Mark joined Burgoynes in 1989 and became a Partner in 1995.  He began his engineering career in 1981 with British Aerospace, with whom he completed a technical apprenticeship.  He has a degree in engineering from Cambridge University.  Since 1989 he has been continuously occupied investigating incidents of an engineering nature, fires and explosions.  He has undertaken over 1000 investigations and has given evidence in civil and criminal courts and to arbitration tribunals as an expert witness.  He has frequently acted as a single joint expert and his evidence has 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 undertaken investigations in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Asia and the Falkland Islands.

The Engineering incidents he has investigated include major rail incidents (including site investigations at Ladbroke Grove, Paddington, Hatfield, Selby, Potters Bar and Ely), accidents involving cranes, lifts and work-access equipment, accidents on fairground rides, 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 of his investigations have focussed on both Public Liability and Product Liability issues.

His involvement with crane accident investigations is extensive, covering tower cranes, road and rail-mounted cranes, crawler cranes and travelling gantry cranes; as well as a range of access equipment, such as mobile elevated working platforms (MEWPs), window cleaning cradles and various hydraulically operated systems.  Mark was involved in numerous prominent incidents, including the Canary Wharf crane collapse, the Avonmouth Bridge gantry collapse and Durrington School crane collapse.

His experience also extends to fires involving large industrial plant, road and rail vehicles, aircraft, ships and domestic appliances, including situations where recalls have been initiated.  He has investigated incidents arising from the physical and chemical properties of substances, the mechanical properties of structures, fluid dynamics and thermodynamic phenomena.  This includes explosions resulting from the combustion of vapours and gases, and from hydraulic, steam and other ‘mechanical’ causes.

Mark has investigated marine fires involving hydrocarbon fuels, reefer cargoes, the spontaneous ignition of oil-soaked lagging, charcoal, fish-meal and calcium hypochlorite, including containerised cargoes.   Heat-transfer calculations have been undertaken to analyse many situations, including the heating of drums in a container next to a heated tank, solar heating, the temperature profile resulting from welding, the effect of condensation, the cooling of glass in a manufacturing facility following a machinery breakdown, and temperature variations during the discharging of ship tanks.  He has advised ship operators in connection with the dispersion of hazardous chemicals and combustion products in fire-fighting run-off water. 

As well as investigating on the instructions of parties involved in commercial litigation,  Mark has been retained in numerous instances where accidents at work have led to prosecutions for manslaughter or breaches of Health and Safety legislation or other legislation enforced by the safety regulatory authorities, including the HSE, EHOs, the ORR and the CAA.