Mark Phillips

Mark Phillips joined Dr J H Burgoyne and Partners as an Associate in 1989 and became a Partner in 1995.  Since 1989 he has been continuously engaged in the investigation of fires, explosions and incidents of incidents of an engineering nature.  He has undertaken over 1000 investigations and has given expert testimony in civil and criminal courts, and to arbitration tribunals.  His evidence has also been considered by a public enquiry.  He is based in the firm’s London office but has previously worked in the Glasgow office.  He has investigated in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and the Falkland Islands.
 
He has investigated the causes of fires, explosions and other incidents arising from the physical and chemical properties of substances, the mechanical properties of structures, fluid dynamics and thermodynamic phenomena.  Many of his fire investigations have focussed on Product Liability issues.  The explosions he has investigated include not only those resulting from the combustion of vapours and liquid fuels, but also those resulting from hydraulic, steam and other ‘mechanical’ causes.

The Engineering incidents he has investigated include major rail incidents, accidents involving lifts and work-access equipment, hydraulic system failures, incidents arising from defective systems of work and defective safety interlocking systems, defective design, structural collapse, and fatigue and corrosion failures.  Many investigations have required a detailed consideration of thermodynamic phenomena, particularly heat transfer, ranging from incidents in the cargo tanks of sea-going vessels to house-hold appliances.  He has been retained in numerous instances where accidents at work have led to prosecutions for manslaughter and breaches of Health and Safety legislation.

Mark Phillips was a National Engineering Scholar in 1982 and has contributed articles to periodicals and reference works, including sections on pressure vessel failure, dispersion in confined spaces and the ignition of petroleum vapour.  He has lectured in a number of venues and to a range of audiences, including a Post Magazine Conference on Environmental Issues, an Institution of Mechanical Engineers event at the Health and Safety Laboratory and a conference on the potential ignition hazards of mobile telephones at the Institute of Physics.