Services
Document a loss
Support a claim
For carriers and employers
Service areas
Middle Tennessee
- Nashville
- Clarksville
- Murfreesboro
- Franklin
- Hendersonville
- Smyrna
- Spring Hill
- Gallatin
- Lebanon
- Columbia
- Brentwood
- Mount Juliet
- La Vergne
- Cookeville
East Tennessee
West Tennessee
Industrial Accident Documentation on Tennessee Plant Floors
Delator Claims Division documents machinery, controls, guarding, and lockout conditions as found after an incident on a plant floor, for manufacturers, plant operators, self-insured employers, carriers, and counsel. The investigator observes and records without operating equipment.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
An incident at a press, a conveyor, a mixer or an overhead crane leaves a machine in a particular state: where the ram stopped, which guard was open, which disconnect was thrown, whose lock is on the hasp. Production pressure and maintenance needs mean that state does not last. Once the machine is cleared, reset and restarted, the as-found condition exists only in memory and in whatever photographs someone thought to take.
Delator sends a licensed Tennessee private investigator to record that condition before the line restarts, or as soon afterward as the plant allows. The investigator works under the plant's escort and site rules, does not touch controls, remove locks or open panels, and photographs only what plant personnel expose. The record is factual. It contains no opinion on machine design, guarding adequacy, cause or regulatory compliance.
When plants and carriers call for this
- A machine is being held out of service after an injury and the plant needs it documented so production can resume.
- The plant's carrier is considering a recovery claim against an equipment manufacturer or installer and wants the machine recorded unaltered.
- A maintenance contractor's employee is hurt while servicing equipment and the plant and contractor describe the energy isolation differently.
- An overhead crane, hoist or sling fails and drops a load, and the rigging has to be removed to free the bay.
- A machine is scheduled to be modified, sold or scrapped and counsel wants its current configuration on record first.
The as-found record of the machine
- Lockout condition as found
- Locks, tags and hasps on each energy isolation point, with tag names and dates as written, and disconnect handle positions photographed without disturbing them.
- Guards and interlocks
- Fixed and movable guards, light curtains and interlock switches in the position found, including missing fasteners, bypass devices or tape where visible.
- Controls and indicators
- Selector switch positions, emergency stop buttons, pendant controls, indicator lamps and any fault message displayed on an operator screen at the time.
- Machine identification
- Manufacturer nameplate, model, serial number, year, asset tag and any visible modification or retrofit labels, photographed so that each can be read.
- Point of operation
- The die, nip point, blade, auger or pinch area involved, with openings and reach distances measured only where that can be done without entering the machine.
- Operator station
- Where the operator stands or sits, what can be seen from there, the reach to controls, floor mats, and tools or jam-clearing implements left nearby.
From request to delivered record
- RequestCall dispatch or submit the request form with the location, loss type and urgency.
- DeployDispatch assigns the nearest available licensed field investigator through the statewide network.
- DocumentPhotographs, video, measurements and factual notes are captured once the scene is safe to work.
- PreserveFiles are timestamped, organized and kept in their original form with a record of who captured them.
- ReportThe package is delivered securely to the requesting party, typically the same day.
Recording a machine before it is reset
The details that matter in an industrial incident are small and easily undone. A selector switch left in setup mode. A guard resting against the frame instead of bolted on. A lock on the electrical disconnect but none on the air line. A fault code on a screen that clears when power is cycled. Maintenance staff restoring the machine will change every one of these in the normal course of their work, usually within the first hour.
The investigator records each of them in place, in wide, medium and close views, and writes down switch positions and tag text word for word. Nothing is operated, opened or tested. If plant personnel open a panel or cycle a control for their own reasons while the investigator is present, the notes say who did it and when. Machine data, maintenance histories and written procedures stay with the plant. The report lists the records that staff say exist.
Several parties usually have an interest in the same machine
A single machine can involve the plant that runs it, the company that built it, an integrator that installed it, a contractor that services it and the carriers behind each. If the machine may become the subject of a claim against a manufacturer or installer, its unaltered condition is evidence for all of them, and physical evidence is perishable. A dated, neutral record made before changes lets the plant return to production without leaving the others to rely on recollection.
Delator's role stops at documentation unless a carrier, self-insured employer or its counsel retains further investigative work. The report does not address whether a guard was sufficient, whether an energy control procedure was followed, or whether any standard applied. Those opinions come from engineers and safety professionals retained by the parties. Delator is not an engineering firm, and its notes are written so that those experts can work from them.
On this assignment Delator field personnel record what is physically present: photographs, video, measurements and factual notes. They do not adjust, appraise or value the loss, do not determine coverage, cause or fault, and do not represent any party to the claim.
Delator Claims Division is not a law firm, an insurer or an engineering firm, and nothing on this page is legal advice.
Common questions about this service
Will the investigator operate or test the machine?
No. The investigator does not start, cycle, jog or test equipment, remove locks or tags, or open electrical enclosures. Everything is documented as found. If the plant chooses to demonstrate a function, that is done by plant personnel under plant procedures, and the notes record that it was a demonstration.
Can the visit happen before the line restarts?
That is the purpose of the Emergency tier, which places an investigator on site in 30 minutes to 4 hours. Metro response averages under 60 minutes, and all 95 counties fall within the four-hour statewide deployment guarantee. The plant decides when to restart, and Delator works to the window it is given.
What site requirements can your investigator meet?
The investigator follows the plant's visitor rules, stays with the assigned escort, and wears the protective equipment the plant specifies for the area. If a location requires site-specific training or equipment before entry, the request can note that so it is arranged ahead of arrival.
Do you give an opinion on what caused the incident?
No. Causation, machine design and regulatory questions are outside a documentation assignment, and Delator does not give engineering or legal opinions. The report provides photographs, measurements and written observations that engineers, safety professionals, carriers and counsel can rely on when forming their own views.
Available statewide, including
Every Tennessee county is covered. See the deployment map for typical response tiers by county.
Request documentation anywhere in Tennessee
Dispatch is staffed around the clock. For time-sensitive scenes, calling is fastest; the request form works for routine and scheduled assignments.