some great posts here fellas.

myself i would say beauracracy is a double edged sword.

too much of it, and nothing really moves within an economy, too little and it's simply anarchy

adding in the cost of the risk/benifit ratio in the creation of a safe enviroment isn't easy because (as some of you have already alluded to) it's not easily quantifiable

most of us have been around enough to see the evolution of the nec, it's enforcement, and what falls through the cracks.

Well, quite frankly we might aspire to keep up with the code, but the public usually isn't as excited as we may be about it, so i don't see sales in items like tamperproof receptacles being the next rage in better homes and gardens

conversely....i get the same 'is it safe' question , as well as the 'brought up to code' qeuries as much as the rest of you

to me, safety is a relative term, in that no one lives (or would want to) in a bubble

and so my usual speel is to address things that have the most potential for a hazard first, and i'll forward a whole menu to choose from to the consumer to make the choices him/herself

i'm sure any of you could do the same, and most likely do when your the ahj

i could ride you through my own town and tell you how many public buildings lack basic life safety, and many still have the old wadswoth main range & four fuse setup w/K&T

i could show you grange halls with K&T that runs from rosette to rosette , ending in one that an entire band plugs into every saturday night (those green colored fuses, eh!)

there are a number of meters in town hanging by their service entrance cables

i get calls like the rest of you re: "should my panel sound like bacon"?

there are farms here who's milk rooms look like a gang of angry spiders wired the milking machines

i went to one sugarhouse which had no-blow fuses for mains, 1/2" copper pipe pieces (anothe M,R&4)

the list is endless, I (and i would think this could easily be a WE) make concessions for these situations because we know we can make it a tad better, than claiming it all or nothing......

~S~