Seminars - George Rechnitzer & Associates

Seminars

Dr Rechnitzer has presented at over 80 Seminars and Conferences nationally and internationally, on topics including Accident Investigations and Reconstruction, OH&S, Road Safety, Workplace Safety, Forensics Engineering and many others, with most listed below. Such conference attendance also provides opportunity for keeping up to date on developments in many areas relating to safety, litigations support and investigations.

John Doe, CEO

Presentations & Seminars by Dr George Rechnitzer
  • One-day Workshop Presentation to Thai delegation “Collision Reconstruction”, Presenter Dr George Rechnitzer, at Day 3 of the Crash Investigation & Reconstruction Workshop, Safe System Solutions, 14 August 2019.
  • Forensic Incident – Accident Investigation and Reconstruction– 2 day course; 13-14 May 2019, Novotel Sydney Central. Presenters: Professor Raphael Grzebieta, Ms Tia Gaffney and Dr George Rechnitzer. Marcus Evans Professional Training.
  • Member of the Quad Bike Safety Technical Reference Group (TRG) 2017-2018. This group advised the Quad Bike Safety Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) for improving quad bike safety.
  • Associate PhD supervisor (with Prof. R Grzebieta) of David Hicks PhD, Investigation of Quad Bike Rollovers in the Workplace Farm Environment, School of Aviation, Faculty of Science, UNSW, March 2018.
  • Attended the Human Factors in Traffic Crashes, including the I.DRR Software (PRT Software), presented by Jeffrey Muttart Ph.D; November 28 to December 2, 2016 (5days). Melbourne Victoria. Organised by ASPACI.
  • Attended the Bosch Vehicle Crash Data Retrieval (CDR) Operators Course – Melbourne Victoria 27 Nov 2016. Organised by ASPACI.
  • Australasian 2016 Australasian Road Safety Conference, Canberra, Australia; a Conference Editor, and a Peer Reviewer for submitted Conference abstracts and papers.
  • Completed “Body Engineering – Workshop 1”; SAE-A Vehicle Technology Engineering Workshop Series; At Latrobe University, Bundoora, VIC, 1 April 2016.
  • Completed the “Safety in Design- What the Victorian WH&S Legislation Requires of Engineers” course; 10 November 2015; presented by John Giles of Appleseed Engineering, at Engineering Education Australia, Melbourne.
  • Provision of Expert Evidence at the NSW State Coroner Inquest on Quad bike Fatalities, July 20-21 2015, Coroners Court, Glebe, NSW.
  • NTSC-ATSB Advanced Road Safety Investigation Training Course, Jakarta, Indonesia 25-29 May 2015. Co-developer and presenter of the training course with Professor Raphael Grzebieta and Dr Andrew McIntosh, through the Transport And Road Safety Research (TARS) Unit at the University of NSW. Organised through the Australian National Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) in cooperation with and for the National Transportation Safety Committee of the Republic of Indonesia.
  • Dr Rechnitzer is Project Manager for the Quad Bike Performance project at TARS, which is a major $1.3m safety project funder by WorkCover NSW, and led by Professor Grzebieta from TARS. 2012, 2013-2015.
  • Associate PhD supervisor for David Hick’s PhD Quad Bike Safety, University of NSW, TARS, 2014 /2015.
  • Member of Australian Standards Committee ME-51-00-06 Concession Go-Karts from 2012 on. This was for the development of the standard AS 3533.4.4 Amusement rides and devices Specific requirements – Hire go-karts.
  • From 10-18 May 2014, in Sweden, with Professor Grzebieta, presented by invitation to the Swedish Roads and Traffic Administration specialist seminar on the QUAD Bike Project in Australia.
  • From 5-6 November 2013, participated in the Road Side Departure and Barrier workshop in Adelaide.
  • From 28-30 September 2013, attended and presented at the Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference, Brisbane.
  • Editorial Board of the Journal of Health & Safety, Research & Practice, Safety Institute of Australia (SIA), from 2010. (http://www.sia.org.au/journals/Default.aspx?about=journal-about)
  • Editorial Board of Journal of the Australasian College of Road Safety, Peer Review Papers, from 2005. (http://acrs.org.au/publications/journals/)
  • Member of the Victorian Transport Associations’ On Road Operators’ Group till 2012.
  • Chair of the National Technical Panel, SIA, from 2009 to 2011.
  • Australian Research Council– Pedal and Motor Cycle Helmet Performance Study, 2007-09. Principal Investigator with the research team at UNSW led by A/professor Andrew McIntosh.
  • PhD Awarded in 2003: The Improvement of Heavy Vehicle Design to Reduce Injury Risk in Crashes with Other Road Users.
  • Associate PhD supervisor for David Young’s PhD Vehicle Rollover Safety, Monash University Department of Civil Engineering, 2006.
  • Honorary Associate in the Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, 2003-2006.
  • Provision of expert evidence to the Waterfall Special Commission of Inquiry into the Waterfall train crash, 2003.
  • Associate PhD supervisor for Shauna Sherker’s PhD Arm Fractures For Children In Playgrounds, Monash University Accident Research Centre, 2000-2003.
  • Lecture on Preventative Strategies and Countermeasures to Injury: Workplace Injury Prevention. Master Public Health Course – Injury Epidemiology and Prevention; Monash University Accident Research Centre, 10 July 2003, Melbourne.
  • Member Organising Committee for the 2002 International Crashworthiness Conference ICRASH2002, Melbourne, February 2002.
  • Program Organiser for the SAE (USA) TOPTEC conferences on:
    • Military & Emergency Vehicle Safety, Tempe, Arizona, 11-12 Sept 2001.
    • Military Vehicles Safety, San Francisco, 10-11 June 1999.
  • An Invited Keynote speaker at the Injury Prevention 2001 Conference (Fifth National Conference on Injury Prevention and Control & Fourth National Farm Injury Conference), Warrnambool, 25th–28thSeptember 2001.
  • Member of the Transport Industry Safety Group. A group concerned with improving heavy vehicle safety in Victoria, includes representatives from the transport industry, transport union, government authorities and Police, 1998 to 2001.
  • Member of judging panel for the SAE Young Engineers Conference (Australia) for best research paper award, 1998, 1999, 2000.
  • Member of judging panel for the SAE Automotive Engineering Excellence Awards (Australia), 2000, 2003.
  • Member of the Organising Committee for the 2000 Safety in Action Conference (Safety Institute of Australia), and Program Organiser for the Transport stream.
  • Contributing writer & Vehicle Safety Expert, to Which Carmotoring magazine, for safety reviews of new vehicles; and member of judging panel for Which Car’s annual Safety Merit Award (1997-2000).

Professional Experience

1989 to present and ongoing: Principal Engineer, Director, George Rechnitzer & Associates Pty Ltd; consulting Forensic and Safety Engineering. Investigations and expert reports prepared for hundreds of cases relating to vehicle, workplace and other incidents. This work typically relates to accident reconstruction related, or injury/product related analysis. Expert evidence presented in Courts from Supreme to County Court in Australia.

From 1 December 2018 appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor, at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM), School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University.

From April 2012 to present: Adjunct Associate Professor in the Transport and Road Safety Research (TARS), Faculty of Science, University of NSW. An Honorary position.

August 2012 to 2015: Project Manager for the Quad Bike Performance project at TARS, which is a major safety project funder by WorkCover NSW, and led by professor Grzebieta from TARS.

  1. Associate Professor, School of Health & Human Services Faculty of Sciences, Engineering & Health, CQUniversity, Rockhampton, Queensland (fractional appointment). Course Co-Ordinator – Road Accident Investigation Master’s Degree.

From 2011 to August 2012: Principal Consultant, Forensic and Safety Engineering, Delta V Experts. Dr Rechnitzer has no further association with Delta V Experts.

2002 to 2011: DVExperts International Pty Ltd (DVE), Director, Founding member and Principal Engineer.

Dr Rechnitzer undertook business development and staff mentoring at DVE; and investigations, analysis and report preparation over nearly 10 years on many hundreds of cases (including plaintiff, defence and prosecutions) involving road crashes of all types, workplace serious and fatal injury incidents, safety and failure analysis. Clients include well known law firms through to smaller firms, as well as investigations and safety related work for clients ranging from Australia Post, Visy, BHP, Rio Tinto, Police, VicRoads, RTA, WorkCover and Comcare to name a few. George has provided Expert evidence in various cases in the District Court of NSW, and Melbourne County and Supreme court, amongst others.

2004-2008: Consultant to XprtsLLC, CA, USA

Xprts LLC is firm of expert engineers based in California dealing with automotive crash product liability cases in the USA, particularly vehicle rollover. The author provided expert reports, including depositions, in over 30 serious injury and fatal vehicle cases, in plaintiff actions against various automobile manufacturers.

July 1990 to January 2003: Senior Research Fellow, Monash University Accident Research Centre:

Safety Engineering/
Road Safety
Road Safety/
Collision & Reconstruction
Workplace
Safety
2002 Evaluation of Safe Access Platforms for Tractors, part of research team. 1999-2000 Assessment of crash injury risk to vehicle occupants wearing night vision goggles, Department of Defence (with Prof. Tom Triggs). 2000-2001 Forklift Safety Project, Development of ‘blue prints’ for model facility incorporating logistics and traffic management and development of ‘intelligent forklift’, Victorian WorkCover authority.
2001-2002 Development of a Safety Rating System for Tractors, part of research team. 1999 The Effect of Vehicle Roadworthiness on Crash Incidence and Severity, Project manager and researcher, for the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VACC). 1998-2001 Reducing Serious Injury Risk in the Construction Industry, 3 year project for VWA looking at safety in the Construction industry.
2000-2001 Safety of Police Vehicles, testing and analysis of vehicle handling and stability characteristics and development of performance criteria, Victoria Police. 1998 A review of Policies and Practices regarding the transport of dangerous goods through tunnels. Project Manger, 4-person team, for the Melbourne City Link Project. 1998 Evaluation of the Tractor Rollover Protective Structure Rebate Scheme, part of two person Research Team, for the Victorian WorkCover Authority.
1999-2000 Investigation of failures and safety assessment of tailgate loaders, Australia Post. 1998 Testing of Telstra VT Commodore for rear impact, Project manager and researcher; Project involved static and crash testing evaluation of Telstra service vehicle for rear impact. 1994-1997 Occupational Injury Prevention Program – Victorian WorkCover Authority. Identification of potential priority areas for the initiation of systematic activities by the Authority to reduce occupational trauma in Victoria; and the Ballarat regional pilot project for applied injury prevention activities.
1999-2000 Field trial evaluation of energy-absorbing rear underrun barriers. Federal Office of Road Safety. 1996-1997 Petrol Road Tanker Safety Project. Joint project with Dept. of Civil Engineering for the Australian Institute of Petroleum, examining changes to the design of petrol tankers to reduce the risk of petrol leakage and hence fires in the event of a rollover crash. 1997-1998 Improvements to the Victorian WorkCover Authorities Claims Information System. Aim is to enhance the VWA claims information system to enable its effective and efficient use in the VWA’s injury prevention program.
1997-1998 Safe carriage of Personnel in General Services Vehicles. Project Manager and researcher. A comprehensive multi-disciplinary study: “…to identify and examine relevant issues and to make recommendations on future measures for the safe carriage of personnel in Australian Defence Force field vehicles”, for the Australian Defence Force. 1994-1997 Truck Safety Design. Project Manager. A project aimed at further developing improved design of the front and sides of heavy vehicles to reduce their harm potential in crashes with other road users. 1991-1992 Forklift trucks and Severe Injuries: Priorities for Prevention. Project manager. This research project examined the design and use of forklift trucks in industry, with the aim of identifying ways to reduce the incidence and severity of injuries associated with this type of equipment. Funded by the Occupational Health and Safety Commission of Victoria.
1997 Examination, Testing and Analysis of Fall Arrest Device, follows failure of the inertia reel fall protection device and consequent fatality; for the Victorian WorkCover Authority. 1992-1994 Investigation of Passenger Vehicle Rollover Crashes. Project manager and principal researcher. Sponsored by VicRoads. Investigating correlation between vehicle design factors and the nature and severity of occupant injuries.
1994-1997 Development and Testing of Energy Absorbing Rear Underrun Barriers. Project Manager; sponsored by the Federal Office of Road Safety, and in co-operation with VicRoads and the Civil Engineering Department at Monash University. 1990-1993 Truck Involved Crash Study. Project manager and principal researcher. Sponsored by VicRoads. Involved in-depth investigation of crashes between trucks and cars, pedestrians, cyclists and motorbikes; looking at changes to truck design to reduce their harm potential in crashes; included the development and static and dynamic crash testing of effective under run barriers on trucks
1991-1992 Analysis of the 1988 Fatal File-Description of Fatal Crashes involving various Causal Variables. Project Manager. This project is for the Federal Office of Road Safety, and includes the detailed analysis of the 1988 database of Australia wide road fatalities, and the review of some 200 case studies to develop typical crash type scenarios.

1979 to 1989: Senior Design Engineer, Power Department, with the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, Involved in a diverse range of engineering activities related to the planning, design, construction and quality assurance on major structures and civil works for the Loy Yang Power Station project.

1971 to 1979: Design Engineer with the John Connell Group of Consulting Engineers. Responsibilities included analysis, design and documentation of a large variety of structures, including steel, timber and concrete. Structures varied from steel-framed factories, to multi story buildings, bridges, and tunnels and stations for the Melbourne Underground rail loop project. Extensive involvement in the computer modelling and analysis of structures.

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