Power of AHJ to interpret

[Ingenieur]

NE state electrical board members is composed of two POCO representatives (one rural one municipal), an electrical inspector, two electrical contractors, an engineer and a journeyman electrician. I'm pretty certain they maintain representatives from each of the mentioned categories when there is changes to the members.

that's how most boards are set up
must have representatives from all impacted parties

The Nebraska State Electrical Division was established by the Legislature with LB765 in 1969 within the office of the State Fire Marshal. The division included a five-member board appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Legislature, for five-year staggered terms. In 1975, the Nebraska State Electrical Act was created. The Act, Neb.Rev.Stat.§ 81-571 to 81-5,114, provided all laws regarding electrical licensing and electrical inspection in the State. The Act also increased the membership of the State Electrical Board to seven.
LB490, 1981, established the State Electrical Division as an independent State agency no longer within the office of the State Fire Marshal. The statutes were renumbered to Neb.Rev.Stat.§81-2101 through 81-2145. Board membership includes one journeyman electrician, one electrical contractor or master electrician, one certified electrical inspector, one registered professional electrical engineer, one municipal electric system representative, one rural electric system representative, and one member of any of such groups.

 

[kwired]

that's how most boards are set up
must have representatives from all impacted parties

The Nebraska State Electrical Division was established by the Legislature with LB765 in 1969 within the office of the State Fire Marshal. The division included a five-member board appointed by the Governor, with the consent of the Legislature, for five-year staggered terms. In 1975, the Nebraska State Electrical Act was created. The Act, Neb.Rev.Stat.§ 81-571 to 81-5,114, provided all laws regarding electrical licensing and electrical inspection in the State. The Act also increased the membership of the State Electrical Board to seven.
LB490, 1981, established the State Electrical Division as an independent State agency no longer within the office of the State Fire Marshal. The statutes were renumbered to Neb.Rev.Stat.§81-2101 through 81-2145. Board membership includes one journeyman electrician, one electrical contractor or master electrician, one certified electrical inspector, one registered professional electrical engineer, one municipal electric system representative, one rural electric system representative, and one member of any of such groups.

And if you want to call the AHJ a person, it is that collective group of people, not any individual person. The inspector in the field is just a representative that still needs to follow the intent of the AHJ. If the AHJ has already established that something like "nearest the point of entry" means 5 feet to them, then the inspector already has instruction from AHJ on how to deal with that part of code that is kind of non specific in nature and doesn't need to ask a superior what to do every time violations in that area are encountered. When rare circumstances come up that haven't been addressed before that are at best questionable, the field inspector shouldn't make decisions totally on his own though, he should be talking to his supervisor at the very least. I think the state inspectors here have done a reasonable job with that sort of thing in the past.

 

[RICK NAPIER]

In New Jersey the title of Subcode Official is the fellow who runs the inspection department in his field. He is licensed by the N.J. Division of Consumer Affairs which can discipline us for over enforcement including revoking our license. Also all our decisions can be appealed to a local Construction Board of Appeals which must have at least one Plumbing Subcode Official, Electrical Subcode Official, Fire Subcode Official, Building Subcode Official, Fire Official and usually either a Licensed Architect or Engineer. This system has flaws but generally works well. After them you can always go to court.

 

[Ingenieur]

And if you want to call the AHJ a person, it is that collective group of people, not any individual person. The inspector in the field is just a representative that still needs to follow the intent of the AHJ. If the AHJ has already established that something like "nearest the point of entry" means 5 feet to them, then the inspector already has instruction from AHJ on how to deal with that part of code that is kind of non specific in nature and doesn't need to ask a superior what to do every time violations in that area are encountered. When rare circumstances come up that haven't been addressed before that are at best questionable, the field inspector shouldn't make decisions totally on his own though, he should be talking to his supervisor at the very least. I think the state inspectors here have done a reasonable job with that sort of thing in the past.

Not accurate
local government bodies appoint the ahj
they authorize him to have local juristiction on their behalf
it may be one person on their payroll, it may be a for hire agency
those boards are to hear appeals of the ahj's determinations, not to inspect or act on behalf of local government entities
they are independent of the ahj/local government and the complaintant
they act on neithers behalf and are to be impartial

 

[Mgraw]

We, like most jurisdictions, can appeal to the chief inspector of the local AHJ. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

In 2007 the state adopted a statewide code which does not allow local jurisdictions to adopt their own code. It also gave the state power over local inspectors and required all to be certified. If an inspector "creates" their own code they can be reported to the state board and are subject to losing their certification. It seams to have tempered some AHJ's "because I said so" attitude.

 

[lielec11]

Here in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, NC) the plans examiner has final say. If you disagree you have to appeal to the Department of Insurance. This is true at least for commercial or large multi-family jobs. It seems based on the conversations that each geographical area has different rules and regulations.

From personal experience it basically means the local plans examiner is judge and jury, per se. Most developers/owners don't want to slow the job so appealing to the DOI is takes too long for them and they say "just do what the AHJ says", even if it is asinine. For example, they have a requirement that "grouped" services means all on one wall. If the room isn't large enough, they will fight us to make the architect change the room until all service disconnects are on the same wall. If I have one disconnect on one wall, and other across the wall (with all clearances met), they still won't allow it.

In this instance I agree with the OP that my AHJ is doing a bit more than simply" interpreting" the code.

 

[kwired]

Here in Mecklenburg County (Charlotte, NC) the plans examiner has final say. If you disagree you have to appeal to the Department of Insurance. This is true at least for commercial or large multi-family jobs. It seems based on the conversations that each geographical area has different rules and regulations.

From personal experience it basically means the local plans examiner is judge and jury, per se. Most developers/owners don't want to slow the job so appealing to the DOI is takes too long for them and they say "just do what the AHJ says", even if it is asinine. For example, they have a requirement that "grouped" services means all on one wall. If the room isn't large enough, they will fight us to make the architect change the room until all service disconnects are on the same wall. If I have one disconnect on one wall, and other across the wall (with all clearances met), they still won't allow it.

In this instance I agree with the OP that my AHJ is doing a bit more than simply" interpreting" the code.

New construction also doesn't seem to lend itself to finding ways to make things work as much as renovating something existing does.

And yes whether it be plans examination or field inspecting there is a certain amount of "just do what they want so we don't hold up completion".

I pick and choose battles in that area myself. Even if I am going to do what they want to keep project moving, I will still tell them why I think what I want is allowed, sometimes they at least consider it, other times they are not going to listen regardless.

 

[mwm1752]

State of Colorado does electrical inspection and allows municipal agencies to conduct electrical inspections per State adopted NEC -- They have Statute exemptions from the NEC document -- they also require any entity that enforced "more than state adopted code" to document with an official amendment with the State Electrical Board -- So you may have an entity enforcing NEC codes that the State does not.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Those pesky Feasance brothers... Mal and Mis