who's responsible

R

rwood

Member
Location
ri
Occupation
electrician
Had a post earlier about a crossed neutrals when I installed the new breaker noticed the main breaker showed signs of
arcing at one time not arcing now everything working fine. I let the homeowner know right away via text with pictures telling him
he needed to get this replaced asap. now I call for inspection to inspect my work which was only installing a bathroom exhaust
fan tell him about the breaker. Says he will speak to homeowner in the meantime his boss the building inspector ? says the liability
is on me because I was the last one in the panel didn't notice this until everything was done does this make sense ?

thanks Rob

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rwood said:
says the liability
is on me because I was the last one in the panel didn't notice this until everything was done does this make sense ?
Click to expand...
I doubt that there is any law that says because you opened the panel you're open to liability from something completely unrelated to your work.
 
it's incredible how government officials always think they have all the authority in the world, and absolutely zero authority to go along with it.

isn't it?
 
I get this a lot.

The liability is on you because if you get sued in civil court, you will be the only person in the courtroom with a clue about electricity, so you are likely to get blamed, guilty or not, and you will at least be paying lawyer fees. It's not about being right, it's about having the most convincing expert witness. Not necessarily because you would be found guilty of a code violation by a judge if it went to criminal court. The inspector doesn't know that you didn't cause whatever is wrong in that panel anyway.

If the panel is dangerous, "Somebody" is fixing that panel ASAP. That somebody is going to be a licensed electrician. We don't care who. The fact is that the homeowner is going to ask whoever is there to do it unless you guys have totally destroyed your relationship during the course of the job. If not, they will find me a new electrician. Until I have a different electrician in hand and a plan to fix this panel with a deadline for completion in hand, I'm not letting anyone involved "off the hook", and I'm going to stay involved and applying pressure until someone steps up and resolves the issue. Under no circumstance am I closing an open permit with serious problems present until I have someone else who will take responsibility, and I am certainly not giving legal advice to an electrician by telling them they aren't going to be held civilly responsible for something they touched.

Every person involved is going to try to dodge responsibility. The inspector's job is to get hazards mitigated before they hurt someone without allowing delays caused by quibbling over responsibility. Not fixing the problem immediately is not an option. Using an unlicensed electrician is not an option.

If you don't keep a short leash on that stuff, it will drag out for months and years despite clear and present hazards.
 
Not true at all not everyone’s filthy Rich to spend money frivolously…
That mindset is why things are wrong in this world..

Plus, aren’t these things supposed to be tested in the lab and able to stand our faults or is gonna do as the person gonna be without power for a while it’s gonna arc and then they’ll be calling someone to fix it it’s not gonna Blow the world up

The electrician is just to report the issues if the homeowner doesn’t want to get fixed that’s not the electrician’s issue he noted it. He can’t do crap for free and he’s not gonna hold the gun to his head. He doesn’t have the power of the government behind him.
Plus, you have the immunity of the state behind you where you can’t get sued win-win situation for you lose lose for us—-
That’s the government for you
 
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