McHugh Forensic Consultants, LLC

Professional Accomplishments ...

Construction, Construction Safety

• Over 40 years of highway, bridge, and building construction experience including commercial construction, high-rise building construction, and public housing projects.
• Served as safety engineer for a $333M major bridge project involving 60 engineers and 400+ construction tradesmen.
• Supervised selection, installation, and maintenance of construction site security measures comprising fencing, gates, and closed circuit TV surveillance.
• Performed safety audits of construction site. Coordinated inspections by OSHA and the Federal Highway Administration.
• Conducted Tool Box Safety meetings.

Streets, Highways

• Designed and implemented construction of streets/highways encompassing vertical/horizontal alignments, appropriate traffic signage, and traffic signals.
• Specified and facilitated pedestrian traffic controls and crosswalk locations.
• Performed vehicular and pedestrian traffic capacity analysis and level of service for streets, highways, and intersections including accident verification.

"This is the largest settlement I have had in my career and would not have been able to get there without you!"

Traffic, Transportation Engineering

• Developed and implemented work zone traffic safety controls comprising advanced warning signs, placement of cones/ barrels/reinforced concrete barriers; conducted flagman training.
• Created and expedited vehicular/pedestrian traffic detours for traffic movement in/around construction work zones.
• Orchestrated traffic detours to reroute 250,000+ commuters daily into/out of Manhattan, NY.
• Designed and facilitated pedestrian detours for sidewalk closures and walkways.
• Planned and executed sidewalk sheds for pedestrian protection and safety.
• Trained by New York and Florida transportation departments in traffic maintenance/protection in construction zones.

Roadside Hazards, Structures

• Identified roadside hazards and structures protection.
• Specified appropriate warnings such as signage and delineation.
• Created and followed through with the installation of protective devices.

Highway Maintenance

• Provided quality control review of the work of highway maintenance contractors.
• Determined items requiring repair, replacement, and/or upgrades.

Concrete

• Designed reinforced concrete foundations and retaining walls.
• Directed the installation of pre-cast concrete structural members.
• Performed compliance with specifications of concrete testing including slump, air entrainment, and strength.
• Worked with concrete throughout over 40 years comprising vertical/horizontal applications and diverse placement methods, transit mixer truck direct, crane/bucket, conveyor, and pumping.
• Conducted concrete condition inspections consisting of weekly analyses of a mile-long concrete bridge deck.

Failure analysis

• Documented and analyzed structural steel damage/deterioration including girder webs, flanges, and truss members.
• Diagnosed failure of steel beam and masonry bearing wall construction.
• Investigated concrete failures in bridge decks, piers, and abutments related to bonding of concrete to reinforcing steel.
• Examined and analyzed cause of chemical damage in concrete.
• Maintained database for ongoing monitoring of concrete failures.
• Evaluated high strength bolt and rivet deterioration and failures.

Trench

• Performed safety audits of contractor trenching activities including utility and foundation work.
• Inspected shoring systems for all types of excavation activities.

Demolition

• Supervised construction of demolition operations involving highways, bridges, buildings, and other structures.
• Reviewed and approved engineering plans for bridge demolition for the United States Coast Guard.

Welding, Flame Cutting

• Managed steel cutting procedures for bridge demolition and selective removal of building components.
• Inspected welds in bridge steel construction.
• Supervised surface preparation prior to welding operations.
• Oversaw welding safety precautions related to eye, clothing, and fall protection.
• Directed precautions to take in slag catchment of welding for public/commercial activities.

Blasting, Construction Vibration

• Managed transfer of explosives, drill site movement, layout of drill holes, setup of drill crews, and loading/blasting operations.
• Oversaw placement of drill rigs from barges to bridge piers and abutments.
• Performed seismic monitoring.
• Conducted preblast and postblast inspections and interviews.
• Provided videographic documentation of drilling, loading, and blasting.
• Utilized 12NYCRR23 and Rules and Regulations of the State of New Jersey.

Dredging

Following the controlled implosion and demolition of the Central New Jersey Railroad Bridge over Newark Bay, dredging operations removed rubble from bay floor to elevations from baseline sea level. Rubble was taken by barge to specified area for construction of a fish sanctuary.

• Utilized divers to verify proper removal of the rubble.
• Supervised hydrologic surveying of the shipping channel.

Crane, Rigging

• Worked with cranes of different sizes in New York and New Jersey including a 500-ton barge crane used to remove steel from the Central New Jersey Railroad Bridge across Newark Bay.
• Evaluated and approved crane use, placement, and rigging plans for construction activities.

Ladder, Scaffold

• Employed proper equipment utilization during a span of 40+ years in construction management and inspection.
• Conducted safety audits for compliance with OSHA standards and applicable codes such as 12NYCRR23 and Part 1926 (Subpart X) as well as New Jersey and Connecticut guidelines.

Confined Space

• Directed operations in confined spaces for the New York City Department of Transportation including manhole access, ventilation, and safety procedures.
• Supervised the pumping of concrete through confined spaces.

Agricultural Engineering

• Own and operate farms in New York, Virginia, and Georgia (30 years).
• Possess extensive background (35 years) in the ownership and care of horses: nutrition, behavior, housing, containment (enclosures, fencing design materials, construction).
• Operate a variety of agricultural machines/implements such as trucks, tractors, hay balers, elevators, harvesters, augers, manure scrapers/spreaders, no-till seeders, wood splitters, and spraying units.
• Select and replace parts in tractors, conveyors, hay elevators, pecan harvesters, and tree shakers.
• Oversee safe agricultural operations consisting of machine guarding to avoid entrapment, safety interlocks, barn ventilation to prevent buildup of poisonous gases, trip/fall hazards, crane/tractor tipovers, and hitch failures.
• Direct and analyze proper grain and hay storage for fire hazard reduction.
• Past member of the American Society of Equine Appraisers.
• See Horse Track Design & Construction.

Please call for a complete CV or to discuss your case.

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