragically, they did so poorly, engaging insufficient personnel and/or allowing insufficient time to ensure the driver was sufficiently rested to undertake his duties safely and not under the burden of fatigue."
• “In the circumstances of this investigation I can only say what is obvious and very general, that is that the wearing of seat belts could potentially have prevented ejection from the bus and saved some lives and ameliorated some injuries.”
• “In my view the potential was there for ESP to have prevented the collision altogether, or at least to afford the driver some control and more effective braking so as to reduce the momentum and curtail the bus's trajectory.”

Thursday, 27 May 2010 10:25 Written by Maxwell Shifman

Dr Shane Richardson has provided expert evidence at the coronial inquest into the fatal collision involving a troop carrier rollover on Fraser Island:

Forensic engineer Dr Shane Richardson told the coronial inquest yesterday that inexperienced drivers would find it hard to control a troop carrier on Fraser Island beaches.

Dr Richardson said troop carriers were deceptive vehicles that look like a regular passenger vehicle but handle more like a truck.

He said they also had a tendency to overturn because of their narrow wheel base and high centre of gravity.

The inquiry into this incident continues at the time of writing.

Tuesday, 18 May 2010 11:11 Written by Maxwell Shifman

Delta-V Experts Principal, Dr Shane Richardson has been appointed a board member of the Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia:

The SAE-A is a non-profit organisation that works to serve the needs of its members and to promote the relevance of automotive-related technologies to governments, industry and the community in general.

Shane will lend his considerable vehicle safety and handling advice to the SAE-A.