Lawyer Monthly - November 2021 Edition

Can you tell us about IFO Group and the unique expertise that you and your team bring to your clients? IFO Group offers comprehensive expertise in occupational health and safety, process safety management, fire and explosion, toxic release, mechanical integrity, engineering failure analysis, audit and incident investigation services as well as litigation support. We are probably best known to the legal profession for our catastrophic investigation support services which range from providing individual experts to litigation parties to turnkey management of incidents from the moments after the accident to the collection and long-term secure retention of critical physical and electronic evidence. Our consultants have unique expertise in managing catastrophic incidents from the immediate aftermath, coordinating with regulatory agencies, serving as project managers for major demolition and site clearing through to evidence collection, documentation, transport and retention in the event of future litigation. “ There is a popular adage often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, “Failing to plan is planning to fail”, that neatly summarises why planning is so critical to successfully managing these major investigations. scrutiny, notifications to insurers, and the involvement of numerous other affected stakeholders. All of this adds up to a major crisis that most organisations and their legal counsellors struggle to contain without immediate outside assistance. We can be anywhere in North America in a matter of hours and we have been mobilised for international incidents on a number of prior occasions. The faster we arrive on the scene, the more effective we can be in providing assistance to our clients. Can you give us an overview of a recent project? Absolutely. Wewere called to the scene of a process-related explosion last year in New England which turned out to be a once in a generation incident for that area and quite a challenge in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We quickly arrived on-site and We also work with corporate and outside counsel clients who need independent evaluations of occupational health and safety and process safety programs to proactively identify gaps and avoid costly accidents and regulatory actions. Our team is also frequently called upon to provide outside resources and expertise when a company does not have the bandwidth or internal ability to address identified gaps and weaknesses. Of course, we also serve as testifying experts for cases ranging from transportation mishaps to occupational injuries and fatalities to fires and explosions. What types of incidents trigger emergency calls from clients for assistance from your team? We are usually called for catastrophic accidents, especially those involving fires, explosions, structural collapses, toxic chemical releases, pipeline failures, occupational fatalities and major injuries. These incidents typically trigger a number of immediate and cascading consequences to include intense regulatory and media 14 NOV 2021 WWW.LAWYER-MONTHLY.COM