Hillsborough County overloads building inspectors

[mark handler]

Hillsborough County overloads building inspectors

News Channel 8 Investigative Reporter Steve Andrews

By Steve Andrews

http://wfla.com/2016/01/21/hillsborough-county-overloads-building-inspectors/

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – One need only look to the storms in Manatee and Sarasota counties this past weekend to appreciate the importance that buildings are constructed according to building codes.

Logs obtained by 8 On Your Side show Hillsborough County inspectors may not have time to be sure. According to the logs, on Thursday, Jan. 21, the county assigned 81 inspections to one building inspector, 63 to another and 60 to another.

On Wednesday, Jan. 20, one building inspector was assigned 77 inspections. Another received 68 assignments, and a third was given 64.

The International Code Council recommends 16 to 18 inspections per day per inspector.

8 On Your Side showed the logs to county commissioner Al Higginbotham. “It’s a heavy workload, and I don’t know how you accomplish 80 inspections in an 8-hour day,” Higginbotham said.

The heavy workload led building inspector Benjamin Buckley to quit last year. On one day the county assigned him 91 inspections. In his resignation letter, Buckley cited poor working conditions and an overload that creates undo stress.

“If we’re under a lot of pressure, you know, I believe that something could be missed,” Buckley explained. “We’re playing beat the clock.”

Another resignation letter from electrical inspector Michael Lindsay stated, “The workload put on inspectors every day is ridiculously high and way out of the industry recommended standards.”

Building Official Mike Rimoldi told 8 On Your Side, one reason for the back up this week was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The county might shut down for business, but not the building industry. Rimoldi contends the county is doing a better job coordinating with builders to help ease the load on inspectors.

However, Higginbotham said, “When you see a workload that’s that high, it makes you wonder why.”

 

[ICE]

Not even possibly true. No way Jose. Didn't happen. They have some strange way of tabulating the number of inspections. Lets say I am doing the rough inspection on a house. To me that's one inspection. To some it is Building, Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing. Who are they trying to fool with 63, 68, 80 and damned near 100.

 

[mark handler]

Hillsborough officials aware of building inspectors’ overload reports

News Channel 8 Investigative Reporter Steve Andrews

http://wfla.com/2016/01/22/hillsborough-officials-aware-of-building-inspectors-overload-reports/

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL (WFLA) – As homes and buildings go up in Hillsborough County, so do the number of inspections assigned to county building inspectors.

“We’re actually at an all time high, yesterday we had 1,700 inspection requests, which has been one of the highest numbers in a long time,” said county Building Official Mike Rimoldi.

That translates into quite a load. Inspection logs obtained by 8 On Your Side show that on Friday, Jan. 22, 75 inspections were assigned to each of two building inspectors. Another inspector was assigned 81 on Thursday.

“With safety and quality being most important, I don’t expect somebody to get 81,” Rimoldi said. “I’m not going to ding them on their evaluation. I’m not going to say you didn’t get all 81 done, you know you’re out of here, I’m not going to do that.”

While job openings remained unfilled, the building department has blown through its overtime budget to meet first quarter demands for more inspections. The workload pushed some inspectors to seek transfers. Others like Benjamin Buckley quit last year.

“There was a lot of stress,” Buckley told 8 On Your Side in June.

He saw no end to the workload. He worried about what he might miss during hurried inspections.

“I was assigned, one day, 91 inspections,” explained Buckley.

When 8 On Your Side raised questions about why the inspection load was so great, Development Services director Adam Gormly told county commissioners that Buckley’s allegation was not true. In a July letter to commissioners, Gormly wrote, Buckley’s claim “was not substantiated by the facts.” When asked he also said he was not aware that any inspector had been assigned anywhere near the 91 Buckley claims to have been assigned.

With 80 plus inspections assigned to a building inspector just this week, it is Gormly’s response that is no longer substantiated by the facts.

 

[mtlogcabin]

I agree with ICE. I count every individual inspection for the number of inspections because that is a correct number. The amount of stops is important because you have to include travel time. Even in my small city I can have up to 12 miles between inspection sites which can be traveled in 15 to 20 minutes. since we do not have the traffic that some of you have to deal with

 

[SCBO1]

That's work load is not possible!

Do they count, having the building permit card displayed as an inspection?

agree with ICE too!