Expert Details

Environmental, Health and Safety Project Engineering Management; Complex Legal Chemical Circumstances

ID: 108131 Massachusetts, USA

Expert specializes in providing expert legal opinions and due diligence consulting with a strong emphasis on chemicals, equipment use, environmental and safety related best management practices, employee safety, effect of chemicals, installation of equipment and his knowledge of equipment and chemical use. He serves law firms, advises private equity and venture capital firms, manufacturers evaluating merger & acquisitions, insurance companies, equipment manufacturers and chemical suppliers, and mining companies on a worldwide basis.

Number of years as an expert: 35+

Expert is a highly regarded chemical engineer, entrepreneur and expert witness specializing in industrial chemical, environmental, health and safety engineering; and has been providing guidance and opinions to attorneys, governments, and organizations across the globe. Expert provides his unbiased expert opinions, assessments, depositions and testimony, for both plaintiff and defense, in complex environmental, chemical, and health & safety industrial disputes. He bases his opinions on professional experience, academic expertise, research, and the evidence-based facts of each case. Expert is an invaluable asset to attorneys delivering clear & concise opinions to any audience, and ensures that complex chemical, environmental, and safety terminology & data can be understood by those with, and without technical expertise. His diverse experience across the globe, and as an entrepreneur also enables him to evaluate multiple verticals related to the appropriateness and reliability of other experts' data and opinions throughout the litigation process.

In 2010, Expert provided assistance to a law firm for a plating on plastics manufacturer (using chromium) who was the plaintiff in a suit against an installer of and the supplier of a floor coating protection system in a rinse collection trough that was applied on top of a concrete floor. Within a few years after the installation the bonding between the floor and parts of the protective coating failed and small holes, that may have been caused by improper application of the coating, in that coating allowed contaminated chrome bearing rinses to flow into the soil under the area where the plating line was located. Expert's knowledge of floor coating materials, plating on plastic technologies and suitable wastewater treatment methods, typical installation and equipment liability concerns, and the best practice of wastewater collection and segregation allowed Expert to provide guidance.

Provided guidance, in 2022 to a third-party defendant, a construction company, in a civil case. The plaintiff, a hotel and resort company, had purchased an eco-friendly wastewater treatment system, to be partially housed in a new heated greenhouse, from the designers of that system that failed. That treatment process consisted of mixing/equalization, anaerobic and aerobic processing followed by polishing wetlands prior to final disposal in subsurface leaching chambers. The surrounding landscape consisted of vegetated wetlands. The primary defendants were firms that jointly designed and supplied some equipment, vegetation, and installation services. The primary defendants filed complaints against selected firms (other so-called third-party defendants) that provided certain installation and landscape services, structural support services, concrete piping, excavation, and equipment that was not provided directly by the primary defendants. Not every third-party defendant had a contract.

Expert was contracted to provide guidance to various C-Level stakeholders in a chemical company on a potential merger and acquisition possibility taking into account taxation policy changes at that time concerning the effect of biodiesel subsidy termination on the paper and pulp industry.

In projects involving capital equipment, Expert is equipped to prepare the desired specifications for a client prior to requesting proposals from various vendors. Expert has been involved, in over 45 years, assessing various vendors by visiting sites supplied with equipment by each vendor, meeting at the vendor's facility to assess their personnel and facility capabilities, and discussing proposals issued. Expert will assess each proposal to determine, at least, compliance to applicable building codes and regulatory compliance where necessary. Expert has coordinated building construction & utility requirements, site renovation to accept the equipment, equipment installation, startup and operations.

Expert provided engineering design, installation and commissioning services for the Hewlett-Packard OKI Printed Circuit plant, a 116,000 square foot (of which 66,000 square feet contains the fabrication equipment) printed circuit manufacturing facility, located in Aquadilla, Puerto Rico for the Hewlett-Packard Company Corporate Real Estate, in Palo Alto, CA. In addition to reviewing alternative equipment proposals, reviewing methods to reduce power costs and selecting a high quality water purification system (up to 18 MEG) and then a wastewater treatment equipment supplier, Expert reviewed the detailed treatability studies, detailed process flow and instrumentation drawings, materials of construction and the control sequence for operating each system. The design project included the bulk storage systems for chemicals and sludge produced, as they had to be hauled off the island of Puerto Rico for ultimate disposal. Expert was responsible for inspecting the equipment, the installation, training of operators, equipment start up and to verify that the system performed as originally guaranteed by the supplier (which included a factor of safety). The wastewater treatment system included two (2) shallow bed decationizers (selective cation exchange) for copper removal, parallel plate electroplating (using variable current density control) to recover copper, a system for the treatment and removal of photo-resist solids, a proprietary electroless copper treatment system, a sulfide precipitation system, an alkaline etchant (ammoniacal chloride) recycling and copper recovery system, and an oxidation system (hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by ultraviolet light) to reduce the organic content of the wastes.

Specialization Focus:
• Environmental Issues & Industrial Accidents (EH&S)
• Primary Metal Fabricators
• Manufacturers of Electronics
• Printed Circuit Fabricators
• Complications involving Chemicals, Equipment use with individuals
• Toxicity
• Wrongful Death
• Best Business Practices during equipment acquisition, installation, and operation
• Brownfields Development
• EcoFriendly wastewater treatment systems

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Education

Year	Degree	Subject	Institution
Year: 1972	Degree: M.S.	Subject: Chemical Engineering, Polymer Chemistry and Accounting Minors	Institution: Northeastern University
Year: 1969	Degree: B.S.	Subject: Chemical Engineering	Institution: Northeastern University

Work History

Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 1988 to Present	Employer: Undisclosed	Title: Environmental Health and Safety Specialist	Department:
Responsibilities: Advisor to attorneys, law firms, private equity and venture capital firms and manufacturing firms on an international basis. Safety specialist in complex chemical circumstances. Expert specializes in providing expert legal opinions and due diligence consulting with a strong emphasis on chemicals, process equipment use, environmental process and safety related best management practices, employee safety, effect of chemicals, installation of equipment and his knowledge of equipment and chemical use. He serves law firms, advises private equity and venture capital firms, manufacturers, firms evaluating merger and acquisitions, insurance companies, equipment manufacturers, commercial establishments, chemical suppliers, and mining companies on a worldwide basis.
Years	Employer	Title	Department
Years: 1971 to 1988	Employer: Systems Engineering and Manufacturing Corporation, Inc.	Title: Vice President of Sales	Department: Environmental Division, including Chemical Laboratories, Engineering, Design and Equipment assembly and installation
Responsibilities: Expert provided leadership to his team, to his management, to potential and actual customers to at least meet and exceed environmental and employee safety requirements. Expert retained and trained outside equipment representatives and outside and inside salespeople. Expert provided opinions and advice to federal and state regulator as requested. Expert's customers were primarily from the fabricated metals (aerospace, electronics, automotive, etc.) industries.

Government Experience

Years	Agency	Role	Description
Years: 1967 to 1971	Agency: Massachusetts Division of Water Pollution Control	Role: Assistant Sanitary Engineer	Description: Expert reviewed engineering reports, plans, and equipment specifications submitted by professional engineering firms for a variety of industrial categories within Massachusetts. Expert conducted onsite investigations and collected samples to determine compliance at various industrial, municipal, and federal sites treating or producing waste. In addition, Expert worked with State and Federal enforcement attorneys and agents to provide expert testimony at civil proceedings.
Years: 1964 to 1967	Agency: Massachusetts Department of Public Health	Role: Sanitary Engineering Aide	Description: As a co-op student at Northeastern University's Chemical Engineering school, Expert conducted onsite assessments of industrial sites, landfills, and toxic waste sites. He worked at the state laboratory analyzing waste, drinking water, and soils.

International Experience

Years	Country / Region	Summary
Years: to Present	Country / Region: Taiwan	Summary: Onsite environmental assessments resulted in recommendations for three electronic manufacturers over 10 days regarding pollution prevention and recycling, presented a two-day training seminar for over 40 metal fabrication manufacturing firms on best practices and costs using process bath purification and recovery techniques in addition to wastewater treatment technologies. Coordinated these activities with local commercial service officials in the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Years: to Present	Country / Region: Taiwan	Summary: Created Buyer’s Guide listing costs and identifying local / international environmental equipment and services suppliers for the printed circuit board industry.
Years: to Present	Country / Region: Singapore	Summary: Specified, designed (in cooperation with personnel at the Longueuil headquarters), and operated the equipment including training onsite personnel in the operation of an industrial water recycling process and wastewater treatment system, including a packaged ultrafiltration oil-removal unit at an aircraft engine overhaul facility for Pratt & Whitney Canada in Singapore.
Years: to Present	Country / Region: Singapore	Summary: Certified compliance to manufacturing and installation standards of fiberglass exhaust ducts and other equipment assembled and manufactured in Malaysia to A.S.T.M. and S.P.I. standards used to collect, transport and purify emissions produced from tanks, pumping stations and other sources at the Seletar Wastewater Treatment facility in Singapore.

Career Accomplishments

Associations / Societies
- Member of the USA-Republic of China Economic Council - Member of the International Organization for Standardization's ISO (14000) US/TAG in preparing international standards for environmental activities - Member of the Environmental Committee of the American Electroplaters and Surface Finishing Society - Member in the American Electroplater's Society and in environmental committee within the Institute of Printed Circuits - Senior member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and is - Registered as a consultant with various international multilateral development banks.

Associations / Societies

- Member of the USA-Republic of China Economic Council
- Member of the International Organization for Standardization's ISO (14000) US/TAG in preparing international standards for environmental activities
- Member of the Environmental Committee of the American Electroplaters and Surface Finishing Society
- Member in the American Electroplater's Society and in environmental committee within the Institute of Printed Circuits
- Senior member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and is
- Registered as a consultant with various international multilateral development banks.

Licenses / Certifications
Registered Professional Chemical Engineer in Massachusetts (At one time, Expert was registered and practiced engineering in 22 states.)

Professional Appointments
- Chair of the Occupational Health and Safety Committee - Qualified as a candidate for a pool of experts who can be available to the Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) on an ad hoc basis to assist in reviews conducted by the Committee within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Awards / Recognition
- Requested to provide a Expert review evaluating chromium use alternatives by industries for U.S. EPA’s Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A. - Requested to evaluate a target company in India (by a venture capital firm in India) that claimed to have developed a system for economically recovering precious and other metals from prescreened scrap printed circuit boards (“PCB’s”). Expert’s task was to assess the development of that system on a pilot scale followed by scaling up to a larger commercial profitable system and to assess the market opportunities from the recovery and resale of the precious metals including but not limited to gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium. This project was cancelled as the target company and venture capital firm could not establish an agreeable contract. - Requested to participate, by EPA, and contributed to the EPA Design for the Environment publication titled “Printed Wiring Board Pollution Prevention and Control Technology: Analysis of Updated Survey Results”, publication EPA 744-R-98-003.

Awards / Recognition

- Requested to provide a Expert review evaluating chromium use alternatives by industries for U.S. EPA’s Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory, in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.
- Requested to evaluate a target company in India (by a venture capital firm in India) that claimed to have developed a system for economically recovering precious and other metals from prescreened scrap printed circuit boards (“PCB’s”). Expert’s task was to assess the development of that system on a pilot scale followed by scaling up to a larger commercial profitable system and to assess the market opportunities from the recovery and resale of the precious metals including but not limited to gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, and ruthenium. This project was cancelled as the target company and venture capital firm could not establish an agreeable contract.
- Requested to participate, by EPA, and contributed to the EPA Design for the Environment publication titled “Printed Wiring Board Pollution Prevention and Control Technology: Analysis of Updated Survey Results”, publication EPA 744-R-98-003.

Publications and Patents Summary
Expert has written on hazardous chemicals handling in a litigation setting. He has also authored 13 OSHA Train the Trainer instruction manuals, which were prepared for the American Electroplaters and Surface Finishing Society. These Expert-reviewed manuals contained graphics and played a major role in a four-day intensive course for employees and their trainers. Topics included: • Hazard Assessment • Hazard Communication • Personal Protective Equipment • Record-keeping • OSHA Training Requirements • Lock-out / Tag-out of Hazardous Energy • Permit Required Confined Spaces • Process Chemical Safety Management • Medical Surveillance • Heat Stress • Fall Protection • Laboratory Safety Standard • Blood-borne Pathogens

Publications and Patents Summary

Expert has written on hazardous chemicals handling in a litigation setting. He has also authored 13 OSHA Train the Trainer instruction manuals, which were prepared for the American Electroplaters and Surface Finishing Society. These Expert-reviewed manuals contained graphics and played a major role in a four-day intensive course for employees and their trainers.

Topics included:
• Hazard Assessment
• Hazard Communication
• Personal Protective Equipment
• Record-keeping
• OSHA Training Requirements
• Lock-out / Tag-out of Hazardous Energy
• Permit Required Confined Spaces
• Process Chemical Safety Management
• Medical Surveillance
• Heat Stress
• Fall Protection
• Laboratory Safety Standard
• Blood-borne Pathogens

Additional Experience

Expert Witness Experience
# of yrs. as an expert: 30+ # of times retained, deposed an/or court testimony: 11 Expert is a highly regarded chemical engineer, entrepreneur and expert witness specializing in industrial chemical, environmental, health and safety engineering; and has been providing guidance and opinions to attorneys, governments, and organizations across the globe. Expert provides his unbiased expert opinions, assessments, depositions and testimony, for both plaintiff and defense, in complex environmental, chemical, and health & safety industrial disputes. He bases his opinions on professional and business experience, academic expertise, research, and the evidence-based facts of each case. Expert is an invaluable asset to attorneys delivering clear & concise opinions to any audience, and ensures that complex chemical, environmental, and safety terminology & data can be understood by those with, and without technical expertise. His diverse experience across the globe, and as an entrepreneur also enables him to evaluate multiple verticals related to the appropriateness and reliability of other experts' data and opinions throughout the litigation process. Working for the plaintiff’s attorney in Indiana, Expert contributed critical details to a confidential settlement communication that was agreed upon during mediation and prepared an expert report for a case that would have been heard in Federal Court. That report will be used to verify the claim that a previous owner and occupier of a manufacturing site used chlorinated solvents, misused paints and ignored underground fuel storage tanks that contaminated the soil and groundwater. The plaintiff was a bona ﬁde prospective purchaser (BFPP) as defined under US CERCLA regulations and looks to develop the (brownfields) site as a commercial business complex. Defending the stormwater and wastewater treatment practices at a complex petrochemical facility. Expert was retained to evaluate the wastewater and stormwater management systems at the petrochemical plant and to express his expert opinion in writing and provided an 8-hour deposition with regard to whether those systems comport with best management practices and were sufficient to prevent the discharge of floating solids from the Facility in other than trace amounts. Expert reviewed and analyzed the plaintiff’s expert report. This was a civil case heard in federal court. A job shop commercial electroplater located in Belmont, Massachusetts, was fined by the Massachusetts Water Resources Agency (MWRA) for violations of their local sewer use ordinance after installing a wastewater treatment system for their metal and plastic finishing wastes. Numerous environmental and plating consultants were hired to assess the performance and design of that treatment system prior to Expert's arrival. Those consultants came to various conclusions, but mentioned nothing specific about the equipment and components that were installed by the equipment vendor. Expert then discovered, within one week, that the vendor, had not installed a critical component that was identified in their contract. Following that discovery, a civil suit was filed against the supplier. Testified in front of a jury over 1.5 days in Federal Court demonstrating that the absence of the missing component adversely affected the performance of the wastewater treatment system.

Expert Witness Experience

# of yrs. as an expert: 30+
# of times retained, deposed an/or court testimony: 11

Expert is a highly regarded chemical engineer, entrepreneur and expert witness specializing in industrial chemical, environmental, health and safety engineering; and has been providing guidance and opinions to attorneys, governments, and organizations across the globe.

Expert provides his unbiased expert opinions, assessments, depositions and testimony, for both plaintiff and defense, in complex environmental, chemical, and health & safety industrial disputes. He bases his opinions on professional and business experience, academic expertise, research, and the evidence-based facts of each case.
Expert is an invaluable asset to attorneys delivering clear & concise opinions to any audience, and ensures that complex chemical, environmental, and safety terminology & data can be understood by those with, and without technical expertise. His diverse experience across the globe, and as an entrepreneur also enables him to evaluate multiple verticals related to the appropriateness and reliability of other experts' data and opinions throughout the litigation process.

Working for the plaintiff’s attorney in Indiana, Expert contributed critical details to a confidential settlement communication that was agreed upon during mediation and prepared an expert report for a case that would have been heard in Federal Court. That report will be used to verify the claim that a previous owner and occupier of a manufacturing site used chlorinated solvents, misused paints and ignored underground fuel storage tanks that contaminated the soil and groundwater. The plaintiff was a bona ﬁde prospective purchaser (BFPP) as defined under US CERCLA regulations and looks to develop the (brownfields) site as a commercial business complex.

Defending the stormwater and wastewater treatment practices at a complex petrochemical facility. Expert was retained to evaluate the wastewater and stormwater management systems at the petrochemical plant and to express his expert opinion in writing and provided an 8-hour deposition with regard to whether those systems comport with best management practices and were sufficient to prevent the discharge of floating solids from the Facility in other than trace amounts. Expert reviewed and analyzed the plaintiff’s expert report. This was a civil case heard in federal court.

A job shop commercial electroplater located in Belmont, Massachusetts, was fined by the Massachusetts Water Resources Agency (MWRA) for violations of their local sewer use ordinance after installing a wastewater treatment system for their metal and plastic finishing wastes. Numerous environmental and plating consultants were hired to assess the performance and design of that treatment system prior to Expert's arrival. Those consultants came to various conclusions, but mentioned nothing specific about the equipment and components that were installed by the equipment vendor. Expert then discovered, within one week, that the vendor, had not installed a critical component that was identified in their contract. Following that discovery, a civil suit was filed against the supplier. Testified in front of a jury over 1.5 days in Federal Court demonstrating that the absence of the missing component adversely affected the performance of the wastewater treatment system.

Training / Seminars
Among other experiences, Expert provided a 2-day workshop in the Republic of China that was paid for by the Country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. He prepared the presentation about two months prior to the Workshop. His objective was to provide guidance to prioritize action plans with options addressing specific pollution prevention concerns, evaluate equipment operating experience and answer questions from both technical and operating personnel from about 60 different companies. The operating, including power, cost for each alternative, its equipment cost and the need for spare parts were included in this presentation.

Training / Seminars

Among other experiences, Expert provided a 2-day workshop in the Republic of China that was paid for by the Country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs. He prepared the presentation about two months prior to the Workshop. His objective was to provide guidance to prioritize action plans with options addressing specific pollution prevention concerns, evaluate equipment operating experience and answer questions from both technical and operating personnel from about 60 different companies. The operating, including power, cost for each alternative, its equipment cost and the need for spare parts were included in this presentation.

Vendor Selection
Expert's greatest asset is his experience with most categories of equipment used in connection with chemical procresses. This includes capital projects management, obtaining, estimating, and analyzing equipment, analyzing terms and conditions of sales, and operating costs from vendors and at various facilities. Expert's equipment design experience makes him comfortable interpreting how changes will affect performance.

Vendor Selection

Expert's greatest asset is his experience with most categories of equipment used in connection with chemical procresses. This includes capital projects management, obtaining, estimating, and analyzing equipment, analyzing terms and conditions of sales, and operating costs from vendors and at various facilities. Expert's equipment design experience makes him comfortable interpreting how changes will affect performance.

Marketing Experience
Webinars: 2 (presenter)

Other Relevant Experience
In 2021, Provided guidance to a third-party defendant, a construction company, in a civil case. The plaintiff, a hotel and resort company, had purchased an eco-friendly wastewater treatment system, to be partially housed in a new heated greenhouse, from the designers of that system that failed. That treatment process consisted of mixing/equalization, anaerobic and aerobic processing followed by polishing wetlands prior to final disposal in subsurface leaching chambers. The surrounding landscape consisted of vegetated wetlands. The primary defendants were firms that jointly designed and supplied some equipment, vegetation, and installation services. The primary defendants filed complaints against selected firms (other so-called third-party defendants) that provided certain installation and landscape services, structural support services, concrete piping, excavation, and equipment that was not provided directly by the primary defendants. Not every third-party defendant had a contract.

Other Relevant Experience

In 2021, Provided guidance to a third-party defendant, a construction company, in a civil case. The plaintiff, a hotel and resort company, had purchased an eco-friendly wastewater treatment system, to be partially housed in a new heated greenhouse, from the designers of that system that failed. That treatment process consisted of mixing/equalization, anaerobic and aerobic processing followed by polishing wetlands prior to final disposal in subsurface leaching chambers. The surrounding landscape consisted of vegetated wetlands. The primary defendants were firms that jointly designed and supplied some equipment, vegetation, and installation services. The primary defendants filed complaints against selected firms (other so-called third-party defendants) that provided certain installation and landscape services, structural support services, concrete piping, excavation, and equipment that was not provided directly by the primary defendants. Not every third-party defendant had a contract.

Fields of Expertise