Inspections

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MattS87

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Yakima, WA
Has anyone else found that their inspector maybe isn't doing their job correctly? What I mean by this is an inspector not noticing a seemingly obvious violation. I understand they have busy schedules and there can be a lot to look at on any given job but isn't the point of the inspection to find our mistakes?
 
In Washington, many contractors were not doing there jobs and letting the AHJ be the quality control. Turns out that 80% of the violations were by 20% of the contractors. Those folks got special letters, and probably more attention.
 
tom baker said:
In Washington, many contractors were not doing there jobs and letting the AHJ be the quality control. Turns out that 80% of the violations were by 20% of the contractors. Those folks got special letters, and probably more attention.
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I was taught to leave 1 or 2 little things for the inspector that could be fixed on the spot as a "feel good". Well I did that today, in obvious places, and he didn't notice. Just got me thinking, had I made a mistake and not known about it would it have been caught, and if not, who would be at fault?
 
MattS87 said:
I was taught to leave 1 or 2 little things for the inspector that could be fixed on the spot as a "feel good". Well I did that today, in obvious places, and he didn't notice. Just got me thinking, had I made a mistake and not known about it would it have been caught, and if not, who would be at fault?
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I wish I could think of a way to say this without sounding harsh, but I can't.

You are playing a silly little game on your inspector,

You did not get caught,

You seem irritated at this.

And you wonder who is at fault.:blink:
 
jumper said:
I wish I could think of a way to say this without sounding harsh, but I can't.

You are playing a silly little game on your inspector,

You did not get caught,

You seem irritated at this.

And you wonder who is at fault.:blink:
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"harsh" isn't the word I was thinking. You have your opinion which I don't care about. Simple question was who holds them accountable if they miss an actual mistake.
 
MattS87 said:
"harsh" isn't the word I was thinking. You have your opinion which I don't care about. Simple question was who holds them accountable if they miss an actual mistake.
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The installer is still responsible for the work, even if it passes.

Were someone to be hurt or property damaged, the contractor would be held for any criminal or civil penalties.

The inspector would be immune unless severe gross negligence could be proved.

I apologize for my remarks if you did not know this.

It is a basic tenet of law and I mistakenly assumed most people know this, so when you posited the idea of purposely leaving mistakes, I found it silly. Only you can lose if something goes wrong.
 
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jumper said:
The installer is still responsible for the work, even if it passes.

Were someone to be hurt or property damaged, the contractor would be held for any criminal or civil penalties.

The inspector would be immune unless severe gross negligence could be proved.

I apologize for my remarks if you did not know this.

It is a basic tenet of law and I mistakenly assumed most people know this, so when you posited the idea of purposely leaving mistakes, I found it silly. Only you can lose if something goes wrong.
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That's just how I was taught but since I do industrial maint. I don't have a lot of experience with inspectors. I used today's experience as an example but I come across quite a few illegal installs by contractors at facilities I have been in and it always gets me thinking "how did this pass?"
 
MattS87 said:
That's just how I was taught but since I do industrial maint. I don't have a lot of experience with inspectors. I used today's experience as an example but I come across quite a few illegal installs by contractors at facilities I have been in and it always gets me thinking "how did this pass?"
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Much of the work at facilities is not inspected by government or licensed third parties.

Often it is in house QA/QC employees who may or may not be properly trained.

The contractors are still responsible for liability in the end run.

If the work is performed and inspected by in house employees, the facilities are responsible.
 
jumper said:
Much of the work at facilities is not inspected by government or licensed third parties.

Often in it is in house QA/QC employees who may or may not be properly trained.

The contractors are still responsible for liability in the end run.

If the work is performed and inspected by in house employees, the facilities are responsible.
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Fair enough but I know of a few that were indeed inspected by L&I.

No need for further discussion, just chalk it up as do it right to C.Y.A and don't worry about the rest
 
MattS87 said:
who would be at fault?
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The Electrician would be held at fault. It's the same as speeding, if a cop happens to miss you breaking the law before you kill somebody he simply missed catching you but you are the one that's going to be prosecuted.

Roger
 
MattS87 said:
Has anyone else found that their inspector maybe isn't doing their job correctly? What I mean by this is an inspector not noticing a seemingly obvious violation. I understand they have busy schedules and there can be a lot to look at on any given job but isn't the point of the inspection to find our mistakes?
Click to expand...

MattS87 said:
I was taught to leave 1 or 2 little things for the inspector that could be fixed on the spot as a "feel good". Well I did that today, in obvious places, and he didn't notice. Just got me thinking, had I made a mistake and not known about it would it have been caught, and if not, who would be at fault?
Click to expand...

It's been my experience that if the same inspectors have done multiple inspections on your work and find that you do good work and try to do everything to code, they don't necessarily take every cover off or measure your staples on every inspection. They trust that you did everything the way you were supposed to. That's not saying they don't look at safety issues or overlook them, it's just that you have created a rapport with them and they feel they can trust that you know what to do.

As far as leaving things for them to find because you were taught, that is wrong. Folks before Columbus were taught the world was flat!
To me, if you leave things wrong or undone, then inspectors will probably look harder the next time and you won't have a good name with them in the future!
 
MattS87 said:
I was taught to leave 1 or 2 little things for the inspector that could be fixed on the spot as a "feel good". Well I did that today, in obvious places, and he didn't notice. Just got me thinking, had I made a mistake and not known about it would it have been caught, and if not, who would be at fault?
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:blink:
I've heard that inspectors let some violations pass to to let the electrician "feel good" :D It must not have worked this time.
 
Inspections

I think the moderator Tom Baker nailed this one on the head. I am the QC director for a large Electrical Contractor.... We have an Inspection Checklist that the installing J-man and his supervisor sign off on, before we have a Company QC Manager Inspect. This is before we ever call for a city inspection. In Dallas there is a construction BOOM and the inspectors do not have the time to be your QC guy or really enough time to properly Inspect.
 
MattS87 said:
I was taught to leave 1 or 2 little things for the inspector that could be fixed on the spot as a "feel good".
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I have heard that many times but it is total BS.

The best way to pass inspections is first to do the work right as you go. Then before the inspector shows up or is even called you should do your own inspection of the work and see what you can find. You may find even more than the inspector would have because you are more familiar with the job.

An understanding that you are responsible for the job and the inspector isn't will help a lot.
Don't try to use the inspector as quality control (as Tom says) because that will only get you in trouble.
 
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MattS87 said:
...isn't the point of the inspection to find our mistakes?
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I don't deal with inspectors regularly, but I would say no, not really.

I'm thinking the inspector is well within his job to look around enough to see whether or not you know what you are doing, and maybe look for a few specific things, and then sign off that he agrees you are doing a good job.

If he misses something specific, it's still your fault, not his.

If I was an inspector (actually I was, but a different kind (USBR)), and I saw something really obvious that was missed, now I'm questioning your ability, and now I have to spend more time on the job. When I find out you did it on purpose, I'd be pissed. I don't think people want a pissed inspector, do they?
 
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