Determining Causes, Responsibility & Liability
In PM Engineer magazine, Gary Hayden provides an excellent explanation of the process forensic engineers use to investigate causes of plumbing failures and identify causes, liability, and subrogation potential. Here is a brief summary of that article, listing issues architects and engineers should consider.
Damage from plumbing failures represents a significant portion of insured property losses, accounting for a notable share of claims and billions of dollars annually. When insurers pay these claims, they often pursue subrogation, seeking to recover costs from the party or parties responsible for the failure. Forensic engineering is central to that process.
The article emphasizes that often, forensics identify multiple contributing factors contribute to failures, leading to shared responsibility and liability for failures. Interacting factors such as system design errors, improper installation, incompatible materials, maintenance issues and chemical exposure, can act in combination to trigger losses. Common forensic findings include brittle or over-glued CPVC pipe, plastic failures caused by water hammer, incompatibility between CPVC and fire-caulking materials, and of course freeze damage in unheated or poorly insulated spaces.
The investigation typically begins with an onsite inspection at the location of the leak. Forensic engineers document the failure by photographing damaged components, taking measurements, and sketching the plumbing system layout. They interview building occupants and, when possible, contractors or technicians who previously worked on the system. Engineers also review installation instructions and conduct non-destructive examinations to look for errors, material failures, environmental exposures, water characteristics, misuse, and other factors.
The investigator may then remove failed plumbing components, treating them as legal evidence, documenting, packaging, and storing them securely to preserve chain of custody. Depending on the scale of the loss, the forensic process may extend into the laboratory, with materials scientists examining components to identify material degradation, cracking, chemical attack, or manufacturing defects.
Once insurers determine the cause of loss, they evaluate who may bear responsibility. Designers, installers, manufacturers, maintenance personnel, and even building operators may be drawn into the subrogation process. Anyone remotely connected to the failed system can be notified of a claim and may need legal and technical representation to protect their interests.
The PM Engineer article (unfortunately no longer available on their site) illustrates how the industry treats plumbing failures as forensic events with legal and financial implications. For architects and engineers, understanding how insurance carriers investigates such incidents shows the importance of material selection, compatibility, installation quality, and documentation, steps that can determine not only system performance, but also who carries liability when failures occur.