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The article aims to review the pressing issues of expert’s opinion validation in criminal cases related to investigation of safety rules violations in construction work and to find ways to resolve them. The following assessment criteria are addressed in the paper: expert’s qualification and competence, correctness of an expert’s opinion drafting, thoroughness and scientific validation of a research, coherence and correlation between findings and research part of an expert’s opinion, cogency of an opinion to an investigator (court) and other parties to the proceedings. Based on the expert practice analysis typical examples of problem situations related to validation of this type of expert’s opinions are given as well as the ways to resolve them are suggested and justified. The information presented may be of practical interest when preparing an evaluative judgement on an expert’s opinion on the category of cases in question.

Practice indicates that construction forensics investigations to identify severable and nonseverable property improvements often present a challenge even for construction experts. This has to do with the complex legal nature of property improvements. Moreover, definitions of the terms «severable» and «non-severable» improvements are absent from regulations and legislation. The paper covers key terms and concepts, examines the defining features of improvements, and offers recommendations on how to perform this type of analysis, with examples from forensic casework and generic questions commonly included in the examination request.

The articles examines the key stages of on-site investigations (building inspections) conducted by forensic engineers. Typical challenges facing forensic practitioners are identified, and solution approaches are offered. This includes recommendations for possible courses of action toresolve specific issues

Presented is a draft occupational health and safety manual for construction forensics practitioners. The draft guide was developed with the purpose of improving the reliability of workplace health and safety arrangements in construction forensics units within the system of the Russian Ministry of Justice. The expert community is invited to consider the proposed draft document.