Capabilities / Specialist Services
Damage Assessment and Expert Reports
Independent damage assessment and expert reports: site attendance, evidence preservation, failure analysis and technical opinion on cause, extent and responsibility. For insurers, owners and parties in dispute across Saudi Arabia and GCC.
When plant fails or a structure is damaged, the parties involved disagree about three things: what caused it, how far the damage extends, and who carries it. ITMAD provides the independent technical account that settles those questions on evidence rather than assertion.
What we assess
- Mechanical and rotating plant
- Pressure equipment and piping systems
- Process plant and installations
- Electrical systems and equipment
- Lifting equipment and cranes
- Structural and civil damage
- Building services and installations
- Transport and cargo damage
- Fire and heat-affected plant
- Multi-cause and complex events
How the investigation runs
Speed matters more in damage assessment than in any other technical service, because evidence degrades and sites get cleared. Our first priority on instruction is attendance and preservation.
- Site attendance at the earliest opportunity, before clearance or repair alters the evidence
- Evidence preservation — photographic and dimensional recording, identification and secure retention of failed components, and a documented chain of custody
- Preliminary report issued quickly, giving the instructing party enough to make immediate decisions on safety, containment and reserve
- Component examination, including fracture surface examination, dimensional checks, material verification and non-destructive testing
- Laboratory analysis arranged where the failure mechanism requires metallurgical, chemical or electrical examination beyond what site work can establish
- Records and documentation review — maintenance history, operating data, design and manufacturing records, inspection certificates and previous findings
- Interviews with operators, maintainers and witnesses while recollection is current
- Reference to the state of the art, establishing what the applicable standards, codes and industry practice required at the relevant time
- Progress reporting throughout, so the instructing party is not waiting in silence on a long investigation
The expert report
The report states the failure mechanism, the sequence of events that produced it, and the technical opinion on cause, with the evidence for each conclusion set out so it can be examined independently. The extent of damage is assessed and separated from pre-existing condition and unrelated deterioration, which is usually the point on which claims turn. Where the evidence does not support a firm conclusion, the report says so and states what would be required to reach one. Reports are written to be read by non-technical parties — adjusters, legal advisers and management — without losing the technical basis a specialist would want to check.
When this service is used
- Following a failure where cause is disputed or unclear
- To establish the extent of damage and the scope of necessary repair or replacement
- To distinguish damage caused by the incident from pre-existing wear or defect
- To support or challenge an insurance claim on technical grounds
- To establish whether a third party's act, product or workmanship caused the loss, for recourse or subrogation
- Where a contractor and client dispute responsibility for a defect
- To assess the technical condition of plant following an event, before returning it to service
- To determine whether a repair carried out by others was adequate
Independence
ITMAD is an accredited inspection body and holds no interest in the outcome of any claim. We do not carry out repairs, we do not supply replacement equipment, and we do not act for a party on a contingent basis. The finding is the finding, including where it does not favour the party instructing us — which is what makes the report worth having when it does.
Related services
Damage assessment is frequently instructed alongside liability assessment, technical due diligence and valuation work, and draws on the same testing and inspection capability used across ITMAD's inspection services. Where an investigation identifies a systemic cause rather than an isolated failure, we can extend into review of the wider asset population.
Contact ITMAD as early as possible after an incident. The evidence available on day one is rarely available on day ten.