How dangerous is a code violation.

[jes25]

When I find code violations people often ask me how much of a hazard they are are. I usually respond with: "All I can tell you is, it doesn't meet the minimum standards for safety in out state"

Which got me thinking what others thought about a code violation compared to other behaviors/situations.

 

[Jim W in Tampa]

Re: How dangerous is a code violation.

When I find code violations people often ask me how much of a hazard they are are. I usually respond with: "All I can tell you is, it doesn't meet the minimum standards for safety in out state"

Which got me thinking what others thought about a code violation compared to other behaviors/situations.

If it was not for the last option i woulda voted the fan

 

[benaround]

Jes25,

I'm finding it hard to answer, driving 5 mph over in a 15mph school zone

could be just as fatal as a well equipped bungy jumper with a bad

memory. I have heard to many times about Electricians getting injured

from uninsulated splices above a dropped ceiling, and falling from a ladder.

So I guess they are all of equal harm,and that's why common sense

doesn't always rule, until you know more about the situation. Follow

the rules even if you don't know exactally why.

 

[infinity]

If you asked for the lowest hazard, driving 5 mph over gets my vote. Speed limits are nothing more than a political football. If governments used science to determine what is safe they would all be a lot higher than they currently are.[/quote]

 

[tonyi]

A guy helping me fish up from a basement a couple of years ago reached down into the insulation along the sill to see if he could find the tape and hollerd that he'd been bitten by a squirl or rat in the basement. Turned out to be an bare piece of old BX just insulated over that zapped him.

A (no ground) flying splice taped against a gas line was "interesting" too.

 

[bphgravity]

I recently read an article that claimed you are more likely to die from choking on a hot dog purchased in a convenient store than you are from electrocution. Go figure! :shock:

 

[ceknight]

I recently read an article that claimed you are more likely to die from choking on a hot dog purchased in a convenient store than you are from electrocution. Go figure! :shock:

I can see that. If you're desperate enough to buy a convenience store hot dog, you're probably hungry enough to scarf it down too quickly while driving as well.

 

[jeff43222]

I recently read an article that claimed you are more likely to die from choking on a hot dog purchased in a convenient store than you are from electrocution. Go figure! :shock:

Seeing as how I almost never eat hot dogs, but I deal with live electrical wiring almost daily, I'm not going to relax around the wires.

 

[dlhoule]

I didn't vote. Maybe bad neighborhood, but I'll have to have it defined before I vote on it. If I look at 2 of the cities in my area and the crime rates, the one with the worst reputation actually has a lower crime rate.

Common sense is an oxymoron. If it was common a lot more people would have it.

 

[charlie b]

If you asked for the lowest hazard, driving 5 mph over gets my vote.

I used to work in the nuclear generation industry. If that had been among the choices, I would have called it the least hazard on the list.

 

[jeff43222]

What's interesting is that there are no levels of code violation. In criminal law, there are petty misdemeanors and major felonies, and various classifications in between. But under the code we work under, every violation is considered the same in terms of how severe it is.

So if I use a 50A breaker to "protect" a #14 wire on a circuit that is powering several toaster ovens, that's just as severe a violation as leaving more than a 1/8" gap in the drywall around an outlet box.

 

[dnem]

What's interesting is that there are no levels of code violation. In criminal law, there are petty misdemeanors and major felonies, and various classifications in between. But under the code we work under, every violation is considered the same in terms of how severe it is.

So if I use a 50A breaker to "protect" a #14 wire on a circuit that is powering several toaster ovens, that's just as severe a violation as leaving more than a 1/8" gap in the drywall around an outlet box.

It's true that the code doesn't classify violations according to level but in municipalities like mine, there is a distinction made after the initial inspection. If we have a preexisting installation or a passed inspection we only write violations for "life safety" issues. Even on a failed inspection we limit the scope of the next inspection to:
1) what's on the correction list
2) life safety issues that are noticed in passing
3) alterations that are noticed in passing

Most of the time it's a judgment call in determining which code violations are considered life safety violations. Ohio law specifies that one life safety issue is smoke detectors.

David

 

[cowboyjwc]

I was once asked if court if an arching outlet was a fire hazard. I told the lawyer that he wasn't going to like my answer and he told me to give it anyways. I said, yes and no. He said you're right I don't like it, please explain. I said that outlet could arc from now until doomsday and never be a problem, under the right conditions it could arc tomorrow and burn the house down.

Why take chances. You never know when something could happen.

 

[growler]

I recently read an article that claimed you are more likely to die from choking on a hot dog purchased in a convenient store than you are from electrocution. Go figure! :shock:

Most states have started to use lethal injections so that may well be true.

 

[charlie b]

Most states have started to use lethal injections so that may well be true.

The US Supreme Court is reviewing a case in which it is asserted that lethal injection constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment." Guess we'll have to go back to the good old days of keel-hauling, drawing & quartering, and the "iron maiden." :wink:

 

[dlhoule]

Charlie,

Guess we'll have to go back to the good old days of keel-hauling, drawing & quartering, and the "iron maiden.

If you have personal knowledge of those good old days, you're even older than I am.

 

[charlie b]

Charlie, If you have personal knowledge of those good old days, you're even older than I am.

You mean the "good old days of Wooden Ships and Iron Men"? :wink:

Why, I taught Commodore Hornblower everything he knew! :lol:

 

[cowboyjwc]

He said Hornblower, HEH HEH.

If we want cruel and unusual treatment, we could make them be plumbers. :lol:

 

[George Stolz]

Why, I taught Commodore Hornblower everything he knew! :lol:

His early adventures were better than those later in his career; but the first one I read was "Lord Hornblower."

 

[allenwayne]

Don`t forget about the age old tradition of stoning ,or the wheel where a person was places on a wheel and everyone in town could hit ,throw stones and eventually they died.