Dr George Rechnitzer
Position: Principal Consultant Forensic and Safety Engineering to Delta- V Experts.
Expertise: Safety Engineering, Collision Reconstruction, Impact Analysis, Workplace Safety, Accident Investigation, Litigation Support.
Qualifications: B.Eng., M.Eng.Sci., PhD, MIEAust., CPEng., FSIA, MSAEA
From 2002 until April 2011 George was a founding member and Director of Delta- V Experts, and now continues to provide consulting services to Delta-V Experts as a Principal Consultant, Forensic and Safety Engineering.
George is also a Director and Principal Engineer with, George Rechnitzer & Associates Pty Ltd, which he founded as an independent consultancy in forensic and safety engineering in 1989.
He is a Professional Engineer and has provided expert evidence for litigation cases in hundreds of cases in Australia since 1989, and over 30 cases in the USA from 1995 to 2008, and has provided expert evidence in major courts both in the USA and Australia.
From August 1990 to January 2003, Dr Rechnitzer was a Senior Research Fellow at Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC).
His major specialisation has concerned the application of the engineering sciences to safety in many areas ranging from transport through to occupational health and safety in the workplace. Dr Rechnitzer has conducted extensive work in road safety, crashworthiness (cars, trains, trucks and other mobile equipment), occupational health and safety, accident and incident investigation, analysis and countermeasure development for injury prevention. Dr Rechnitzer has carried out a number of in-depth investigations for the State Coroner of Victoria, as well as consultancies on vehicle safety-related projects for BHP, Australia Post, SECV and the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. He has also carried out major projects for Victoria Police, Australian Defence Department, VicRoads, Federal Office of Road Safety, Telstra, Victorian WorkCover Authority, and Australia Post, amongst many others. Projects have included vehicle, heavy vehicle and forklift safety; vehicle rollover; and transport and construction industry safety. Since 2004, he has provided expert consulting services on vehicle rollover cases to Xprts LLC, in the USA.
Prior to joining MUARC, Dr Rechnitzer's experience included more than twenty years as a structural design engineer with major consulting engineering groups, working on large engineering projects involving the investigation, analysis, design and construction of a variety of structures and facilities.
Dr Rechnitzer's work has been published extensively with over 90 publications, including contributing chapters in books relating to traffic accidents, accident investigation and reconstruction. He has made presentations at over 65 conferences and seminars, both nationally and at international forums.
Dr Rechnitzer graduated in 1971 from Monash University with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil, Hons), a Master Engineering Science degree from Melbourne University in 1979 and in 2003 was awarded the degree Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) from Monash University. Dr Rechnitzer has also attended a number of specialist courses relating to Injury Research and Prevention, Crash Analysis and Reconstruction, Biomechanics of Impact Injury. In 2004, Dr Rechnitzer was awarded the 2003 Warren Medal by the Institution of Engineers Australia, as co-author of the papers "Crashworthiness Systems – A Paradigm Shift in Road Safety Design", Parts I and II.
Dr Rechnitzer is a Member of the Institution of Engineers Australia, Member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, a Fellow of the Safety Institute of Australia and Chair of the SIA’s National Technical Panel; and a member of the Victorian Transport Associations’ On Road Operators’ Group.
Dr Rechnitzer has over 40 years of engineering experience, academic and research expertise, as well as extensive industry affiliations both nationally and internationally.
