I hired a new EC about a month ago from recommendation from another Cell Phone company. I awarded him with a contract to install the electrical in six cell towers sires that I was building in his area to try him out.
Since these are rural sites and for a phone company, there was no permit required, so I inspected each site after work is completed, blah, blah blah.
I went to the first site and was impressed with the work, very strict attention to workmanship. Then I went out to the AC service frame to inspect meter and disconnect switch. I noticed the 2/0 GEC was missing from disconnect switch, but the PVC was there for it. I found that strange, as I knew the cable was in the specs, and I had seen it there stubbed up, as it is part of a huge grounding ring/grid. So I dug into the crush-n-run and found it buried. OK, maybe a minor mistake or oversight took note for punch-list.
Went to the next site, same thing, buried GEC. OK now I am seeing a pattern. Third site same thing, now I am pissed.
Went to the forth site where EC was working to confront him. He stated he did that at all cell sites for added lightning protection and so he could work the system bare handed at a later time if need be.
Fired him on the spot, reported him to AR State licensing board, and to the engineers at the cell phone company that recommended him to me. I understand that Verizon checked his worked and found the same thing. They are suing to cover the price of re-work at multiple sites, and solved the mystery of why the were constantly loosing rectifiers and HVAC.
Sorry to vent just had to get it off my chest, as I can’t talk about it around work, too embarrassing.
