Now look here – I am not posting about shady litigation proceedings – I’m talking litigating about bad odors and the types of experts you need.
I have seen a number of cases lately, where an expert is needed to opine knowledgeably about the causes of odors – either the chemical causes or the mechanical causes. Let me elaborate on these cases:
1. You have recently installed wood joists in a rather nice, upscale home (maybe it was decking – my informant didn’t say). These are “engineered wood” so this is not just your pineboard with some type of stain or waterproofing. Engineered wood has fibers, composites, adhesives added, recombined, restructured, reprocessed till they cry for mercy. So, is there an offensive odor? What is causing it? And, under causation, is the cause from the installation, from the product (design? manfacture?), from some abnormal use of the product, from ignoring warning labels
In the immortal words of Ghostbusters, “who ya gonna call?”
OR…
2. The commercial waste treatment plant stinks – as in neighbors are up in arms. Municipal Health is “engaged in an enforcement action” (putting the screws on the waste plant, fines, bad press, 60 day notices, etc.) So they need an expert to assess the plant and equipment.
OR odors from…
3. The local chicken coop (in a residential neighborhood)
4. The local yoga studio
5. The local chicken ranch with 20 barns containing from 800,000 to 1.2 million chickens per growing cycle
6. The local pharmaceutical manufacturing plant
So, chemical experts of various stripes, agricultural/animal husbandry experts, pharmaceutical chemicals and manufacturing process experts, and I am not sure about what expert you would have for a stinky yoga studio – at the very least ambient air environmental folks…
“Elite Experts of Stink”
Expert in agricultural engineering, animal environments, water quality, livestock structures, animal welfare: His real passion is livestock systems, and while stationed at a regional university extension office, he averaged fifty farm visits a year meeting with county Extension advisers on farms to train, educate, photograph, and advise about various aspects of livestock housing. He authored many popular bulletins and fact sheets on subjects such as building ventilation, fencing, geofabrics for farm roads, innovative livestock housing layouts, manure systems management, and solar energy.
Expert in Control of Odors and Corrosion in Municipal and Industrial Waste Handling Systems: He is an international expert in odor and corrosion control in waste handling facilities, and has extensive experience in measuring and assessing such problems, as well as evaluating control technologies, and implementatiing odor and corrosion control strategies. He has collected hundreds of air samples from odorous processes and has overseen the analysis of these samples for odor concentration (dilutions to threshold), reduced sulfur compounds via GC-FPD, and volatile organic compounds via GC-MS. Through his 25+ years’ experience in the odor control field, he has come to know most of the sources and causes of stink in municipal and industrial waste treatment processes.
Expert in Toxicology (Benzene, Solvents, Metals); Medical Science (Causation); Environmental (Risk Assessment): Our expert has consulted for a variety of rendering plants, animal-rearing and husbandry operations, and other legal nuisance complaints. He has technical expertise in planning and conducting air analysis for odor, including hydrogen sulfide and organic compounds, and lagoon monitoring. He provides microbiological, analytical and chemical expertise in stink analysis and control, including microbiological waste stabilization.
Expert in Industrial Hygiene, Indoor Air Quality, Mold, Accident Investigation, Auditing & Hazard Assessment: He has run numerous indoor air quality and environmental mold assessments for commercial and residential environments. These assessments include: monitoring for applicable indoor air constituents, developing corrective action plans, and verification of correction/efficacy. He also led the indoor air quality committee for a large academic institution. Also, he has conducted noise assessments for a variety of industrial sectors and developed and implemented hearing conservation programs for those clients. He is an experienced health and safety auditor, conducting over 300 comprehensive audits of consumer product manufacturers, federal institutions, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, light, medium, and heavy manufacturers, electronics, healthcare and department of defense contractors.
http://www2.intota.com/experts.asp?strQuery=odor
Tags: Ambient Air Polution, Chemical Odors, Expert Witness, expertise areas
