Shortcode CleanerJuly, 21, 2010
Press Release: Suzanne Alton-Glowiak Joins CED
Article: Aviation Accident: What to Look For
Article: Roads and Highway Accidents
Press Release:Suzanne Alton-Glowiak Joins CED
Annapolis, Maryland – July 21, 2010
Suzanne Alton-Glowiak, a senior mechanical engineer and well respected forensic engineer joined CED Investigative Technologies Inc. in our Chicago, Illinois office. Ms. Alton-Glowiak holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a Masters Degree in Manufacturing Engineering from Northwestern University.
After graduating from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Ms. Alton-Glowiak worked at Triodyne Inc, a mechanical engineering firm specializing in the safety of engineering systems and mechanical devices. While Ms. Alton was as Triodyne, she was responsible for safety analysis and testing of industrial and consumer products, on-site accident investigation, accident reconstruction, research in safety-related subjects, and mechanical design and analysis of human locomotion.
Prior to joining CED, Ms. Alton has also held the role of affiliated consultant with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc in the Chicago area where she was retained as a premise liability expert and a safety analysis engineer who testified on both the state and federal court level.
Additionally, Ms. Alton-Glowiak has been a sitting member on the American National Standards Institute and the Robotic Institute of America that has been instrumental in developing standards for safety requirements and Robotic Standards.
“Ms. Alton-Glowiak is exactly what CED is looking for in a senior mechanical engineer for our Chicago, Illinois location” stated Dr. Clyde Richard, Chief Executive Officer of CED. Dr. Richard additionally stated “Suzanne has both the skill set and knowledge of what it takes to be an expert on both the state and federal level and her management ability is only going to grow the Midwest market region for CED. We are very happy to have her join the company.”
For more information concerning Ms. Alton-Glowiak or CED Investigative Technologies Inc, please email us at casemanager@cedtechnologies.com or on the web at www.cedtechnologies.com .
Aviation Accident: What to Look For
If you are working on a case which involves an aircraft mishap it’s pretty obvious you may want to utilize experts in the Aviation field. But flight mishaps are not the only time it is useful to engage experts with aviation experience. Aviation law is not just airplanes, but the branch of law that concerns flight, air travel, and associated legal and business concerns. It governs the operation of aircraft and the maintenance of aviation facilities. Likewise, aviation experts are not just pilots and crash investigators, but engineers familiar with hangar bays, runways, tarmacs, lifts, vehicles, and all the facilities and activities that accompany aircraft flight. Aviation cases can involve flight surfaces and engine rotations. However, there are also Construction issues, Premise Liability issues, Vehicular Accidents, OSHA compliance issues and Product Liability cases, all occurring in the aviation environment giving them a unique aviation bent.
CED engineers have been called upon for their expertise whenuggage fell on a passengers head and when there was a Slip & Fall on a jet bridge. Our accident reconstructionists have been called in when luggage carriers collided. We’ve had mechanical and bio mechanical engineers apply their knowledge to product cases involving automatic doors and civil and structural engineers have investigated work mishaps on airfields and tornado damaged hangars.
In all investigations, it is important that the Engineering expert possesses the engineering credentials to qualify them to work on a case. However, in Aviation cases, the expert must also be experienced with working in the Aviation environment. The unique hazards and operational challenges that exist in an aviation setting require an expert that has trained and worked in Aviation settings and who is familiar with the subtle and not-so subtle vagaries of this environment. CED was originally formed by a group of United States Naval Academy professors and instructors, and the aviation knowledge and experience of many of engineers goes back decades.
CED engineers have amassed thousands of hours in military and civilian aircraft; have designed and developed avionics and flight systems for fixed and rotary winged aircraft; built aircraft facilities around the globe and performed compression tests on honeycomb seat cushions of military aircraft to assess long-term wear behavior. CED has mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, civil engineers, material scientists and bio-mechanical engineers all familiar with and experienced in the aviation world. CED engineers have the expertise to investigate the mishap caused by the failed rotor but we can also assist our clients when a luggage handler takes out a hangar bay door or a passenger takes a spill at ticket counter.
Roads and Highway Accidents
Grown in tandem with America’s love of the automobile, a complex and extensive system of highways and roads now wind their way through every state. However, while more cars have been manufactured and put into use on these roads, the roads themselves have not grown proportionately. According to the US Dept of Transportation, between the years of 1985 and 2006, vehicle miles traveled increased by nearly 100 percent, while highway lane miles only increased 5 percent during the same period. The result? More congestion.
In an attempt to relieve this congestion and to repair or to replace existing roadways, state and local governments spend considerable time maintaining and building new roads in their jurisdictions. Construction sites are constantly created and traffic controls are implemented so vehicular and pedestrian traffic can be directed around the work zones. This temporary traffic control works to keep an effective flow of traffic, while also attempting to create a safe environment for construction workers. This is a tall order as the US Dept of Transportation estimates more than 12 billion vehicle miles of travel have been through active work zones during the year 2001. A side effect of this traffic volume, put into perspective based on 2008 Statistics, looks like this:
One work zone fatality every 10 hours (2.3 a day)
One work zone injury every 13 minutes (110 a day)
By their very nature, work zones can present motorists with unexpected and hazardous driving situations. And with $27.5 billion coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, specifically allocated toward highway and bridge construction projects, these statistics are likely to appear grimmer in the future.
Crashes in highway work zones can be more complicated to analyze than non-work zone crashes. In addition to traditional accident reconstruction methods (speed and velocity determination, skid, gouge mark, debris and crush analysis, etc), all the parties involved in the Temporary Traffic Control, along with their scope and responsibilities must also be considered. As construction sites are in a constant state of change, this can be problematic.
Not only do the engineers at CED Technologies have expertise in accident reconstruction, but they also have the experience and knowledge to interpret the standards put forth by organizations such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the guidelines in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) as they pertain to work zone accidents.
For more information on CED experts please contact one of our case managers at casemanager@cedtechnologies.com or on the web at www.cedtechnologies.com .
