The importance of electrical inspections

[369 member]

On May 24th 2002 Isaac Lawrence was playing in a Yard sprinkler at his babysitters house in Louisville Kentucky when he brushed up against the garage door of a detached garage. He was killed by electrocution by 120 volts that was on the door itself.

No electrical permit had been applied for so no inspection was done. Which would have found the problem immediately with the use of a simple receptacle tester.

Please click on this link to see the computer animation that shows what caused this tragic death.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjh0L4K4jbQ

 

[charlie b]

This thread was temporarily moved to an area accessible only to the Moderators. A member had reported seeing technical inaccuracies in the video presentation, such that it risked giving bad information to the newer members of our profession. I felt it best that we get a chance to review the video, before leaving it accessible to the entire membership. Call this ?censorship,? if you like; I call it ?moderating.?

Since no Moderator raised any objections to the video, I am reopening the thread. It has not been altered in any way.

I do not know what specific inaccuracies appear in the video. I could not get the sound to work. So I can?t advise anyone what is, and what is not, accurate information.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

More important than having a permit is understanding the importance of wiring safely and to code. Inspections don't guarantee safety and compliance. I know of many inspectors that come on the job just to shoot the bull.

Years ago we had an inspector who didn't get out of car except to sign the permit on the pole.

 

[wbalsam1]

so sad

so sad

So, so sad the little boy was electrocuted.
Incompetence essentially means that an installer or an inspector, or both, does not know what he is doing. Simple negligence means that he overlooked something that a competent person would have recognized. Gross negligence means the person has actually performed/recognized a violation or safety hazard and purposely overlooked it. Criminal negligence means the inspector/installer has overlooked it for illegal reasons, such as a bribe.
In New York State, Building Inspectors and Code Enforcement Officials are ultimately charged with the responsibility of issuing certificates of compliance or certificates of occupancy, and in most communities they sign off trusting the electrical inspector (third-party) who may or may not be competent at inspecting installers work, who, in turn, may or may not be competent. It's nice to know that more and more communities are stepping up to the plate and requiring proof of competency for both trades.
I have met very capable 3rd-party inspectors and installers, not suggesting it to be a pandemic problem, but certainly one that needs more study.

 

[bphgravity]

I know of many inspectors that come on the job just to shoot the bull.

Years ago we had an inspector who didn't get out of car except to sign the permit on the pole.

Have you ever tried to do anything about this?

 

[Dennis Alwon]

Have you ever tried to do anything about this?

Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. The one that never got out of his car is long gone after many complaints from myself and others. I am also the main reason another inspector in our area was relieved of duties a few years back.

We still have some inspectors not inspecting as I would like, however that is a much harder issue to deal with. If I get on a job that has passed an inspection with known violation I call the department and let them know I am not happy with the job they did.

 

[369 member]

Thank you Charlie B for re-posting this thread. It is important to me as well as the Lawrence family that people understand the facts of how their 5 year old son was killed. I apologize for not posting essential details about this video earlier. First off there is no sound so please do not try to adjust anything on your computer. Second I realize that the company who made this video mislabled the 14-3 wire by not identifying two travelers in explaining the proper wiring method of how to wire a 3-way switch. This video was done by a company hired by the Lawrence's attorney for the lawsuit against the electrical contractor. In 2006 the regular session in Kentucky passed "Isaac's Law" which provided higher fines for not having the proper license or not pulling an electrical permit for new electrical installations. Last year the Louisville Courier Journal ran a story that included a small piece about what had happened to Isaac Lawrence. Though it was not specific. Over the course of the past year I had been trying to get the details of what happened(electrically) that caused his death. I also asked various electrical inspectors about enforcement of this law and found to my knowledge none existed. So I contacted the Lawrences who in turn gave me this video. I understand the quality is poor due to the upload froma VHS tape to youtube. But hopefully I can improve on the quality shortly when a CD version is provided to me.

 

[tonyi]

Saw a similar thing in an expensive 2-story 4-section modular a while ago.

Builder shot a staple through some romex in the attic attaching "protector plates" (ha, ha ha). Apparently when they tested that section the damaged hot blew apart completely and one side of it remained shorted against the bare gnd.

Their "fix" for the test failure was to snip the gnd in one of the bedroom receptacle boxes and hijack the gnd as the hot for the rest of that bedroom.

Face plate screws, fixture housings, etc in the effected room were all hot and there was no effective ground anymore.

They never even tried to figure out why it didn't work, they just made it "appear to work". Nobody living there knew until all the backstabbed receptacles started failing and acting odd some years later.

Old world craftsmanship

 

[369 member]

Nobody living there knew until all the backstabbed receptacles started failing and acting odd some years later.

That is something I have a problem with as well. I know of two residential contractors in Louisville whose policy is to stab lock all devices. I think stab locks should be outlawed. Contractors like them for the hope that after the warranty for the electrical runs out the connections start failing. When they fail what does the homeowner do? He/she goes to the panel and calls the number on the sticker of the contractor who did the initial wiring. Expensive service calls for something that could avoided during the initial installation.

 

[SmithBuilt]

That truly is a sad ending.

Inspections in my area would not have caught this. I've never seen an inspector get a latter to check the garage door outlet.

I do not believe everything should be left for the inspector to find. A lot of the responsibility lies on the electrician. There are many times in the process of building that the inspectors never see the whole job. It would be impractical for an inspector to look at every detail of the job.

IMO the penalties for code blatant violations are not stiff enough. But if there were more serious penalties for blatant violations that any qualified electrician should know how to do, things like this would not happen as often.

Now I'm going to go back to work and double check everything. Maybe triple after reading that story.

 

[369 member]

That truly is a sad ending.

Inspections in my area would not have caught this. I've never seen an inspector get a latter to check the garage door outlet.

He would not have to check the garage door receptacle. Please review the video again please. All receptacles in the garage would have failed a simple receptacle tester check. None would have a ground and every ground wire would have 120 volts on it.

 

[SmithBuilt]

Yes I realize the problem would have been found if any had been checked. It's not as bad as it use to be. Still, even in the past few years I've seen inspectors not check outlets.

I guess my point is the garage door outlet is never checked. The fault could happen right there.

The department is getting better. A new head inspector. The first thing he did was shuffle the inspectors to different territories. The last house I finished an inspector I had not meet before came out. He was more through than any I've seen. Checked every outlet took the cover off of every panel. Opened a few switches.

 

[barbeer]

In some neighboring communities the final inspection is given to a house without even having had power applied to the building, not in mine! The job of an inspector is not really to punch-out the system but assure a code compliant inspection, That responsibility falls on the EC. Unfortunately- here in Fl at least they are making it easier for any Tom, Dick or Harry(sorry guys) to do Electrical work. That said - you should see some of the crazy stuff we see.

 

[369 member]

Unfortunately- here in Fl at least they are making it easier for any Tom, Dick or Harry(sorry guys) to do Electrical work. That said - you should see some of the crazy stuff we see.

Yes. I heard about that. I got my Pinellas county electricians license in 1988 and then I moved to Kentucky and didn't bother to renew it. Correct me if I am wrong but what I heard was that a contractor in Tampa had a big job in Miami and couldn't find a licensed electrician. The contractor had a lot of political clout and was able to get the law repealed.

 

[barbeer]

I do not know the particulars- I do however see the toll it placed on craftsmanship.

 

[Brady Electric]

The importance of elctrical inspections

The importance of elctrical inspections

Thanks for opening this thread. Semper Fi.Buddy

 

[bstoin]

... Unfortunately- here in Fl at least they are making it easier for any Tom, Dick or Harry(sorry guys) to do Electrical work. That said - you should see some of the crazy stuff we see.

I live in south Florida and would agree with this.
On this subject, it used to be that every project required a licened journeyman per certain number of people...sorry don't remember the exact number but I think it was 4. They did away with this so now, having a Journeyman's card is virtually useless. So now we have people saying things like "why bother learning all the particulars of the trade to get my Jmen's card, doesn't mean anything anyway.":-?

 

[barbeer]

I do however see the toll it placed on craftsmanship.

This says it all.

 

[George Stolz]

I initially passed this thread by, because I have dial-up at my house. Tonight I just saw the presentation on my sister's DSL (she's having computer troubles).

I figured I'd just outline the installation for some who'd been in the same boat as I.

A detached garage was fed from an existing bell-box in the flowerbed of the home, and it had no bonding connection. The ground wire had been abandoned inside the home. The installer used 14-2 for a threeway (between the house and garage) using the ground wire as a traveller.

The traveller pressed up against the metal box when the switch was installed, energizing the entire EGS of the detached garage. This energized the garage door via the GDO, and apparently the young boy came in contact with the door.

I hope they threw the book at these outrageous hacks. This was without a doubt a hack job.

 

[369 member]

Unfortunately the case was presented to a grand jury and they determined that there was not enough evidence to convict for manslaughter. How they came to this conclusion baffles me.