Ethics during routine inspection

[pierre]

This question is for inspectors and anyone who may want to answer.

Scenario:
The contractor calls for an inspection. The inspector sees the contractor of record has no violations for his work . But as he walks through a space to get to where the inspection is, he sees violations that are safety related and need to be addressed.
1. Can he send a violation to the building owner?

2. Can he send a violation to the building owner and the building department?

3. Is he required by law to send these violations?

4. Can he insist after 30 days from sending the notice of defects that the situation is dangerous and must be addressed?

5. What is the liability for the inspector/company if he does nothing?

Thank you for answering any of these questions!!!

Pierre

 

[ryan_618]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

The biggest problem on something like this is a possible violation of the fourth amendment for illegal search and siezure.

Work under permit is considered to be a secure entry to the building department because the work under permit is expected to be examined and therefore no search warrant is required.

Commercial is much easier than residential for this. In commercial, any area that is open to the public needs no search warrant. For example, if I go to a resteraunt with my wife, and I go to the bathroom and see a violation, it is considered to be a secured entry. If I were to wander into the kitchen, however, I have performed an illegal search.

In residential, a nice rule of thumb would be if the mailman can see it, it is a secured entry. If I have to go around the back of the house or start jumping over fences or peering into windows, I have performed an illegal search.

Things like this SHOULD ALWAYS be brought to the attention of the city attorney BEFORE ANY ACTION IS TAKEN!!!

It is important to remember that state law cannot circumvent federal law. The power granted to the building official is given through state or local ordinance and therefore cannot trump the 4th amendment of the constitution.

 

[bennie]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

Ryan: My compliments, your perception is great.

The only thing I can add is; before demanding a change that has a high financial impact, consult with higher authorities including legal advice.

 

[iwire]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

Originally posted by bennie:
Ryan: My compliments, your perception is great.

I agree, now if only the FBI and other Federal law enforcement authorities had such high standards. :roll:

 

[ryan_618]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

Thanks guys. Compliments coming from people with the knowledge you guys possess means a lot to me.

 

[bennie]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

Another area of ethics that is overlooked is; conflict of interest.

A public official through his/hers official action creates a financial gain for any friend relative, professional affiliate, fraternity brother/sister, or fellow members of a professional organization, is guilty of conflict of interest.

This ethics rule is to prevent an inspector from writing existing violations to make work for contractors, and electricians.

 

[russ]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

Generally the right thing to do would be to alert the owner of the problem and danger involved.

In the case of a safety issue, I would at the very least report it to the building commissioner.
He has the power to close buildings or condemn them.

It's a case of your damned if you do and damned if you don't.
I don't think there are any inspectors that want to impose financial hardships on home owners.
If you don't bring it up, and someone gets hurt or property gets damaged, they would say the inspector was here, why didn't he tell us there was something wrong.

[ March 06, 2004, 04:03 PM: Message edited by: russ ]

 

[charlie b]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

I think the key words in the scenario are these:

But as he walks through a space to get to where the inspection is

Ryan. Since you are an Inspector, I would surmise that the perspective you described is what your employer has taught you to adopt. I cannot argue against it. But I do believe that if a police officer were to be walking through a building on his way to a room in which he has a duty to perform (either acting with the owner?s permission or acting under a search warrant for the room in question), and if along the way he sees evidence of a crime (meaning that it was in plain sight, and he did not have to open unrelated doors just to see what might behind them), then he is within his rights to seize the evidence, and the evidence would be admissible in court.

As an engineer, if I were to see a code violation that is not related to the job for which the owner has hired me, then I believe it to be my ethical responsibility to notify the owner. To protect my own interests, I will issue the notification in writing. If there is a question of immediate danger to life and limb, then I will stop whatever I may be doing and notify the owner immediately. But I do not have jurisdictional authority over the owner, as you do in your side of the profession. So the rules may be different.

 

[bennie]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

An inspector here, can contact the power company and have the service turned off when there is an obvious hazard or imminent danger to life or property.

The problem must be obvious to even a laymen and not an opinion.

I had a service cut once when I saw kids swinging from it. I only feared a law suit if I didn't act.

 

[bennie]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

After reading my previous post, I must clarify my frame of mind. I didn't have the power cut to avoid a law suit, it was only to prevent a child from being electrocuted.

I could have been fired for not acting, even if no one was injured.

[ March 06, 2004, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: bennie ]

 

[pierre]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

There are 2 specific situations that come to mind here.
1. The inspector walks through the kitchen to inspect a dwelling addition. In the kitchen there are several violations of which I did not do the work. He did not cite the violations, as a result no repairs to the dangerous work were performed even though the homeowner was warned. The GC had performed the installation, but at the time I could not just say this. The kitchen had a major fire Thanksgiving day and I was called - with the addition work being blamed for the cause of the fire. It was proven to be started in the kitchen as a result of the work performed by the GC, he is now being sued (it is funny how the homeowner protected him from my comments back when I exposed the hazard-MONEY). They have small children and I say they were fortunate to have escaped harm.

2. I now have a restuarant that has a situation where I believe the problem is even more hazardous and there are 8 apartments above it, with families in those apartments. It is a very old (1800's) woodframe building and I believe this is a fire waiting to happen.

I have notified the owner, inspector and the building department and all seem to be frozen in their tracks. The repairs in my estimate require rewiring a portion of the building and a new service as they have 8 apartments and the resturant on a 3 phase 200 amp service of which he is blowing fuses EVERY DAY

This just pisses me off

So my hands are tied?

Pierre

 

[bennie]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

You have a real problem, Pierre. If the apartments don't have smoke detectors, I will pick up the cost of 8 battery operated smoke detectors to give the occupants a chance.

Give each apartment tenant a detector. Maybe someone will get it. Just let me know and i'll send the money.

Good luck; Bennie

[ March 07, 2004, 09:59 AM: Message edited by: bennie ]

 

[ryan_618]

Re: Ethics during routine inspection

Originally posted by charlie b:
I think the key words in the scenario are these:

But as he walks through a space to get to where the inspection is

Ryan. Since you are an Inspector, I would surmise that the perspective you described is what your employer has taught you to adopt.

Good morning charlie. Actually, I learned most of what I know about this kind of thing from books, such as "legal aspects of code administration" and "building department administration", as well as a few others.

I was trying to make a blanket statement about a delicate situation, which is why I emphasized getting the blesing of the city attorney.

I also sent Pierre a PM with my phone number to discuss this in greater detail should there be a specific situation he would like to talk about.