ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Who are your Inspectors?

I'm trying to get more understanding on who the AHJ is in other areas of the 'World' Is he/she a State, or town employee, Fire Marshall or an independant agent?

What we have on Long Island are Agencies that are recognized by the jurisdictions to inspect Electrical Work. The most famous of these are the New York Board of Fire Underwriters. In recent years we've had a number of other agencies spring up that have similar authority in many areas. When an inspection is required or requested there is often a choice of inspectors or agencies to choose from.

I'm curious how it is in other areas, and which way you all think is better.

Bill

Bill,

We have county inspectors (county employees) and one city which has city inspectors (city employees) They do not interchange (do each others inspections) and have their own adendums. It is difficult sometimes, you could do a number of county jobs and then go to the city for a job and you must remember what they want for their codes. I believe at one time the county was considering sub contracting out their inspections. It never happened. Actually it was good because I believe they (sub contracting inspectors) would become impersonal. It takes quite awhile to gain the trust of inspectors who know your work and believe you when you say you will correct something or finish something.

With numerous Electrical inspectors (they move around their area of responsibility) sometimes what one requires the other nixes. It can be rough.

My vote is to keep the same inspectors within a certain juristiction so you know who you are dealing with

Tom

In central Fl the cities have their own code enforcement that are city employees.Some of the smaller cities have their code enforcers also trained in fire fighting and that is their first priority.
In central NY (Cortland and Cayuga counties)code enforcement is sub contracted out.
I believe that having city employees that do nothing but code enforcement is more effective.

Chris

Tom,

Yes, it can be rough learning what each Inspector requires, but it also adds some flexibility. We have no inspectors that are town employees. There is no connection there. If an Inspection is required We can choose who (which Agency) to hire for the job. (I purposely used the word 'hire' because that's what it's most like)

Chris,

Recently, there was discussion about municipal employees as Inspectors. The point was brought up that they may have little at stake by making wrong or unsafe decisions. Someone from a private agency may have more incentive to 'get it right' because they could be held more responsible for their actions. And, I think they tend to be more personable and accomodating if they can, because it helps to build up their customer base (us)

Bill

[This message has been edited by Bill Addiss (edited 02-08-2002).]

Bill
Good point.
I am definitely biased by my experiences with the various AHJ.

Chris

Hi guys! New to the board.
I work for a Township in PA as the building and electrical inspector. I do all the residential work and most of the smaller commercial jobs. I have both certs but I like having more experienced inspectors come in for the bigger jobs (until I get more experience).Our area uses alot of 3rd party inspectors and we do have some problems. The first 6 months I worked with Township I'm with now I didn't do the electical...I would find lots of things overlooked by the 3rd party insectors and convinced the Supervisors to allow me to take over that responsibility.I have since gotten to know the electricians in my area and have established good working relationships with them...
thanks to all of you for the great info you share at this site...Skip

Skip,

Welcome!
Feel free to jump in wherever.


Bill

Here the inspectors are either state electrical division employees or a city/county employee. All inspectors have to be certified.

Hi Bill
I’m from Massachusetts and I am a part time employee of the town. In MA we are required to hold a MA Masters license. And I enforce the MA electrical code, which is the NEC with some State amendments.

Vermont has state inspectors from the dept. of labor & industry, there are also fire marshals available. But far too few of either to really be effective IMO