Category: Business & Commerce, Employment Are You Prepared to Deal With Marijuana in the Workplace? TASA ID: 321 Medical marijuana is now legal in 23 states and Washington D.C. which is proving to be confusing for businesses, employees and job applicants. It becomes even more confusing because federal law classifies marijuana as a schedule 1 drug -- the same as heroin and overrides state laws. So how does this affect your company policies? Read more
Category: Appraisals / Valuations, Aviation What You Need to Know Before Hiring an Aircraft Appraiser TASA ID: 4642 One of the factors which impacted both the S&L collapse of the ’80s and the real estate crisis early in the 21st century was artificially inflated evaluation reports from supposedly professional real estate appraisers. Aircraft financing has been impacted just as seriously, even though this situation isn’t something most lenders will discuss openly. However, it raises a question regarding the legitimacy of any individual aircraft appraiser or “professional” appraisal organization. After all, there are no legal requirements placed on the aircraft appraisal industry; therefore, anyone can call themselves an aircraft appraiser – regardless of their knowledge, skills and abilities. Read more
Category: Accident Analysis / Reconstruction, Auto Safety, Automotive/Trucking, Transportation Event Data Recorders (EDR) and the importance of evaluating the data with the available physical evidence This expert has retired from practice TASA ID: This EDR data, as I tell jurors, is only as good as the paper it is printed on. The EDR data cannot tell how a collision took place of if the speed recorded by the EDR was the actual speed of the vehicle. Was the vehicle sliding on ice or was it rolling over? The collision reconstructionist must be critical of the EDR Data... Read more
Category: Auto Safety, Automotive/Trucking, Safety CAFE Rules, Lightweight Vehicles & Questions of Safety TASA ID: 3190 Recently adopted fuel efficiency rules in the USA require that passenger vehicles must achieve an average of 54.5 miles per gallon by the year 2025. This “average” is further detailed into different goals for different sizes and class of vehicles and does not mean that all automobiles have to achieve the average 54.5 mpg. However, it still represents a big jump from today’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) numbers, especially because the phased march towards this goal must begin with the 2017 vehicles. Read more
Category: Maritime / Boating Accidents Deficiencies Found in Many Marine Stairways and Ladders Resulting in Accidents TASA ID: 674 After inspecting more than 100 marine stairways in which accidents occurred, we found several deficiencies in the steps and handrails of stairs that are consistently repeated. The following comments are extractions from reports of inspections of stairs from large passenger vessels to small tugboats. Read more
