I have a little to add to this. In the early '80s I did a service call at a house with a lot of electrical problems. I was hired by the tenant and found/repaired a loose connection in a kitchen receptacle. While there I notice extension cords all over the place and no smoke alarms. I advised the tenant of the hazards and told him to have his landlord contact me ASAP. Nothing happened until four months later when a failed light duty cord with multiple things plugged in, including a portable heater, failed and started a fire. The tenant's two sons aged 15 and 3 years old died in that fire. Eventually everyone was named in a lawsuit; me, the landlord, insurance companies.....
In those days liability insurance out here was hard to come by and, since I felt no fault on my part, I decided to leave my insurance company out of it and hire a attorney on my own. Long story short, the tenant finally dropped the case against me after I spent about $10K in attorney fees, depositions, etc.
Bottom line is that when a serious incident occurs EVERYONE is on the hook until they get themselves off the hook. I can't begin to describe how badly I felt about the horrible loss of those two boys and the pain and anguish suffered by the parents. My policy since then has been to notify the tenant, homeowner, and management company in writing every time I see conditions which might result in serious injury or death. Then it is up to them to either fix or ignore the problems. Usually the building owner hates that kind of notification but thing normally get addressed.
