Catastrophic Failures

Catastrophic Failures practice requires that we address issues on behalf of our clients that include:

Facilitation and coordination of root cause analyses
Facilitation and coordination of failure analysis investigations
Facilitation and coordination of critical hazard analyses
Defense and prosecution of civil actions involving catastrophic failures at industrial facilities
Defense and prosecution of civil actions against third parties related to the cause of catastrophic failures

Catastrophic Failure matters in which the firm has or attorneys with the firm have been involved include the following:

The failure of a tubing in an EDC cracking furnace and the resulting offsite release of incomplete combustion byproducts from a VCM manufacturing facility. Root cause investigations, fracture mechanics, failure analysis and failure event reconstruction were employed to understand how the failure actually occurred.
The explosion of PVC slurry tank containing VCM and the resulting offsite release of incomplete combustion byproducts at a PVC manufacturing facility. Root cause investigations, failure event reconstruction, failure analysis and fracture mechanics were employed to understand how the explosion actually occurred.
The massive explosion of an entire digestion unit and a resulting offsite release of process chemicals and intermediates at an alumina manufacturing facility. Failure event reconstruction, root cause investigations, failure analysis and fracture mechanics were employed to understand how the explosion actually occurred.
The failure of a tubing in an EDC cracking furnace and a resulting offsite release of incomplete combustion byproducts at a VCM manufacturing facility. Failure analysis, fracture mechanics, root cause investigations and failure event reconstruction are being employed. The case is still in litigation.
A case involving multiple failures in the downhole casing in a salt dome storage cavern containing compressed natural gas and the resulting offsite release of natural gas upward from the geology overlying the salt dome. Root cause investigations, fracture mechanics, failure analysis and failure event reconstruction are being employed. The case is still in litigation.
The failure of a valve containing VCM and HCL, ignition of a vapor cloud of VCM and EDC and the resulting offsite release of incomplete combustion byproducts from a VCM manufacturing facility. Root cause investigations, failure analysis, failure event reconstruction and fracture mechanics are being employed. The case is still in litigation.

A catastrophic failure is a sudden and total failure of some system from which recovery is not possible. The term is most typically used for structural failures, but has often been extended to many other disciplines where total or irrecoverable loss occurs.

Forensic engineering, failure analysis, fracture mechanics and root cause analysis may be used to investigate catastrophic failures.

Forensic engineering is the investigation of materials, products, components or structures that fail or do not operate/function as intended, causing damage to property or personal injury.

Failure analysis is the process of collecting and analyzing data to ascertain the cause of a failure and how to prevent it from recurring. It is an important discipline in many branches of manufacturing industries, such as the electronics industry, where it is a vital tool used in the research and development of new products and for the improvement of existing products.

Fracture mechanics is the field of mechanics that addresses with the study of the formation of cracks in various materials. It uses methods of analytical solid mechanics to calculate the driving force in the formation of a crack and those of experimental solid mechanics to ascertain the material’s resistance to fracture.

Root cause analysis (RCA) is a class of problem solving methods and practices aimed at identifying the root causes of problems, failures or events.