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Driving Through Hail: Field Research that Helped Shape Modern Forensic Meteorology

Driving Through Hail: Field Research that Helped Shape Modern Forensic Meteorology My Time on Project HailSTONE By Jared Leighton, CCM, Senior Forensic Meteorologist Before joining Haag’s Forensic Meteorology team, I worked as a forecaster for the National Weather Service (NWS). During that time, I was invited to participate in a field project called the Hail Spatial and Temporal Observation Network Effort–better known as HailSTONE. The purpose of the project was simple but critical: to document and capture the true hailfall distribution in a severe storm to supplement our understanding of hail data garnered through NWS storm reports. This extra layer of understanding helps in the assessment and analysis of real-world storm damage. The project had no organizational funding and no official sponsors. Instead, the idea was simple and a bit wild: use our own vehicles, on personal time, and on our own dime to drive into hail-producing supercells and collect

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When to Call an Equipment Damage Consultant is Just as Important as Why

When to Call an Equipment Damage Consultant is Just as Important as Why By Paul Christoferson, Senior Building Consultant When power is suddenly lost, many insureds instinctively call a generator rental company, believing this is the fastest way to restore operations. In practice, this is often the first step in a series of costly missteps. Within the insurance consulting industry, certain risk scenarios appear repeatedly across sectors. Electrical power outages are among the most common and disruptive events, impacting businesses, communities, and insurers alike. Their frequency and wide-ranging consequences make them a critical focus for consultants seeking to: Mitigate avoidable claim costs for carriers Reduce business interruptions and extra expense exposure for insureds Restore operations as quickly and safely as possible Electrical Power Outage Claims: A Real-World Equipment Damage Example The following scenario, taken from an FM Boiler RE Lessons Learned article, illustrates how quickly extra expense can escalate without

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Visualizing the Unseen: Modern Premises Liability Analysis

VISUALIZING THE UNSEEN:  MODERN PREMISES LIABILITY ANALYSIS Christopher DeSantis, RA, AIA, CXLT and Benjamin T. Irwin, PE, DFE, CXLT Understanding Premises Liability Through Forensic Disciplines At its core, forensic architecture and forensic engineering can simply be thought of as the application of facts and science in answering technical questions posed by a lay audience.  Similarly, premises liability evaluation can simply be thought of as a technical evaluation of the interactions between human beings and the constructed environment around them, in response to a specific incident where a specific constructed condition is alleged to have caused injury to a specific person.  Seems simple, right? Step 1: Analyze the facts. Step 2: Apply the science(s) to the facts. Traditionally, premises liability analysis has focused largely on compliance of the constructed conditions with codes and industry norms.  Again, simple right? Step 1: Determine the applicable codes and industry norms. Step 2: Evaluate compliance

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