Electrical Contractor Magazine: Prevent Electrical Safety Hazards from Storm-Damaged Equipment

Katrina Aftermath Reveals Hidden Dangers From Cleaned And Dried Parts, Waived City Inspections

(HIT) - Homeowners recovering from storms can prevent serious electrical safety hazards by taking proper precautions with water-damaged equipment and inspections before reconnecting their power. Learning from the Katrina aftermath, an investigative report titled "Disaster After the Disaster," in Electrical Contractor magazine was the first to uncover the risks of an emergency ordinance that lets New Orleans homeowners waive electrical inspections by a city or parish inspector—combined with cleaned and dried equipment that may look safe, but needs to be replaced.

Approved by the city council and signed by Mayor Ray Nagin in January, the ordinance allows homeowners to authorize licensed electricians to certify that residential systems are safe to activate. Reporter Jeff Griffin discovered the practice through a source while researching an earlier Electrical Contractor story on the risks of the resale of flood-damaged electrical equipment.

"My sources emphasized the serious risks of waiving inspections by city inspectors while reconnecting power with previously submerged, cleaned and dried equipment that could result in serious hazards," said Griffin, an Oklahoma City construction and tools writer. "Are there hundreds or thousands of structures in storm-affected areas that will suddenly go up in flames when water-damaged wiring shorts out and faulty breakers fail to shut off power?" poses the article.

As Griffin reports, safety is the reason for electrical inspections. The long-established and accepted practice is for inspections to be conducted by qualified professionals representing the jurisdiction in which properties are located. While waived city inspections can help speed service to power-starved homeowners, the story said the practice now raises several concerns:

• The emergency ordinance in New Orleans provides the opportunity for numerous abuses such as compromising the inspection process, which could lead to serious safety issues.
• Buildings in other areas previously inspected under other emergency procedures may have been reconnected to power even though electrical components were damaged by floodwater and should have been replaced.
• For contractors making inspections, there is the risk of liability should failures occur in properties they inspected.
• Unconfirmed reports recently surfaced that buildings in other south Louisiana jurisdictions are being reconnected to power without replacement of water-damaged electrical components.

"As the leading publication representing the electrical contracting industry, Jeff’s story will hopefully drive change in a practice that presents long-term, hazardous implications," said Electrical Contractor Publisher John Maisel.

Griffin references the National Electrical Code (NEC), stating that equipment cannot be exposed to agents including fumes, vapors and liquids that can deteriorate the equipment.

During initial clean up, a volunteer reported that some Gulf property owners, volunteers and hired workers cleaned debris from electrical components and flushed them with water, exposing them to further damage and creating a false sense of security. The cleaned and dried equipment has showed no evidence of exposure to flood water, and inspections by inexperienced or disinterested personnel would not identify that they needed replacement.

Griffin found that the neighboring Jefferson Parish never waived inspections. According to electrical inspectors in Gulfport, Biloxi and Bay St. Louis, Miss., all electrical inspections are currently being made by city inspectors.

He reports that City of New Orleans Chief Electrical Inspector Larry Chan said the city requires replacement of all electrical components that were previously submerged.

The full article is available at http://www.lhprmc.com/PDFs/EC.disaster.story.swf.