Inspectors rant again

[kwired]

What is it they say? "stupid should be painful."

I was ratnting mostly because I hear it a lot here, yelling about when an inspector is wrong and make him quote a code section. What good does it do to quote a code section if they still have a '96 code book in your truck or they don't know that code section anyway?

But to be fair, I called a guy on his receptacle heights (not sure what it says in the ADA, but here in CA it's minimum 15" AFF measured to the bottom of the box for recepts. and maximum 48" AFF measured to the top of the box for swithces), the guy called his buddy over at Los Angeles Building and Safety and that inspector told him that I needed to read what the code said. I did and I was correct and I even gave him copies of the entire code section so that he could read it himself. No one ever said opps, sorry.

Let me ask a few questions as to trade practices and requirements for license holders where you live.

Do license holders have to take any continuing education periodically in order to maintain having their license?

How about similar for inspectors?

Does AHJ(s) have periodical training sessions and or other informational meetings to keep inspectors current on codes, policies, even safety training, or other similar sessions?

Here we have two year licenses, all license holders must have twelve hours of (state electrical division approved) continuing education every two years to renew their license. At least six of those twelve hours must be code related courses. The remaining six can be anything that is an approved course by the state board. Many people have all twelve of their hours on code quite often. Most classes I have taken are usually about the new upcoming code changes or the recently adopted new code - depends on where the code cycle is in relation to the licensing period. This is one good way to keep up with codes, and sites like this one are even better.

Inspectors must have at least journeyman license to be eligible to be hired as an inspector (I think, but am fairly certain) They must also be certified (I am also pretty sure by third party) as an electrical inspector, I don't think they have to be certified to be hired, but have to eventually get certified. They also (AFAIK) keep up any license they hold - not sure if they are required to, but most don't want to lose it anyway, should they ever stop being an inspector for any reason, they would have to retake tests to get their license back if they let it expire. If they are maintaining their license, they have to have 12 hours to renew just like all other license holders.

 

[kwired]

: - :


In some AHJ's, it is not politically correct or agreeable to
place large fines on the contracting community......This type of
[ desired ?? ] activity can get someone fired pretty quickly.

I would sure hope there are not AHJ's out there that let the inspector determine what amount a fine is on his own. The AHJ should set standard rates for fines and inspector should act accordingly to what guidelines are set by his employer.

If an inspector is abusing his power and issuing unnecessary citations (or whatever they are called within the AHJ) then he deserves to be fired.

Here the fee for reinspection because of a correction notice used to be $14.00 and had been that much for years. Probably about 10 years ago the State Electrical Division set new rates, $50 for first reinspection, $75 for second reinspection of the same violations, and $100 for any subsequent inspections thereafter. This helped the inspectors a lot, fourteen dollars was a cheap way to see if you had it right, and many people didn't care if they got a correction notice. The new fee schedule made it so that people were either calling inspector and asking questions or finding out answers on their own somehow. The inspectors are not out to find violations just so they can write correction notices and raise funds with the fees, they are there to make sure wiring is installed according to code. Only time a fee is administered is if they go through the formal procedure of filling out the paperwork and actually send you a correction notice. If they are doing a rough in inspection and just verbally tell you to fix this or that you will not get a notice or an additional fee. They may make their own notes of what they told you to do and see if it was done at future inspections of the same site or at final inspection. You start breaking that trust that you will fix things and they find out, they will no longer offer giving you that trust, and you will receive the correction notices and fees.

 

[sandsnow]

Let me ask a few questions as to trade practices and requirements for license holders where you live.

Do license holders have to take any continuing education periodically in order to maintain having their license?
I work in the same state as OP. Certified electricians need 32 hours every 3 years.
How about similar for inspectors?
Inspectors do not have a state license or certification. They do need to get certified within one year of hiring in an area close to primary function. The area is up to the AHJ. After that 45 hours every 3 years. I have never sent in my hours to the state and I don't know any inspector who has. The state passed the law due to industry demand without any teeth. http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/95-96/bill/asm/ab_0701-0750/ab_717_bill_951005_chaptered.html

Does AHJ(s) have periodical training sessions and or other informational meetings to keep inspectors current on codes, policies, even safety training, or other similar sessions?
We have weekly team meetings and go through changes every Code cycle.

Here we have two year licenses, all license holders must have twelve hours of (state electrical division approved) continuing education every two years to renew their license. At least six of those twelve hours must be code related courses. The remaining six can be anything that is an approved course by the state board. Many people have all twelve of their hours on code quite often. Most classes I have taken are usually about the new upcoming code changes or the recently adopted new code - depends on where the code cycle is in relation to the licensing period. This is one good way to keep up with codes, and sites like this one are even better.

Inspectors must have at least journeyman license to be eligible to be hired as an inspector (I think, but am fairly certain) They must also be certified (I am also pretty sure by third party) as an electrical inspector, I don't think they have to be certified to be hired, but have to eventually get certified. They also (AFAIK) keep up any license they hold - not sure if they are required to, but most don't want to lose it anyway, should they ever stop being an inspector for any reason, they would have to retake tests to get their license back if they let it expire. If they are maintaining their license, they have to have 12 hours to renew just like all other license holders.

Besides what is said above the state does not have minimum hiring standards for inspectors. Every jurisdiction has their own minimum.

 

[cowboyjwc]

Let me ask a few questions as to trade practices and requirements for license holders where you live.

Do license holders have to take any continuing education periodically in order to maintain having their license?

How about similar for inspectors?

Does AHJ(s) have periodical training sessions and or other informational meetings to keep inspectors current on codes, policies, even safety training, or other similar sessions?

Here we have two year licenses, all license holders must have twelve hours of (state electrical division approved) continuing education every two years to renew their license. At least six of those twelve hours must be code related courses. The remaining six can be anything that is an approved course by the state board. Many people have all twelve of their hours on code quite often. Most classes I have taken are usually about the new upcoming code changes or the recently adopted new code - depends on where the code cycle is in relation to the licensing period. This is one good way to keep up with codes, and sites like this one are even better.

Inspectors must have at least journeyman license to be eligible to be hired as an inspector (I think, but am fairly certain) They must also be certified (I am also pretty sure by third party) as an electrical inspector, I don't think they have to be certified to be hired, but have to eventually get certified. They also (AFAIK) keep up any license they hold - not sure if they are required to, but most don't want to lose it anyway, should they ever stop being an inspector for any reason, they would have to retake tests to get their license back if they let it expire. If they are maintaining their license, they have to have 12 hours to renew just like all other license holders.

Here in CA you only have to have four years in the trade (signed off by someone) and you can become a contractor. If you work with the tools you now have to be certified and show CEU's and at least a portion of them must be code related.

Inspectors have to be certified and have x numbers of CEU's every three years. We train in house every Thursday and I get CEU's for attending IAEI meetings every other month. Our jurisdiction is pretty good about training and we are always sending someone somewhere. I am actually going to three this month.

I have a license and keep it inactive as I worked to hard to get it, I would just have to pay an additional fee and get a bond to reactivate it.

I think when I looked at an inspectors position in Wyoming, you had to have their state license or carry a journymans card as well as an ICC or IAEI cert. I thought that was interesting as some jurisdictions don't like you having a license (afraid you'll do side work I guess).

Back to the training. We're a fairly small jurisdiction (6 inspectors) but like I said we are fairly well trained. We are located right next to Los Angeles County and not far from the City of Los Angeles. Those guys used to be the leaders, but not so much any more. We used to think that when people told us, "no one else calls that", it was just an excuse, but over time we've found that, no one else does call it. I'm not sure how some of these jurisdictions get away with what they do, but I'd hate to be them when it catches up.