ABSTRACT
Evidence can come from many sources. The investigator needs to harness the practical use of the imagination to cover the possibilities and components that constitute "evidence". All evidence must be collected and adequately preserved. Anything that helps to detennine what transpired is evidence. Evidence can essentially consist of:
• The immediate and the obvious, e.g. physical effects and eyewitness reports
• Past data, e.g. records, logs
• The less obvious, e.g. management practices, skill levels of employees
• The latent, e.g. wrong or contaminated substances, rare events
• The possible, e.g. stray currents
• The improbable, or to quote the fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes, "Once you have eliminated the probable, you are left with the improbable"
• Rare (and usually highly unlikely) evidence of willful damage should not be overlooked
The following diagram represents a summary of the evidence, actions and outcome needed:
It is possible what is initially deemed to be valid is either inaccurate, invalid, tainted, the result of incorrect or poor reasoning, deliberately misleading Of, quite simply, irrelevant. Rather than defending something that may be indefensible, it may be necessary to re-examine and re-assess, even if it leads to conclusions that seem to contradict earlier findings.
