Dr. Jim Wiethorn elected to National Academy of Engineers

Jim Wiethorn, B.A. ’73, Ph.D., has been elected to become a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), which is among the highest professional honors in the field of engineering. He will be formally inducted during the NAE’s Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 5, 2025. Wiethorn, a forensic engineer, is founder and chairman of International Crane & Construction Safety Solutions LLC, Sugar Land, Texas. 

Dr. Wiethorn was elected “For research on and analysis of crane accidents, saving lives through improved technology and training,” according to the NAE press release. Its members are among the world’s most accomplished engineers from business, academia, and government. Founded in 1964, the NAE provides independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation.

A longtime member of the Board of Advocates for Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS), Dr. Wiethorn has a Baylor family legacy that includes the construction of multiple campus buildings, such as the Wiethorn Building, Carroll Science Building and the Hooper Schaefer Fine Arts Building.

“We are delighted to celebrate the tremendous recognition of Dr. Wiethorn’s outstanding contributions to the field of engineering with his election to the National Academy of Engineering,” said Daniel Pack, Ph.D., Dean of the School of Engineering and Computer Science at Baylor University. “This prestigious honor reflects his years of dedicated work and expertise in crane technologies. It also serves as a testament of the quality and success of Baylor graduates, highlighting the significant impact they continue to make in the fields of engineering and computer science.”

Earlier this academic year, Wiethorn was a guest speaker for an audience of ECS students and faculty. Read about his storied career below.

Jim Wiethorn, B.A. ’73, Ph.D., is founder and chairman of International Crane & Construction Safety Solutions LLC, Sugar Land, Texas. The edited transcript is from September 26, 2024.

“When I got out of school, I didn’t know there was such a thing as forensic engineering. After working in design for about 10 years, I moved back to Waco to work in construction with my dad, a third-generation general contractor. I started working across the street from here, on Hooper Shaeffer Fine Arts Building, and we built the Wiethorn Center. My dad was getting ready to retire and I kept getting calls from companies, and that’s when I figured out I can make a living out of forensic engineering.

In engineering, you're constantly solving problems. What broke? What happened? How do you fix it? As a general contractor, you do that even more. So, with my background, my interest in forensics was natural. A judge here in Waco, Jim Meyer, got me started in it, and I have subsequently testified in 175 trials and 400 depositions. 

You’ve got to be able to explain things at a level that a jury can understand. Written and oral communication is critical. You can be the best analyst in the world, but if you can't explain it, you've got problems.

In my career, I've consulted on 1,350 crane accidents all over the world. I'm currently still doing some work, with cases in Australia, South Korea, Finland, and Holland. I just finished one up in Argentina. 

A couple of high-profile jobs I’ve done over the years: Miller Park in Milwaukee in 1999 [one of the worst crane accidents in U.S. history] and I worked on designing cableway system for the new Hoover Dam bypass bridge [for five years] after the original system collapsed. You can drive two buses through those concrete arches which are 1,190 feet clear span. That was one of the most unique jobs I’ve ever worked on.

Upon leaving our family construction company, I joined Haag Engineering in Dallas, the oldest forensic firm in the world. They just turned 100 years old in 2024. I was there for 35 years, with 24 years as chairman of the board. Soon after I joined Haag, I decided cranes were my niche.

I enjoyed construction-related matters, materials, et cetera. And I know that Baylor has a Materials Science and Engineering PhD program, which is one of the hottest areas in forensics. Knowledge of materials and their applications is critical to forensics.

Three days after I started with Haag, a tower crane collapsed in Dallas. Nobody else in our company knew how a tower crane worked, so I selected to go. That’s when I started, March 2, 1987, and 1,350 later accidents later, we’re still going. I have compiled a database of more than 900 accidents. It’s the largest in the world. The next largest, compiled by the University of Tennessee, had about 100. I set up the database with input from MIT, which provided parameters for inclusion. Bottom line, it can't be just my opinion. There must be an OSHA report, an incident report, so you have documentation and some type of oversight.

If I’m looking from a crane standpoint in any construction, these are some of the issues that I’m evaluating. Measurements are very critical. That’s why we do a lot of 3D laser scanning now. The Hoover Dam, we used LIDAR. What took about six hours to document would have taken us three to five months previously if done by hand. We were able to get a lot of very detailed information from that. And when you look at situations, particularly with the crane, what are you dealing with weight, radius, height, all of which are numbers and geometry. I want to point out that experience has shown that at least 70 percent of accident causation can be determined just by geometry: you have the load too far, you swung too fast, something of that nature.

I serve on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers B30 Committee that establishes the national consensus standards for cranes. For years, if something went wrong, the operator was nearly always blamed. We have since put together a system where we establish duties and responsibilities of all the parties, which enables us to document where the responsibility lies. 

Also, when you have workers who don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing, that’s hazardous. These committees established those guidelines. What my research has done, is detail exactly who and what was responsible for crane failures. 

There are 93 specific items in the standards of OSHA, ASME, B30, ISO, that are detailed in relation to personnel involved in crane lifts.  The lift director, which is the person that designates the riggers, develops a lift plan, gets things together and directs it. Out of those 93 items, 23 of them are the operators’ responsibilities. The operator needs a lot of help from a lot of people doing a lot of things. 

When I was doing my initial qualification exams for my PhD, one of the professors said, "Well, Jim, why are you doing this? Everybody knows that 90% of the accidents are operator error." Okay, I'm going to show you where you're wrong. I got ready for my defense and played a video of an accident that happened very close to the university. On a concrete tilt wall panel is what we call a clutch. A ring goes in, wraps around, and ties onto the anchors so that you can pick it up.

Well, they forgot to lock it. The panel is raised almost vertical when the clutch releases from the panel and it falls, hits the ground and turns the crane over. Turned out to be a rigger mistake, not the operator. I turned to my professor and said, “Now do you understand?” We look at witness marks and what made contact in what order. You can backtrack and put those items together, and it's very effective with crane accident forensics.

My master's degree is in wind effects on structures. We get into the effects of weather such as the Dallas tower crane accident, which I was involved with for three or four years.

We have a lot of different issues related to wind. You're basically a detective. You're going through, you're taking witness statements, and there you must take it with a grain of salt—you must be very careful. Even if you think you know all the answers, go in there and find the information to support that conclusion. That's the way you must do it.

Finally, we go through the standards. We must show the court what standards apply to individuals and companies and have all of those listed out so that we have a very clear path of damage and responsibilities. Some of the types of assignments are building collapses, product failures, mechanical electrical failures, construction scheduling, crane equipment failures, foundation, automobile, weather and energy, oil and gas. And I've worked in about all of them, but I'm very careful not to get too far out of my areas of expertise. 

Typically, our clients want to know what happened, how much will it cost to repair or replace, and can we get our money back? Making sure you've got the right information is critical to everybody. 

On the point of staying in your area of expertise: When I first got into forensics in 1985, the saying was, if you're an engineer, you can do anything. There are a lot of things you don't know about and other fields that you really need someone with specific expertise. So for me, purely from an ethical standpoint, stick with what you know from personal and professional experience. That is the thing that's going to carry you along and get you the furthest. Practical experience in the field is critical. 

I know many people try to go straight out of school into forensics. The problem with that is, if for instance, you have never designed a beam, how can you tell me that's wrong? It's best to get some experience. There are obvious things, but then they're very easy to support just by doing the numbers. 

We also do grammatical reviews, technical reviews, and presentation reviews before we go into a courtroom. You have to listen very carefully to what attorneys are asking. Tell the truth and admit anything your client did wrong early in your report. The attorneys I work with are well prepared in the details of the case. And the bottom line is, if you are one of the best forensic engineers, word gets around, and you get paid the best.

I've always told young engineers, do what you like. If you like it, you're going to become good at it. If you like concrete, stay with concrete. Like doctors who become specialists, it’s the same with engineering. Once your name gets out, work will start to flood in. And try to get on committees, they create guidelines and regulations that become the basis for many of your opinions. An attorney was asking me about the responsibilities on ASME B30, and he said, "How do you know that's what it means?" I responded, “I’m the one who wrote it.”

The committees love to have volunteers, and you learn a lot. You also meet potential clients. When considering forensic firms, look at the thoroughness of their training programs. It’s critical how good you become at your craft.

In 2014, I published a book [Crane Accidents: A Study of Causes and Trends to Create a Safer Work Environment, Haag Engineering: 2014] from the first 500 crane accidents. That went very well, and I'm planning to update that one once I hit 1,000. I have written several articles and travel all over the world for these cases. Once, I was on the front page of the New York Times related to a tower crane failure. 

Another interesting thing is people make arguments that the age of a crane can be a problem. When I did all my cranes, the oldest one was 91 years old. The bottom line is maintenance. Just like anything else, if you take care of it, it's going to last. 

That’s an overview of what I've done in my career. And I'll tell you, it's been fantastic. It's been a lot of fun. And I would highly encourage anyone with interest to get into forensics.

Q&A

What changes would you make early in your career for education? None. I was lucky. I found things that I thoroughly loved and stayed with it. Like I said before, if you like it, you're going to be good at it. Find something that really appeals to you and really get into it.

What has an engineering degree enabled you to accomplish? There are a lot of quote–unquote experts that are in this field of forensics, but very few, if any, have engineering degrees, believe it or not. As a result, and being on the standards committee, I can say yes or no with more authority. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. The engineering degree is something when you finally get it, it's that one big relief. Finally, finally got there. 

Is experience necessary for a successful forensic career? Not necessary, but I would highly recommend it. I was extremely lucky in that I grew up in construction and owned and operated cranes. When we built the Hilton Hotel in Waco, I ran the tower crane. 

What would you do differently? Nothing. I don't know if it would've really helped me starting in forensics earlier, because every year that I was out getting field experience, that was extremely valuable. So, I don't think I would've changed anything. 

Do you need a PE license to do forensic engineering? If you're going to work for an engineering firm, you do. 

You said some jobs last four or five years. What does that look like? For some projects like the Hoover Dam, I'd go there on Sunday night and we'd work 12 to 16 hours a day, six days a week. And then I'd leave Saturday night and go home to Texas. If it was nothing real critical, I'd wouldn’t go back for a week. Most of the projects are much shorter: you go out two, four, six hours and get your data.