Safety & Design Evaluations for Mobile Industrial Equipment

How can Exponent assist you in assessing the compliance and performance of the design and safety features in your mobile industrial equipment?

Exponent's diverse industry experience and multidisciplinary teams are well qualified to assess allegations of design or manufacturing defects, as well as failure to equip, failure to perform, or failure to warn claims.

Our expert teams include vehicle engineers, materials and corrosion engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, and scientists from our Biomechanics, Data Sciences, Human Factors, and Thermal Sciences practices.

Exponent's scientific and engineering analysis of mobile industrial equipment performance and safety is supported by state-of-the-art laboratories and full-scale testing capabilities, particularly those available at our Test & Engineering Center (TEC) in Phoenix, Arizona.

We regularly apply our expertise to address clients' critical questions involving heavy equipment and machinery.

Heavy equipment & machinery expertise

Mechanical and machine design

Safety system and component design and performance, including machine guarding

Operator protection and field of view

Machinery controls

Material and manufacturing defects

In-service component and system failures

Compliance with regulations, industry standards, and internal product requirements

Adequacy of maintenance or repair practices

Training practices, product documentation (operation manuals, warnings, and instructional labels), and operator behavior

Capabilities & Services

For 50+ years, we've thrived on solving unstructured problems that require bespoke solutions. Some of our capabilities and services include:

Construction machines such as tractors, bulldozers, trucks, agricultural and forestry equipment, and industrial equipment such as forklifts may now be equipped with active safety features, which assist the operator in identifying potential hazards and avoiding collisions or mistakes.
Our experience, expertise, and capabilities investigating the performance and behavior of on-road vehicle Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), make Exponent's engineering consultants uniquely qualified to assist manufacturers of mobile industrial equipment with issues related to the provision or performance of mobile industrial equipment operator-assist features.
Machine guards protect the machine operator and nearby employees from occupational accidents and injuries. The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations mandate that employers provide machine guarding and related safety equipment on any piece of equipment for which exposure to hazardous machine components exist — components such as power transmission apparatus, rotating blades, rollers, or other moving parts that can create pinch points, crush points, or entrapment. These requirements exist for mobile industrial equipment as well as for fixed machinery.
Exponent is experienced at analyzing equipment, equipment hazards, and the manufacturer-provided safety features to determine efficacy and compliance with both the OSHA regulations and consensus industry standards.
Operator protection in mobile industrial equipment comprises rollover protective structures (ROPS), fall-on protective structures (FOPS), intrusion protection, restraint systems, and other safety features.
The size and configuration of many types of mobile industrial equipment also create challenges to the equipment manufacturer, as well as to the machine operator related to operator's field of view and blind spots.
Exponent engineers are experienced in the analysis of complex workplace accidents involving mobile equipment. We clarify for our clients the relative contributions of the operator behavior and the operator interaction with the equipment design, environment, and workplace administrative safety controls regarding a specific incident.

Capabilities

Our Capabilities Are Unparalleled

With expertise in over 90 disciplines and hundreds of capabilities, tools, and methodologies — we get to the root of even the most complex challenges and give you the objective answers you need.

Computer rendering of a tractor trailer accident. Exponent conducts vehicle accident reconstruction and analysis.

Experts

Our global and comprehensive expertise across industries gives us a deep understanding of current challenges, best industry practices, and the implications of emerging technologies.