Course Title: Specialist Engineering Techniques in Transport Safety Investigations
Part A: Course Overview
Course Title: Specialist Engineering Techniques in Transport Safety Investigations
Credit Points: 12.00
Course Coordinator: Professor Simon Barter
Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 8019
Course Coordinator Email: simon.barter@rmit.edu.au
Course Coordinator Location: -
Course Coordinator Availability: by appointment
Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities
Pre-requisites: None.
Assumed Knowledge: It is assumed students have fundamental knowledge on Engineering Materials and Mechanics of Materials, Aircraft/Rail/Marine systems and a basic understanding of general accident investigation techniques and procedures in line with the topics covered in OENG1201 and OENG1202.
Course Description
The course will instruct you in the various procedures and techniques used for engineering investigation of transport incidents and accidents involving air, rail and marine systems taking into consideration relevant underpinning regulations, standards and recommended practices.
The main component of the course will be the application of specialist engineering techniques used to examine the various sources/forms of evidence that maybe generated during the course of a transport safety investigation.
Sources of evidence may be: from information including on-board and off-board systems, how materials, structures and propulsion systems can malfunction or fail and how event reconstruction in the field and through laboratory forensic methods can be used to find contributing factors to the incident and/or factors that increase risk.
Lastly, guidance will be given on the preferred reporting methods used in the elaboration of technical reports supporting the investigation of transport-incidents and accident findings.
Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development
This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes for the Graduate Diploma in Transport Safety Investigation:
- Describe, investigate and analyse complex systems and associated issues (using systems thinking and modelling techniques)
- Identify and assess risks (including OH&S) as well as the economic, social and environmental impacts of industry activities
- Discuss and apply advanced theory-based understanding of engineering fundamentals and specialist bodies of knowledge in the selected discipline area to predict the effect of industry activities
- Apply underpinning natural, physical and applied sciences, mathematics, statistics, computer and information sciences
- Initiate, plan, lead or manage industry activities
- Understand the scope, principles, norms, accountabilities and bounds of contemporary industry practice in the specific discipline
- Communicate in a variety of different ways to collaborate with other people, including accurate listening, reading and comprehension, based on dialogue when appropriate, taking into account the knowledge, expectations, requirements, interests, terminology and language of the intended audience
- Apply a personal sense of responsibility for your work
- Demonstrate orderly management of self, and professional conduct
- Demonstrate professional use and management of information
- Discuss (clearly) your own contributions and the contributions from others and distinguish contributions you may have made as a result of discussions or collaboration with other people
Upon successful completion of this course you should be able to:
- Demonstrate what evidence needs to be collected and how that evidence needs to be handled under the relevant and associated legislation.
- Identify the sources of information that are available for the investigation of transport incidents and accidents, including information that may be stored in on-board and off-board systems, and how it can be retrieved and used.
- Investigate engineering issues that may have arisen during an incident or accident and be able to identify what evidence needs to be collected in a laboratory environment as a supplement to the evidence collected in-situ given the often-limited time available for collecting such evidence.
- Critically analyse the factors that can lead to the degradation of aircraft, marine and train structures and propulsion systems in service, particularly fatigue damage, corrosion, fire, maintenance issues, design issues etc.
- Carry out or direct a laboratory investigation of the collected evidence or any associated evidence, and to be able to arrive at a structured conclusion as to the implications of the evidence.
- Formulate a technical report outlining the evidence collected and logically develop conclusions and recommendations (if needed).
Overview of Learning Activities
This course has been designed as an introduction to the forensic engineering investigation and assessment of, minor through to major incidents in air, maritime and train transport systems.
The primary learning mode will be face-to-face lectures, supported by in-class activities, assignments, and progressive assessment (e.g., quizzes/tests). As a complementary form of acquisition of knowledge in the different topics, students you will be exposed to practical activities replicating real industry scenarios by resorting to selected case-studies and/or techniques/procedures identical to those used in a real working context.
Some topics will require you to review the course material prior to the lecture, then allowing more time for group discussions, presentations and analysis of selected cases.
Course notes and other supporting material will be provided on the course Learning Management System, which is accessed through myRMIT. This can include lecture material, tutorials and references.
This course includes a Work Integrated Learning experience in which your knowledge and skills will be applied and assessed in a real or simulated workplace context and where feedback from industry and/or community is integral to your experience. Examples include:
- industry presentations and panels
- simulations and role plays using industry case studies and processes
The aim of the aforementioned learning activities is to foster critical judgement and structured reporting of the engineering aspects of an incident being investigated. Laboratorial sessions may be included to reinforce the theoretical concepts and to provide hands-on experience.
Finally, you are expected to undertake autonomous study based on proposed individual assignments aiming at deepening the knowledge assimilated during the lectures as well as promoting research habits and independent thinking capabilities.
Overview of Learning Resources
Course-related resources will be provided on-line via the Canvas platform. These may include any of the following elements: course material generated by the lecturer, reference texts, scientific and/or technical literature (e.g., journal papers, government reports, articles in specialized magazines, technical standards) and recommended links to useful material available online (e.g., media resources).
Overview of Assessment
Assessment in this course may include any of the following: individual assignments, oral presentations, written exams.
Assessment Task 1: Quiz
Weighting: 15%
This assessment supports CLOs: 1, 2, 3
Assessment Task 2: Multiple Choice and Short Answer Questions
Weighting: 20%
This assessment supports CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Assessment Task 3: Individual Assignment 1
Weighting: 25%
This assessment supports CLOs: 5, 6
Assessment Task 4: Individual Assignment 2
Weighting: 40%
This assessment supports CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6