Intellex Acquires Expert by Big Village

We're thrilled to announce that Intellex has acquired Expert by Big Village, effective March 22, 2024. This strategic move enhances our capabilities and strengthens our commitment to delivering exceptional solutions to our customers.

Stay tuned for more updates on how this acquisition will benefit our clients and experts.

For inquiries or more information, please contact us at info@intellex.com.

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Expert Details

Dust, Liquid, Gas Fire, Explosion Hazards, Process Safety, Electrostatic Hazards

ID: 727838 Maryland, USA

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In his more than 35 years of experiences on dust, liquid and gas fires and explosions, Expert has provided expert services on litigation supports, incident investigations, fire and explosion hazard and risk assessments for diversified industrial facilities, OSHA citations, code and standard compliance reviews, safety training, fire and explosion hazard testing and research. Each type of his service is supported and enhanced by the other services he provides.

Expert Witness and Litigation Support Consulting

Expert has provided professional, impartial advises and expert opinions to law firms, insurance companies and manufacturing businesses in litigation cases related to fires and explosions of dusts, liquids, and gases, and process safety, including:

 Served as expert witness/consulting expert in litigation cases that involved multiple fatalities, injuries, and money amounts up to hundreds of millions of dollars.
 Helped attorneys to navigate through the often-complex mechanisms of the cause, origin, ignition, propagation of fires and explosions and to solve difficult and intriguing issues related to the consequence (injuries and property damages) of fire and explosion incidents.
 Played pivotal roles by providing scientific and technical supports for winning/settling litigation cases.
 The major cases include:

• Imperial Sugar
• Kleen Energy Natural Gas Explosion, Middletown, CT (2010)
• West Pharmaceutical Services Dust Explosion
• Jahn Foundry Explosion, Springfield, Massachusetts;
• Malden Mills Fire/Explosion, Massachusetts; and

OSHA Citation and Compliance Review

 Retained as expert witness/litigation support consultant in OSHA citation / litigation cases related to combustible dusts, flammable liquids, and flammable gases, and provided pivotal supports in these cases in winning/settling the cases.

Consulting
 Provided consulting services to fortune 100 companies and others in diversified industries, as well as governmental and government contractors (DOD and DOE), including:
- Dust Hazard Analysis (DHA);
- Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) (HAZOP and WHAT-IF);
- PSM Audit;
- Electrostatic Hazard Analysis;
- Electrical Area Classification;
- Fire Hazard and Risk Analysis; and
- Self-heating and Spontaneous Combustion.
 Provided effective and practical safe solutions for controlling dust, liquid and gas fire and explosion hazards.

Incident Investigation
 Investigated numerous fire and explosion incidents that occurred in various industrial and business facilities and private properties.
 Pinpointed the fuels and ignition sources that caused the incidents.
 Proved or negated hypotheses of the causes and origins through laboratory testing and full-scale reconstruction / simulation testing.

Training
 Developed and presented the following process safety training courses to numerous EHS professionals and engineers, and loss prevention professionals:
- Electrostatic hazards, assessment, prevention and protection;
- Electrical area classification in areas associated with powder/dust and flammable/combustible liquids are handling operations;
- Gas/liquid vapor fire and explosion hazards, assessment, prevention and protection;
- Dust fire and explosion hazards, assessment, prevention and protection; and
- Chemical/thermal reaction hazards, assessment, prevention and mitigation.
 Provided training courses on dust, liquid and gas fire and explosions, electrostatic, electrical and spontaneous combustion hazards to the US Bureau of Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms (ATF).

Testing and Research
 Acquired extensive experiences in laboratory and full-scale testing and research on dust, liquid and gas fire and explosions, electrostatic hazards, spontaneous combustion / self-heating and mechanical sparks.
 Designed, supervised and performed both standard and specially designed tests to determine the actual fire and explosion hazards under specific conditions.

The successful works on fire and explosion safety are attributed to the strong background in fires and explosions - Ph.D. on gas explosions under the supervision of Prof. Rolf K. Eckhoff, the author of the book “Dust Explosions in the process Industries”, Professional Engineer (PE) on fire protection and Certified Safety Professional (CSP) certification. Moreover, active participation in NFPA standard-making as a Principal Member of the NFPA Technical Committee on Combustible Metals and Metal Dusts (NFPA 484) and the NFPA Technical Committee on Aerosol Products (NFPA 30B) offers deep insights about the development of fire and explosion prevention and protection technologies and methodologies. Through the unique combination of expertise and experience and with understandings of the complexities and the challenges of process safety in various industries, I help clients to achieve fire and explosion safety in effective and practical ways.

Education

Year Degree Subject Institution
Year: 1996 Degree: Ph.D. Subject: Gas Explosion and Dust Explosion Institution: University of Bergen, Department of Physics, Norway
Year: 1985 Degree: MS Subject: Physical Chemistry and Dust Explosion Institution: Department of Metallurgical Engineering, Northeastern University, China
Year: 1983 Degree: BS Subject: Metallurgical Engineering Institution: Department of Metallurgical Engineering, Northeastern University, China

Work History

Years Employer Title Department
Years: 2008 to Present Employer: Undisclosed Title: President Department:
Responsibilities:
Oversee all business activities including consulting, expert witness / litigation support consulting, incident investigations and gas, liquid, laboratory testing and onsite testing, and dust fire and explosion safety trainings.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1996 to 2008 Employer: Chilworth Technology, Inc. Title: Manager on Flammability, Sr. Process Safety Consulting Engineer Department:
Responsibilities:
Assessed fire and explosion hazards in various industrial facilities and investigated many fire and explosion incidents. Provided expert witness in litigation cases. Managed evaluations of dust, liquid and gas fire and explosion hazard properties of materials used/handled in various industrial/commercial facilities. Supervised laboratory tests/experiments of fire and explosion researches and tests.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1989 to 1996 Employer: Christian Michelsen Institute Title: Researcher Department: Christian Michelsen Research (now GexCon)
Responsibilities:
Gas and dust explosion research.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1986 to 1989 Employer: Northeastern University, China Title: Lecturer Department: Department of Metallurgical Engineering
Responsibilities:
Teaching chemical process engineering and research on dust explosions.

International Experience

Years Country / Region Summary
Years: 1989 to 1996 Country / Region: Norway Summary: He worked as a scientist in Christian Michelsen Institute, a renowned research institute in Norway. He participated in a number large gas and dust explosion research programs which were sponsored by European governments and major international oil and gas companies, including HSE (Health & Safety Executive) U.K., Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, BMFT (Bundesministerium fur Forschung und Technologie), BP Norway Ltd. U.A., Conoco Norway Inc., Elf Petroleum Norge A/S, Esso Norge A/S, Gaz de France, Mobil Exploration Norway Inc., Norsk Hydro, Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, N.V. Nederlandse Gasunie, Phillips Petroleum Company Norway, and Statoil (Norway).
Years: 1986 to 1986 Country / Region: China Summary: He worked as an assistant and a lecturer in Northeastern University, Shenyang, China. He was teaching Chemical Engineering and working on dust explosion research projects, which were sponsored by the Chinese government and various industries. He also participated in several dust and gas/vapor explosion incident investigations including the flax dust explosion in Harbin Linen Textile Factory, Harbin, China in 1987. The linen (flax) dust explosion claimed 58 lives and injured 177 workers, among 327 people working in the plant at that time.

Career Accomplishments

Associations / Societies
Member of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
Member of the Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE)
Member of the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE)
Licenses / Certifications
Professional Engineer (PE) - Fire Protection
Certified Safety Professional (CSP)
Professional Appointments
Reviewer of "International Journal of Energetic Materials and Chemical Propulsion."
Reviewer of "Process Safety Progress".
Publications and Patents Summary
In addition to his 27 publications, he prepared numerous confidential technical reports on fire and explosion research, testing, hazard assessment, incident investigations, and presentations.

Additional Experience

Expert Witness Experience
Litigation consulting to legal counsels of corporations. Depositions. Incident investigations. Expert opinions on cause and origin through investigations and analyses.

Hazard assessment of industrial facilities. Safety audits.
Training / Seminars
He has delivered training seminars to numerous engineers, safety professionals, Federal Agents (OSHA and ATF): Dust fire/explosion hazards and control; Gas fire/explosion hazards and control; Liquid fire/explosion hazards and control; electrostatic ignition hazards and control; electrical area classifications.
Other Relevant Experience
Speaks in both local language and safety/technical language, he has provided fire and explosion safety training seminars to Chinese audiences. This has been proven to be very effective for corporations that have operations in China.

Language Skills

Language Proficiency
Chinese Mother Tongue.
Norwegian Lived in Norway for eight years.
Japanese Japanese was his first foreign language.
English He is fluent in English.

Fields of Expertise

aerosol explosion, antistatic agent, blast, chemical process safety management, combustion, dust explosion, electric field strength, electrically conductive coating, electrostatic discharge, electrostatic discharge control, electrostatic discharge testing, electrostatic hazard, explosion hazard, explosion investigation, explosion measurement, explosion origin, explosion protection, explosion safety, explosion safety and hazards analysis, fire prevention, fire protection engineering, fire safety, flame propagation, flammability measurement, flammability standard, gas explosion, gas fire, grain dust explosion, Hazard Communication Standard, hazard identification, incendiary device, incendiary material, induction charging, industrial fire, industrial gas safety, lower explosive limit, propane explosion, propane fire, unconfined vapor-cloud explosion, wood explosion, explosion cause, passive fire protection, chemical explosion, fuel tank fire, oil fire, fuel fire, chemical fire, electrical area classification, deflagration, blast resistance, fire sprinkler system, explosive atmosphere, intrinsically safe, fire suppression system, hazardous location, Factory Mutual Research Corporation, electrostatic charge, metal fire, flame monitoring, industrial exhaust system, flame arrester, explosion-proof motor, flame detection, inerting, Hazard and Operability study, firewall (construction), electrical safety National Electrical Code, duct fire, grain elevator, Uniform Fire Code, National Fire Code, explosion test facility, flame detector, explosive limits, triboelectrification, antistatic additive, potential difference, ignition temperature, charge density, life safety, hydrogen detection, fire modeling, chemical process safety engineering, electrostatic protective package, confined space safety, combustion control system, personnel safety system grounding, air ionization, explosion standard, fire-resistant gypsum board, fire-resistant concrete, fire-resistant plaster, blast-resistant structural design, containment structure design review, electrical fire, chemical plant explosion, chemical process safety analysis, autoignition, fire-resistant coating material, flammability, flash point, fire protection, baghouse, bag filter, fire, flammable material, ignition, explosion, static electricity, safety engineering, risk assessment, protective clothing, product safety, intrinsic safety, flammable material handling, fire safety code, fire-resistant clothing, fire investigation, explosion effect, electrostatic field, electric discharge, dust handling, dust filtration, dust control

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