wilhendrix wrote:
If the company is spending the funds to upgrade the electrical system, that also means getting the authorities having jurisdiction to approve what you plan, meaning a building permit or facility general permit followed by inspections and approval as part of the process.
The permit process is for protection of the public, not private business.
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Failing to get the AHJ to review, inspect and approve modifications is asking for trouble.
Not really. Once construction is complete, they issue an occupancy permit. They cannot force an owner to pull permits when they undertake work themselves, whether it's a private homeowner or a business. And frankly when I have pulled permits (I think 3 times in 25 years) for an industrial facility, the inspectors always left with a learning experience rather than the other way around.
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Should someone be injured in an electrical accident or if property was damaged or destroyed, you can be certain any insurance company and other public agencies will be looking to insure that everything was done properly.
Businesses are routinely inspected by all manner of federal and state agencies, AND if they carry business loss insurance which is what you are talking about, they will be inspected by private insurance inspectors. I know that Hartford and FM in particular have some pretty tough inspectors until you figure out where they publish their standards and simply follow those. If it's commercial though and all they carry is property and general liability insurance then there is little to no inspection done for the most part until something happens. Then you get a claims adjuster sniffing around making sure everything was done to Code. Or if it's an injury, you get an OSHA inspector sniffing around too.
And finally at least for industrial plants, think of the practical side of things. They have their own maintenance staff or contract one. Almost no matter how small they are, they are constantly making modifications and capital improvements almost 12 months out of the year. It's rare to find a plant that isn't under almost constant construction. They have access or have their own engineering staff, too. Some states require licensing for electricians though it's usually just a revenue grab by the state. They know what quality work looks like. So unlike commercial/residential industrial plants are inspected far more often than a local Code inspector could ever dream of, and have the staffing to where they vastly exceed the capabilities of the local inspector when it comes to self policing.