FOCUS on Sliding By

I had a friend go through an interview a few days ago for a building inspector’s position with a fast growing city and as we discussed how he thought he did he told me one questions was “When is it OK to let violations slide by?”

He assumed (as did I) that it was a trick question from the interview board. It turns out that the board was serious. My friend asked for a clarification of what they meant by “slide by”. They told him that they are so overwhelmed with inspections from the staggering growth that there are certain inspections and some items in inspections that need to be let go of and not be pursued. He told them he would not let anything slide by, that all inspections needed to be handled and all corrective actions needed to be noted and followed up on. He’s not sure if that was the answer they were looking for, if he answered it right or wrong in their view. Whether that was the reason or other there were other reasons, he wasn’t offered the position. I told him I thought he answered the question correctly and we discussed a few scenarios of sliding by.

I’ll pose the question to you. What would you let slide by during an inspection?

As he and I discussed it and pondered the ethics of it, I reiterated that I wouldn’t let anything slide by. With that said when I was on the fire department and doing inspections everything I found was written up, I wouldn’t let things slide by. I’ll use the 2018 IFC since that’s what I’m most familiar with. Section 101.3 says the purpose of the code is to “establish the minimum requirements” for life safety and property protection. Section 104.1 provides for the enforcement with the “intent and purpose” of the code. Section 101.3 laid out the purpose. The intent is to keep things safe. It is the intent part that, in my opinion, allows for some leeway, interpretation, and “sliding by”. My favorite example of intent in the fire code is extension cords. You are not supposed to use them for several things, one of which is permanent wiring. There were many times I during my course of doing inspections I found extension cords being used as permanent wiring. Powering adding machines, cash registers, table lamps, battery chargers, heavy duty industrial metal presses…..WAIT…. heavy duty industrial metal presses? Yes! I found a metal press plugged into an extension cord. The tenant tried to tell me it was only temporary use because they only plugged it in when they needed it (which, with asking a few more questions, I found out was every day). On top of the everyday use, the mixer’s power cord used 10 gauge wires and the extension cord (with tenant modified plug ends) was 14 gauge wires. Um, NO! I required that the mixer cord be plugged directly into an appropriate receptacle.

I always wrote up the extension cord violations including the adding machines. It may take me ‘while’ to get around to enforcement of some. The intent of the code is to keep the equipment from drawing more current that the extension cord is rated for thus overheating and causing a fire.  A phone charger with 26 gauge wires is very unlikely to overload a 16 gauge extension cord. I didn’t let them “slide by”. It just went a little further down the enforcement priority list.

What would you let “slide by”? Don’t limit yourself to codes rather think about being the company leader. What about the best producer your company? What would you let him/her “slide by” with? Coming in late? Taking long breaks? Using company property for personal use? Criticizing other employees?

Share some stories about times you have let things slide by or times you have seen others do the same.