Experience Level: Any level of experience

The presentation will introduce a proactive framework for applying forensic engineering methods before accidents, major failures, or organizational crises occur. Rather than treating forensic tools as purely post-incident investigative techniques, the talk shows how forensic investigators can use the same rigor in everyday decision-making to detect early warning signs, reduce risk, and improve operational performance. A central theme is bias removal: attendees will learn to identify untested “Hate-Facts” (uncomfortable truths that conflict with preferred beliefs) and “Love-Lies” (comforting falsehoods accepted because they support a desired narrative) that often become embedded in project teams and leadership thinking. These distortions quietly drive unsafe designs, weak assumptions, and missed failure modes. The presentation is directly relevant to Professional Engineers of all types because this profession carries an obligation to practice with objectivity and base judgments on defensible evidence. Given the association between forensic investigation and litigation, this talk clarifies the difference between advocacy and truth-seeking, highlighting that Professional Engineers must remain imperative-driven to discover and explain what is real, even when it challenges reputations, budgets, schedules, or prior commitments. 

Attendees will take away a repeatable, step-by-step approach: 

(1) structured bias identification and description,
(2) translation of surfaced assumptions into testable hypotheses, and
(3) application of classic tools like FMEA, Root Cause Analysis, 5-Whys, fault trees, and barrier/Swiss-cheese thinking, to proactively stress-test systems, procedures, and organizational beliefs. 

Skills enhanced include sharper problem framing, improved failure-mode anticipation, more disciplined causal reasoning, and stronger technical communication of risk and uncertainty. The result is better engineering judgment under pressure, earlier detection of technical and cultural degradation, and a practical way to turn hindsight-quality investigation into foresight-quality prevention.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Explain the difference between post-incident forensic engineering and proactive, pre-incident application.

2. Define “Hate-Facts” and “Love-Lies” and recognize how they bias technical and organizational judgment.

3. Identify common pathways by which teams drift into advocacy (“attorney mode”) rather than truth-seeking (“engineer mode”).

4. Apply a structured bias-removal step to reframe problems objectively before using technical tools.

5. Translate hidden assumptions and narratives into explicit, testable engineering hypotheses.

6. Use FMEA, Root Cause Analysis, 5-Whys, and fault-tree thinking proactively to surface early failure modes.

7. Detect leading indicators of technical, operational, cultural, or ethical degradation before they become incidents.

8. Strengthen causal reasoning and avoid false certainty in complex, high-stakes systems.

9. Communicate risk, uncertainty, and causal findings more clearly to leadership and stakeholders.

10. Integrate a repeatable truth-seeking workflow into everyday engineering practice to improve safety and performance.

1 PDH

Pricing:

NSPE Members: FREE

Non-members: $75.00 (Join NSPE today and save on this purchase.)

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