Editor`s Note President`s Message

President’s Message
KDN PP11720/9/2003 ISSN 0128-4347 VOL. 21 MARCH-MAY 2004
Members of the Board of Engineers Malaysia
(BEM) 2003/2004
President
YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Hj Zaini Omar
Registrar
Ir. Ashari bin Mohd Yakub
Secretary
Ir. Dr. Judin bin Abdul Karim
Members of BEM
YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Md Radzi bin Mansor
YBhg. Datuk Ir. Santhakumar Sivasubramaniam
YBhg. Dato’ Ir. Dr. Hj. Abdul Rashid bin Maidin
YBhg. Datu Ir. Hubert Thian Chong Hui
YBhg. Dato’ Ir. Ashok Kumar Sharma
YBhg. Datuk Ir. Md Sidek bin Ahmad
YBhg. Datuk Ir. Hj. Keizrul Abdullah
YBhg. Dato’ Ir. Kok Soo Chon
Ir. Ho Jin Wah
Ir. Yim Hon Wa
Ir. Prof. Ow Chee Sheng
Ir. Mohd Aman bin Hj Idris
Ir. Hj. Abu Bakar bin Che’ Man
Ir. Prof. Abang Abdullah bin Abang Ali
Tuan Hj. Basar bin Juraimi
Ar. Paul Lai Chu
Editorial Board
Advisor
YBhg. Tan Sri Dato’ Ir. Hj Zaini Omar
Chairman
YBhg Datuk Ir. Shanthakumar Sivasubramaniam
Editor
Ir. Fong Tian Yong
Members
YBhg. Dato’ Ir. Ashok Kumar Sharma
Ir. Prof. Madya Dr. Eric Goh Kok Hoe
Ir. Prof. Ishak bin Abdul Rahman
Ir. Prof. Dr. Ruslan Hassan
Ir. Prof. Dr. K. S. Kannan
Ir. Nitchiananthan Balasubramaniam
Ir. Mustaza bin Hj. Salim
Ir. Md Amir bin Kasim
Ir. Dr Lee Say Chong
Ir. Chan Boon Teik
Ir. Choo Kok Beng
No one would want to see a structure collapse
or fail, but the fact remains that failures do occur.
When a structure collapses, the finger is invariably
pointed at the structural engineer. But what is
needed in the first place is to determine the exact
cause of the failure through forensic engineering.
The goal of a forensic programme is to positively
identify the sequence of events leading to ultimate
failure.
Within the broad field of engineering, the practice of forensic
engineering involves the investigation of failures of buildings,
structures, pipelines, foundations, airplanes, manufacturing equipment,
vehicles, bridges, flood control facilities, and other engineered products.
Forensic engineers examine broken parts and bring together a list of
probable failure mechanisms to be investigated. The final step in
forensic engineering is to use analytical and testing tools to confirm
the findings of fact.
A number of difficulties can arise when litigation commences if
the cause of failure has not been investigated adequately. Where there
is an overriding need to consider the cause of an engineering failure,
fire or other scientific problem, there is considerable merit in engaging
a forensic engineer or scientist to consider the cause in isolation. The
forensic engineer becomes an expert witness in support of the findings.
A good forensic engineer will investigate any incident in a structured,
scientific manner. He will be skilled in collecting and recording evidence
in a manner that will withstand scrutiny.
There is a need to develop this area of forensic engineering as an
expert consultancy service.
TAN SRI DATO’ Ir. HJ. ZAINI BIN OMAR
President
BOARD OF ENGINEERS MALAYSIA
Publication Officer
Pn. Nik Kamaliah bt. Nik Abdul Rahman
Assistant Publication Officer
Pn. Che Asiah bt. Mohamad Ali
Design and Production
Inforeach Communications Sdn Bhd
Buletin Ingenieur is published by the Board of
Engineers Malaysia (Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia)
and is distributed free of charge to registered
Professional Engineers.
The statements and opinions expressed in this
publication are those of the writers.
BEM invites all registered engineers to contribute
articles or send their views and comments to the
following address:
Publication Committee
Lembaga Jurutera Malaysia,
Tingkat 17, Ibu Pejabat JKR
Kompleks Kerja Raya Malaysia,
Jalan Sultan Salahuddin
50580 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2698 0590 Fax: 03-2692 5017
E-mail: [email protected] [email protected]
Web site: http://www.bem.org.my
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Editor’s Note
The introduction of extra pages in the December
2003 issue has attracted positive comments from our
readers. The Publication Committee will continue to
focus on policy, guidelines, good practices, issues and
general information related to the engineering
profession.
In view of the new structure of contents, there was
a proposal to change the name of the publication as the name ‘buletin’
may not adequately convey the contents anymore. Readers are welcome
to forward their views and suggestions to the Publication Committee.
Ir. Fong Tian Yong
Editor
BULETIN INGENIEUR 6