Expert Witness Experience & Legal Precedents

Edwin Low (MIFireE, ASIArb) has over 20 years of experience investigating complex fires, explosions, and electrical failures.  His portfolio includes more than 400 assignments involving major loss and personal injury.

Representative Fire & Explosion Investigations          

Fire Investigations

Nov 2002 - A restaurant in Clarke Quay, Singapore

Nov 2003 - A coffee shop at the Boon Lay Place, Singapore

Mar 2004 - A garden centre at Joan Road, Singapore

Mar 2004 - A high-rise hotel building at Orchard Road, Singapore

Oct 2004 - A tobacco leaves warehouse building in East Java, Indonesia

Oct 2004 - A white goods warehouse building in Taoyuan, Taiwan

Oct 2005 - A spirit distillation plant in the Nakhon Ratchasima Province, Thailand

May 2006 - A beach resort on the Batam  Island, Indonesia     

Jul 2007 - A mattress factory in the Binh Duong Province, Vietnam

Jul 2007 - A wholesale market in Surabaya, Indonesia

Oct 2007 - A wet market in Ang Mo Kio,  Singapore

May 2008 - A logistic warehouse building in the Chachoengsao Province, Thailand

Jun 2008 - A bulk carrier undergoing conversion in a shipyard in Tuas, Singapore

Jun 2008 - A sofa factory in Selangor, Malaysia

Nov 2008 - A crude oil refinery in Bataan, The Philippines

Dec 2008 - A logistic warehouse building in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Jan 2010 - A cotton warehouse building in the Bekasi City, Indonesia

Oct 2010 - A factory in Chia Yi manufacturing  synthetic paper, Taiwan

Dec 2010 - A factory in Taoyuan manufacturing bonding materials for PCBs, Taiwan

Mar 2011 - A wet market in Serangoon, Singapore

May 2011 - A factory in the Changhua County manufacturing synthetic fabric, Taiwan

Aug 2011 - A shopping mall cum residential building in North Jakarta, Indonesia

Sep 2012 - Expert witness for a fire involving three adjoining terraced commercial units at Kallang Way 1, Singapore

Jan 2013 - A shop retailing vehicle parts in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

Sep 2013 - A large biscuit & confectionery factory in East Java, Indonesia

Oct 2013 - A factory in the Bac Ninh Province manufacturing tissue paper & diapers, Vietnam

Nov 2013 - A commercial wastes incinerator plant in Tuas, Singapore

Jan 2014 - A high-rise condominium building in Marina Bay Sand, Singapore

Jul 2014 - A series of fires & explosions in the Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Oct 2014 - A factory in Bekasi City manufacturing palm oil & soap, Indonesia

Mar 2015 - A factory in East Java manufacturing coconut oil & coconut meal, Indonesia

Apr 2015 - A logistic warehouse building in New Delhi, India

Apr 2015 - A factory in New Taipei City manufacturing printed circuit boards, Taiwan

May 2015 - A textile warehouse   building in the Gyeonggi Province, South Korea

Oct 2015 - A factory in East Java producing poultry feed, Indonesia

Jul 2016 - A cineplex building in Bangkok, Thailand 

Aug 2016 - A high-rise apartment building in West Cilandak, Indonesia

Sep 2016 - A factory in Taoyuan manufacturing polyester fibre, Taiwan 

Nov 2016 - A high-rise shopping mall cum residential building in West Jakarta, Indonesia

Jan 2017 - A factory in the Dong Nai Province manufacturing automobiles & motorcycles, Vietnam

Feb 2017 - A factory in Saife Zone Sharjah manufacturing curtains, United Arab Emirates 

Feb 2017 - A shopping mall cum hotel building in Taipei, Taiwan 

Mar 2017 - A thermal power plant project in the Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam

Sep 2017 - A SPA & Salon building in Bali, Indonesia

Oct 2017 - A shoe factory in Bangkok, Thailand

Nov 2017 - A factory manufacturing synthetic fibre in the Saraburi Province, Thailand

Jan 2018 - A shopping mall cum residential building at North Bridge Road, Singapore

Apr 2018 - A factory in Taoyuan manufacturing solar panels, Taiwan     

Sep 2018 - A plastic waste recycling factory in Gresik, Indonesia 

Nov 2019 - A cleanroom producing PCBs in Hsinchu City, Taiwan 

Nov 2019 - A vessel undergoing repair at a dockyard of the Barito River, S. Kalimantan, Indonesia 

Dec 2019 - A home appliances store in Surabaya, Indonesia 

Jan 2020 - The Bintang Supermarket Centre in Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia 

Feb 2020 - Several connected textiles factories in Taoyuan City, Taiwan

Major Electrical Infrastructure & Equipment Failures

Transformers & Power Generation Equipment

• Failure analysis of a 685 MVA, 500/23kV oil-filled generator step-up (GSU) transformer
• Failure analysis of a newly commissioned 650MVA, 345/18.05kV  oil-filled generator transformer that led to internal flashover arcing, upon a synchronisation when it was being connected to the electrical grid
• Severe electrical arcing at the tap changer of a 470MVA, 528/18kV  oil-filled generator transformer 
• An electrical flashover and fire coming from an oil immersed 200MVA, 230kV cable junction box of an oil-filled power transformer
• A failure at the windings of a 319MVA, 150/16.5kV oil-filled generator transformer
• Stator winding failure at a steam turbine 190MVA, 13kV generator
• Simultaneous failures at a set of combined cycle gas & diesel turbine 142kVA, 11.5kV hydrogen-cooled generator and a 105/140kVA, 150/11.5kV  oil-filled generator step-up transformer
• Multiple failures at the windings and the on load tap changers of a 75/93.75/112.5MVA, 161/23.9kV oil-filled power transformer
• Severe electrical arcing at the stator winding of an 83.6MVA gas turbine generator
• Multiple failures at the windings of a 80MVA, 150/31.5kV oil-filled transformer
• A fire at a 80MVA, 150/22kV oil-filled transformer
• A failure at the prime mover of a 47MVA, 11.8kV combined cycled steam turbine generator
• Stator winding failure at a 39.375MVA, 11kV combined cycled gas turbine generator
• Stator winding failure at a 39MVA, 11kV generator of a hydro-power plant
• A failure at the on load tap changer of a 30/36MVA, 77/6.6kV oil-filled power transformer
• A failure at the stator winding of a 19MW, 11kV squirrel cage induction motor
• Catastrophic mechanical failure of diesel engine blocks at the prime mover of a 10MVA, 11kV generator
• A failure at a  8.625MVA, 24kV/153.1V oil-filled rectifier transformer
• Independent electrical expert reviewing other experts' findings of a failure at a 7.8MVA rectifier transformer
• Winding failure at a 3.15MVA dry type transformer
• Electrical flashover and fire at the connection box of a 3MVA, 22kV oil-filled transformer
• Electrical flashover arcing at a 2.5MVA two-tier dry type transformer
• Overheating at the cast resin insulation of a 2.5MVA dry type transformer
• A switchgear failure at the nacelle of a 2MVA wind turbine generator
• A generator failure at a 2MVA wind turbine generator
• A transformer failure at a  2.1/1.75MVA, 22kV/690V/480V wind turbine generator cabin
• A short-circuit failure at the primary winding of a 2MVA oil-filled distribution transformer
• A circuit breaker failure at the nacelle of a 1.75MVA wind turbine generator
• Electrical arc damage at the cable terminal of a 1.6MVA, 22kV dry type transformer
• Insulation failure between the winding coils of a 1.5MVA oil-filled transformer
• Electrical flashover at an oil-filled cable termination box of a 1MVA, 22kV distribution transformer
• Short-circuit fault at the cable terminals of a 1MVA, 6.6kV dry type transformer
• Widespread winding insulation deterioration at multiple 400V alternators of 2,000kVA & 2,500kVA Diesel Rotary Uninterruptible Power Supply (DRUPS) units of a data centre.

 Switchgear (GIS / AIS) 

• Forensic investigation of electrical flashover within a 170kV GIS circuit breaker
• Forensic investigation of electrical flashover within a 170kV GIS potential transformer (GIS PT)
• Short-circuit fault at a 66kV GIS double busbar system in a power substation
• Electrical flashover arcing at a 22kV AIS truck
• Electrical flashover arcing at the terminals of a 22kV AIS TIE Panel
• A failure at a 22kV electric signboard
• A switchgear failure in a refuse incineration plant
• Electrical flashover arcing at the switchgear equipment of a production plant
• A fire at a switchgear panel
• Electrical flashover arcing at the busbar terminal of a 2,500A air circuit breaker (ACB) truck
• Electrical flashover arcing at a 6,000A main breaker panel 

Cables & Cable Joints

• An oil leak at the aluminium sheath of a 230kV oil-filled underground cable
• Electrical flashover arcing at a 230kV oil-filled underground cable
• Root cause analysis of a 35kV, 3X300mm2 marine cable failure at depths of up to 30 metres
• Root cause analysis of a 35kV, 3X120mm2 marine cable failure at depths of up to 120 metres
• Root cause analysis of a 35kV, 3X120mm2 marine cable failure at depths of up to 150 metres
• Root cause analysis of a 15kVdc, 3X120mm2 marine cable on a seabed
• A fire at the cable void that housed 33kV aluminium conductor cable feeders of a wind power station
• Electrical flashover arcing at a 22kV underground cable joint
• Damage to several 230V & 400V underground cables

Industrial Equipment & Miscellaneous Failures

• Electrical flashover arcing at a 15kV static VAR compensator (SVC) equipment
• Electrical flashover arc damage at a 6.6kV surge diverter that served an auto-transformer chiller starter
• An electrical failure that developed to fire at a thyristor cubicle of an 839Vdc  6,720A automatic voltage regulator (AVR) in a power plant
• Repeated failures of an induced draught (ID) 690V fan motor that was served by a variable speed drive inverter (VSDI)
• A fire at the inverter equipment of a 10MW solar power plant project
• Multiple failures at the navigation equipment of a research vessel
• A dust explosion at a newly installed commercial electrostatic precipitator
• Short-circuit fault at a networking panel of a 3G network service provider
• Power interruption at the water pumps of several rooftop cooling towers
• A failure at the capacitor bank of an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) unit
• A fire at an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) unit on a base transceiver station (BTS)
• Lightning strike fire at separate electrical installations on the premises
• A failure at an old Busbar Tap-Off box (TOU)
• A failure at a newly fitted Busbar Tap-Off Unit (TOU)
• A fire at a busduct system
• A fire at the refrigeration panel of a refrigerated container (reefer) during a voyage
• Investigation of multiple air-conditioning system fire incidents
• Alleged fire at a beverage vending machine
• A deflagration at a heating furnace of a steel pipe manufacturing plant
• Various incidents of fires at lighting display equipment
• Various fires at electroplating plants
• Various fires at coal belt-conveyor systems
• A fire at an escalator in a shopping mall
• A fire at an electrical control panel that served condenser water pumps
• A fire started at an auxiliary heater control system, which was a modification made on a liquid chemical etching machine
• A fire at a passenger transit train
• A fire at a mobile ground power unit (GPU) that powered the electrical system of an aircraft
• A fire involving an electric mosquito trap
• A fire at a lift relay control box
• Short-circuit fault inside a lead-acid battery
• Forensic reconstruction of a fatal electrocution incident by a spray paint contractor on-board a cargo vessel
• Forensic reconstruction of an alleged electric shock suffered by a construction worker
• Non-activation of a security alarm system at the time that the premises were broken into.
• Various incidents of failures at electronic control equipment.