We provide consulting services relative to asbestos in situations involving property damage, product liability, and personal exposure. Our experience with asbestos includes active participation with governmental agencies and standards organizations when regulations, analytical methods, asbestos abatement technology and training curricula for asbestos were being developed in the 1980s. We continue to be involved with refinement of technology and analytical methods for asbestos through active participation with standards committees and training organizations.

Assignments frequently focus on our experience during the development of the knowledge base regarding asbestos, asbestos exposures and regulation, but may also involve our knowledge and experience with historical research, materials science, fireproofing, cost analysis, and scheduling. For example, several projects involving asbestos removal project failures required detailed knowledge about asbestos removal procedures, regulations, and an understanding of fireproofing practices and materials as they developed over time. In these instances, resolution of the dispute required a detailed understanding of bonding adhesive, which at one point in the development of fireproofing technology, was used with some types of fireproofing materials.

Much of our asbestos-related work requires application of the forensic services that we offer. Examples of services that we have provided include the following:

  • Retrospective exposure analysis for individuals who have occupational or bystander exposure to asbestos.
  • Review an interpretation of sampling and analytical data such as air, bulk or dust sampling for asbestos.
  • Development of costs and analysis of the construction sequence, duration, and carrying costs in order to evaluate the cost benefit of different construction schemes or material choices, such as the evaluation of alternative fire protection schemes (spray fireproofing, concrete encasement, drywall enclosure, cast in place concrete) for high-rise office buildings.
  • Life cycle cost analysis as part of cost optimization studies for issues such as upgrades to insulation or equipment that affect energy costs during operation, or material quality that affects maintenance costs and replacement schedules.
  • Analysis of project cost documentation to determine the incremental increase in renovation project costs due to environmental remediation.
  • Retrospective development of project schedules from documentation such as payment applications, schedules of values, project meetings, and historic and public documents.
  • Retrospective development of unit costs to calculate construction costs at a point in the past, e.g., determination of asbestos removal costs in the World Trade Center Towers, had this work been performed in 1971 when asbestos first became an issue on the project.
  • Development of cost models applying historical data, national unit costs, and geographical adjustments to determine cost trends or overall costs for a building type or family of types.
  • Research of historic records and other documentation to develop models to determine the number of buildings affected by a specific building material.
  • Design of environmental remediation and demolition methods, and estimation of costs and schedules for remediation and demolition in complex situations such as that of a high-rise building damaged by the collapse of World Trade Center Tower 2.

 

Representative Projects:

Here are some examples of past projects that illustrate our approach.