ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area GIs in Iraq and Afghanastan dying from bad wiring

Electrical inspections are done, just not by electrical inspectors. On military bases, the AHJ is whomever the responsible officer is, or more often, someone they delegate who has more knowledge in the area (seabee electrician, or staff electrical engineer, for instance). Small commands in the field might have nobody at all remotely qualified to inspect electrical, mechanical, environmental, etc, yet are still responsible.

The contracting officer is responsible for ensuring the work is done according to contract (DoD guidance includes NEC), but that usually only comes at the SOVT at the very end of the project, and not during temporary work used to support the project. I'm not going to get into anecdotes, but safety is taken VERY seriously in the military. Yet, they have more leeway for risk than one in the commercial world might have, and the AHJs have more vested interest in the project, since the AHJ also typically is the one paying for the work and recieving the product; it's not so cut and dry as a city inspector's "I don't care what it costs or how long it takes, fix it right". For instance, CO of a command might authorize the enclosures be removed from transformers to prevent them from overheating, if he/she feels the risk of losing the mission outweighs the risk to personnel safety. And yes, they are held personally accountable for that decision, or a similar decision made by anyone under their command.

Edit: Also, wanted to mention that there is such a thing as a "battle short", which is a switch than can be thrown during battle that shorts out nearly every single fuse and breaker on a weapons platform. Makes sense if you think about it militarily: you'd rather the equipment runs until it bursts into flames than to nuisance trip offline during combat; repair cost means little if your ship is sunk or tank is blown up.