The forensic engineering industry has been instrumental for various other industries, often to recreate, evaluate, and investigate different scenarios. It is important to understand that forensic engineers do not work alone. They often work with other teams, and it is always a multi-disciplinary approach to every job, depending on client requirements. In that context, chemical testing is critical to forensic engineering teams, because they often need to rely on results of chemical laboratory to further investigate and support their findings.
The basics
There are a few companies in the world that specialize in forensic engineering, and many of them have their in-house chemical testing labs, where materials are tested for different details. Chemical testing is also extremely crucial and relevant for product safety, and manufacturers and production companies rely extensively on such tests to ensure their products and materials are safe for launch. It could be related to just research, or often for premarket testing. From testing debris from an accident, to testing products like candle, plastic products and metals, chemical testing labs do it all.
For the need of forensic engineering
In cases involving forensic engineering, fire investigation, and related services, chemical laboratories have a big role to play. They offer information and details that further helps in getting more than just theories. Everything is done as per standards, and tests like chromatography, microscopy, hazardous material testing and flammability, are rather common. If your company needs to hire forensic engineers for specific investigation, or you need to get products tested for chemical details, finding the right chemical testing lab is important.
Selecting chemical testing lab
No matter the need, it is important to ensure that the chemical testing adheres to sampling procedures like NIOSH, EPA and ASTM. The lab must be accredited by accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standards for analysis of lead/cadmium, and they must be capable of testing common consumer products. Check if they test other things like material samples collected following a fire incident. To know the expertise of a chemical lab better, ask for case studies, find more on what they specialize in, and don’t step back from asking questions. The capacities of a chemical laboratory largely determine the services they provide to forensic engineering industry.
There is no denying that forensic engineers will need to rely on labs and tests to find more details and support their investigation, which further helps in creating detailed reports for client needs.
