Robin D. Franks, MS, PG, CHMM, RSO

Primary Areas of Expertise

Environmental & Indoor Air Quality

I bring diverse and combined education, licensing, and credentialing in geology, biology, and hazardous materials management – and in indoor air quality as related to asbestos, mold, lead, building hazards, vapor intrusion, OSHA worker and occupant complaints. I continue to manage a firm of environmental and industrial hygiene professionals while serving as an expert in my diverse field; I have over 60 retained cases complete. With my expertise, and my team’s contributions leveraged for large cases such as class actions, we can cost effectively support engagements that may require extensive data gathering across an expanded time frame. I apply my capabilities and credentials across commercial, industrial, and oil & gas settings, with a technical focus on highly regulated industry and its real estate. I have been steadily retained for expert witness services since 1995. I have been engaged across diverse industries and causes that have involved bulk fuel transportation, oil and gas wellhead and pipeline releases, retail fuel compliance matters, manufacturing operations, commercial shopping centers, multi-family real estate, construction projects, healthcare facilities, and recycling & reclamation operations. I routinely peer review work prepared by other experts, prepare rebuttal reports, and prepare and submit reliable remediation cost estimates, some of which have been used in formal hearings and at trial. I have been retained to evaluate developed and underutilized urban core real estate under “ready-for-reuse” programs that have involved extensively contaminated assets. I possess a firm understanding of the wide array of environmental hazards & chemicals in industry and apply laboratories & testing to validate or obviate contingent environmental risk to real property ownership or lending. Whether in litigation or not, I routinely evaluate real property and buildings for hazardous materials inventory, abandoned contaminant sources, orphaned well sites, and buried objects. This work is routinely performed in advance of real estate redevelopment to cost-effectively demonstrate that the pathway of construction has been effectively cleared. I specialize in structural fire forensic investigation and testing (typically to justify insurance claims), routinely leverage post-flood emergency response expertise in buildings – especially specific to microbial disinfection and mold mitigation, and source mold under forensic methods of investigation that may exist under alleged building construction defects. I possess expertise in building systems and mitigating hazards from structures in advance of demolition for asbestos, lead, and other regulated materials. I prepare and implement (and/or critically review) asbestos specifications, mold remediation protocols, OSHA-driven lead specifications, and remediation soil management plans. I have evaluated diverse workplaces following loss reports due to alleged safety and public health concerns and offered mitigation strategies for worker safety under OSHA complaints, especially regarding respiratory protection. I have served as an expert for multiple worker injury and wrongful death allegations within the context of environmental exposure. My litigation support work spans my technical skillset & is near equally weighted in defense and plaintiff representation. I have jury & bench trial experience & have prevailed under challenge. My expert reports, which typically involve highly technical subject matter, have been called “readable”, “easy to understand” and “straightforward”. I will consider the review of reports prepared by others, assist in preparation for trial, mediation, arbitration, or contribute to research assignments.

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