Vident Partners provides vetted heavy machinery expert witnesses for cases involving earthmoving equipment, rollovers, backing and runover injuries, repair crush injuries, quarry and plant equipment, and OSHA and MSHA compliance. Request a referral today.
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A heavy machinery expert decides how a large machine was supposed to be set up, operated and maintained, and why it hurt someone anyway. The usual machines are loaders, dozers, scrapers, graders, haul trucks, skid steers and fixed plant at quarries and mines. The usual events are rollovers, runovers while backing, crushing during repair and contact with moving parts. This page covers earthmoving equipment and plant. Cranes and forklifts have their own pages, machine guarding in factories has its own page, and a claim that a product was defectively designed may need a product liability engineer.
The expert reads operator manuals, inspection and maintenance logs, operator training records, jobsite plans, engine or telematics data, MSHA or OSHA citations and the machine itself. The first question is often jurisdictional. A rule written for construction does not automatically apply at a quarry, and mining has its own federal regulator, so the expert has to identify which body of rules governed that work on that day.
OSHA's construction rules start with what is covered. Subpart W applies to listed equipment, including rubber-tired self-propelled scrapers, front-end loaders, dozers, wheel-type tractors, crawler tractors, crawler-type loaders and motor graders, with or without attachments, used in construction work 1. It sets minimum performance criteria for rollover protective structures on those machines 2. Date of manufacture can matter, so the expert checks the machine's age against the rule.
Seat belts must be provided on equipment covered by the earthmoving section 3. A rollover case may therefore turn on whether a belt was there, whether it worked, and whether the operator wore it. Effects on damages vary by state.
Backing is the classic fatal hazard. Bidirectional machines must have a horn distinguishable from the surrounding noise level, used as needed 3. Earthmoving or compacting equipment with an obstructed view to the rear may not be used in reverse unless it has a reverse signal alarm distinguishable from the surrounding noise, or an employee signals that it is safe 3. So the alarm's audibility over site noise is a measurable issue, and spotter procedures should be documented.
Repairs cause some of the worst injuries. Heavy machinery or parts held aloft by slings, hoists or jacks must be substantially blocked or cribbed before employees work under or between them, and blades, buckets and dump bodies must be either fully lowered or blocked when being repaired or not in use 4. An expert compares the repair method in the manual with what the crew did. Power lines are covered as well, with a minimum clearance of 10 feet for lines rated 50 kV or below 4. The crane rule sets a separate test, so the expert should use the rule that fits the machine.
Surface metal and nonmetal mines fall under MSHA's rules. Self-propelled mobile equipment to be used during a shift must be inspected by the equipment operator before being placed in operation on that shift, and defects affecting safety must be corrected in a timely manner 5. When defects make continued operation hazardous, the item must be taken out of service 5. That gives the expert a three-part test to apply against the records: was it inspected, was the defect fixed, and should the machine have been parked?
Fixed plant adds moving parts. Moving machine parts must be guarded to protect persons from contacting gears, sprockets, chains, pulleys, flywheels, couplings, shafts, fan blades and similar parts that can cause injury 6. Seat belts must be provided and worn in haulage trucks, and kept in functional condition 7.
Most of these cases involve more than one cause. A manufacturer may point to the operator, the employer to the maintenance contractor, and the plaintiff to a visibility problem built into the machine. The expert separates those threads with site reconstruction and sight-line measurements, and by testing the machine where it can be done safely. Blind spot studies from the operator's seat are often useful. Citations are worth reading, though their weight in a civil case depends on the jurisdiction.
Look for hands-on experience with the same class of machine, as an operator, master mechanic, equipment manager or trainer, or a mechanical engineer who has worked on that equipment. Mining cases call for someone who knows MSHA practice. Component failures may need a failure analyst, and visibility or warning questions may need a human factors expert.
Earthmoving equipment with an obstructed rear view may not reverse unless it has a reverse signal alarm distinguishable from the surrounding noise or an employee signals that it is safe.
Case Types
Loader, dozer and skid steer rollovers
Backing and runover deaths on jobsites
Crush injuries during machine repair
Haul truck and quarry equipment crashes
Moving part injuries at fixed plant
Failed or missing backup alarms
Operator training and qualification disputes
Disputes between manufacturers, employers and maintenance contractors
Qualifications
Related Specialties
FAQ
Look for hands-on experience with the same class of machine, as an operator, master mechanic, equipment manager or trainer, or a mechanical engineer who has worked on that equipment. Mining cases call for someone who knows MSHA practice. Match the expert to the question, whether operation, maintenance or design.
It depends on the work. OSHA's construction rules apply to listed equipment used in construction work. MSHA's rules apply at mines, including surface quarries. An expert should identify the governing rule for that site and date before applying any standard.
Under OSHA's construction rule, earthmoving or compacting equipment with an obstructed view to the rear may not be used in reverse unless it has a reverse signal alarm distinguishable from the surrounding noise level, or an employee signals that it is safe. Alarm audibility can be tested at the site.
OSHA's rule says machinery held aloft by slings, hoists or jacks must be substantially blocked or cribbed before employees work under or between it. Blades, buckets and dump bodies must be fully lowered or blocked when being repaired or not in use. The manual may add further steps.
MSHA's rule for surface metal and nonmetal mines requires operators to inspect self-propelled mobile equipment before use on a shift, and to correct defects affecting safety in a timely manner. When a defect makes continued operation hazardous, the item must be taken out of service.
In general, heavy machinery expert fees are determined by the expert themselves, based on a variety of criteria. Among those criteria are field experience, engineering credentials, testing needs and the volume of records to review. Vident does have some influence over expert fees by comparing experts within a specialty, but ultimately it is a personal decision by the expert.
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