Maintenance Men.. doing electrical work poorly

[B4T]

I maintain a bunch of state owned homes for the mentally disabled. They have maintenance men that take care of painting, shoveling snow, lawn care, and stuffed up toilets. Unfortunately, they also do electrical work. I keep complaining to Management, but they feel I should mind my own business. Last year someone changed a switch that caught fire a few days later. I wired the house ten years ago, so I am the EC on record. The street was full of big red fire trucks and even that did not change their mind about having untrained and unqualified people doing electrical work. They have splice boxes all over the place without covers. I was cutting a hole in the ceiling to more a smoke detector and my saw went right into an open box that sprayed sparks in my face. The enclosed pic is an outlet they changed and never tightened the screws. The wires loops were on backwards to make the install a complete failure. I feel Maintenance Men should change light bulbs PERIOD!!! Does anyone know what OSHA rules say about my problem?? I need to find something on paper so Management can't play stupid when someone gets hurt. My constant complaints goes in deaf ears and I am done talking to a wall.

 

[Cow]

It's sad.

It's almost as if some of these places require somebody actually getting killed before they take notice.

 

[Mule]

Amen........Got called on a simular deal the other day myself....opened up a QO2100 enclosure and found one of the load wires partially welded to the bus and breaker was "GONE", and the meter was spinning pretty good........Turns out the previous tennant stole the breaker....

Then two units over, had to replace a 2100 enclosure where the maintenance man had tried to install a breaker that didnt quite fit...burnt it up

 

[Lcdrwalker]

I hope no one was injured in the fire. I'm not aware of any codes governing this situation other than maybe 70E. I might be time for the local AHJ or building official or fire marshal to have a look see.

 

[B4T]

I hope no one was injured in the fire. I'm not aware of any codes governing this situation other than maybe 70E. I might be time for the local AHJ or building official or fire marshal to have a look see.

The houses have a good Fire Alarm, so the residents are safe.
My biggest fear is a Fireman getting into an accident racing to the Firehouse because these morons don't want to listen to my constant complaining

 

[SEO]

I don't think that anyone except electricians should do electrical work but it doesn't work that way.

 

[Karl H]

I really hate to say this,but IMO someone will have to die and someone will
have to be responsible for his/her death in order for this practice to change.
I really hope that someone somewhere will understand that the gain of "cheap" is not worth the loss of human life, and this lesson is spread
throughout the country.

 

[Mule]

This IMO is a wide spread problem....The code is getting more and more stringent about grounding, arc fault, ground fault protection....and yet we have this kind of work exposed to the public......So In my mind one of two things is true...either these new stringent codes have validity or not.

So with more stringent codes, hazzards must exist, right? NFPA has property management codes, and in them it states the maintenance personel must be qualified. Then the definition only requires that they be aware of the hazzards involved to be qualified. So the employer holds one safety meeting about the hazzards, and then everything is legal and back to the same ole routine.

 

[480sparky]

The more stringent the codes, the more people want to 'economize' and hire hacks and trunkslammers.

"If it was good enough for Grandpappy, then it's good enough for me!"

 

[charlietuna]

Just heard on CNN that 18 of our troops have been electricuted overseas by unqualified people trying to do electrical work?? Haliburton is now under fire about it???

 

[Karl H]

Just heard on CNN that 18 of our troops have been electricuted overseas by unqualified people trying to do electrical work?? Haliburton is now under fire about it???

Yep, and what does our government do? They send a thousand ground rods
to the Middle East. We are all cheats,we spend thousands of hours of
our lives trying to learn how to make electricity safe. When all we should of
done is attend a one hour seminar at HD. Any install made easy! I can do nothing but shake my head.

 

[billsnuff]

osha 1910.3xx

osha 1910.3xx

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=standards&p_id=9908

Try this link about qualified and unqualified.........

 

[ohm]

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=standards&p_id=9908

Try this link about qualified and unqualified.........

I'm sure it had some good stuff, but all that legalize made me dizzy.

 

[220/221]

I hate maintenance men and handymen and homeowners doing their own electrical work. The maintenance men and handymen are worse because they get paid for screwing things up.

Several years ago there was an artical in our newspaper touting the benefits of using a handyman VS a contractor. The guy in the pic was cutting romex with a hack saw.

 

[B4T]

legal mumbo jumbo does nothing except put you to sleep..

legal mumbo jumbo does nothing except put you to sleep..

I'm sure it had some good stuff, but all that legalize made me dizzy.

I tried reading that link 3 times and gave up. Maintenance man makes a mistake and someone dies. THAT is pure and simple, but the powers who make the rules use all that legal double talk. Buy a simple lighting fixture and it says MUST BE INSTALLED BY QUALIFIED PERSONAL I wish OSHA made their laws just as simple

 

[zog]

Buy a simple lighting fixture and it says MUST BE INSTALLED BY QUALIFIED PERSONAL I wish OSHA made their laws just as simple

That is not simple at all, qualified by who? What makes one "qualified"?

 

[zog]

I don't think that anyone except electricians should do electrical work but it doesn't work that way.

What about an Electrical Engineer? Can he install a celing fan in his bedroom?

 

[B4T]

That is not simple at all, qualified by who? What makes one "qualified"?

Good point!! I should of said Licensed Electrician :wink:

 

[Ed Carr]

I have been doing some work at a commercial property here.
We did the entrance,sign lighting,some new circuits for a
salon,standby generator etc.The 3rd floor was roughed in
and I figured we would be asked to finish it.A week ago the
maintenance man says can I ask you a question.Sure I said
and he begins asking how to wire a light switch.After a few
exchanges it dawns on me he's asking how to wire this 3rd
floor commercial property.I was so dumbfounded my mouth
was hanging open like a garage door.When I thought about it
my real anger is towards the property owner.I'm sure the
maintenance man is just trying to keep his job (if you can't do it...)
Some of the things people do will never cease to amaze me!

 

[B4T]

What about an Electrical Engineer? Can he install a celing fan in his bedroom?

Its HIS house.. he can do what he wants. Any homeowner can burn his own house down. He has that right