I run a business installing and servicing life safety systems.  The most common of these are also known as fire alarm systems.

So I got called to a church I used to attend, and while there ( as an attending member)  I also serviced their security and fire system and handled several expansions. About 8 years ago, they did a large sanctuary addition and I lost the bid and the account to another company that seriously underbid everyone including me. 

Seems the new guy would come in, look at a problem with the security system, tell them it needs parts, would bypass the zone "until the parts come in" and then this guy would not come back.

So I enter the picture again. I know this guy, and his work. As a result I tell them I will not bid it. I will work time and material and get the systems back where they need to be.  The church agrees. 

Monday and Tuesday, I spent both days working on the burg system and got it functional, re-programmed the front doors back into the system , made adjustments to the door contacts ( they were way off) and checked the other doors. Half the doors and several of the motion detectors were not connected to any zone. Have a bad latency issue with the front door. Open the door, the keypad takes 10 seconds to indicate the door is open.... that is not good. System is functional.... order some parts to dig deeper into the latency issue. 

Wednesday...start on the fire alarm. Life safety. If this system doesn't work, people can die.  Check the batteries. 6 dead batteries. Two are cracked open. One of the power supplies doesn't go into trouble when the battery wire is pulled off.  OK... install new batteries.

Next, do a horn/strobe test. Walk to main front door and trip the manual pull station. The horns indicate a fire alarm activation.... so far so good. Start a complete walk through which will end up at the panel to silence the alarm. 
Lobby: OK
Kitchen hall: OK
Rear Hall:Ok
Infants and toddler hall and rooms: NOTHING
Admin wing: OK
Adult hall: NOTHING
Teen sanctuary: NOTHING
Kids Wing front: NOTHING
Kids wing rear: NOTHING

Half the building.... all in the area where the children are .... no notification that the fire alarm has triggered. 

Upon investigation.... I check the power supplies, they seem OK.... I trigger the alarm and check the inputs.... hummm, no voltage input.  So I trace the wire back to the Fire panel..... 

Unbelievable.... I find the wire that feeds these supplies and circuits stuffed back in the panel not even connected to anything and the circuit is dummied out with resistors.  For years, this system has not had working notification appliances in the kids area. 

I took pictures, and contacted the state board and the local fire marshall. 

It gets better.  

In the kids sanctuary... they call it the warehouse..... they thought it would be cool to paint the ceiling black. They painted the smoke detectors. THOU SHALT NOT PAINT SMOKE DETECTORS... it says so right on the detector.  Yup... they spray painted them black. The paint was inside the detectors and all over the electronic board and on the screen. These detectors have not been sampling the air in the room in years. BTW... this was the first thing I saw and commented on when we did our initial walk through with the church staff member. 

It gets better. 

In the newer part of the building, the HVAC units do not have smoke detectors in the ductwork nor do they shut down (as required by code) on an activation of the fire system. Today, the fire marshall and I went into the attic service area and looked closely at the air handlers there.... nope... nothing. They kept running... potentially blowing smoke all over the building with the alarm activated. 

A conversation with the fire marshal confirmed that this particular contractor has been on their radar screen for some time due to this kind of gross negligence in his work. I guess someone will have to die before they do anything about it. I sincerely hope not. Perhaps, since I have documented all the issues I find with pictures, and will follow up with the head fire marshal in a few weeks when he returns to work from a medical leave, perhaps they will commence an investigation into his jobs and pull his license before he kills someone. He has fire systems in day cares, nursing homes, and schools. 

When the fire marshal comes to the building (once a year by code) and requires the system be checked by a professional, the company calls the servicing company to come and check the system thoroughly and make needed fixes. I was told today, by a church maint guy, that last year, this contractor, came in, signed the fire marshal's report, and walked out the door and left. 5 minutes total and he never looked at anything. The size of this system would take a man nearly a day to check it properly and clean the smoke detectors. 

It's frustrating to me to see someone like this, doing this sort of negligent work, and placing men, women, and children at risk. 

The system will be 100% functional and up to code, and re-inspected by the AHJ when I get done. 

Can't he be charged with fraud for signing the inspection report when the system was obviously not up to code?  

I hope you get all the business you want out of all the customers that he's ripped off.  

Old55


Can't he be charged with fraud for signing the inspection report when the system was obviously not up to code?   

  

One can hope.

it's called litigation.

On a more serious note. Even if a contractor is in violation, it is ultimately the institution's responsibility to perform regular checks and inspections on their systems. Even if they have to hire someone to do it.

The school system I work at does this in-house annually. Maintenance is required to inspect the systems on a regular schedule so these things are noted and fixed in a timely manner.

.

OMG Herb-I know EXACTLY what your going thru and how you feel.

Just makes ya sick to see it happening and the long process it takes not only to get it straightened out but to ADDRESS the individual by legal means to try and put an end to it.  UGHH

I wonder if the Fire Marshal and you as a business filed reports with the church on all findings if the church would be willing to press the issue with the court house and code to pursue some sort of charges to speed the process of revoking his license (and whatever else the city/county deems appropriate punishment). 

You obviously take pride in yur work and treat your customers like you would want to be treated... like family. We need more people like you. So many people thse days just really don't care about thier work. They text, talk on the cellphone, and just collect a check after doing the least they can... and smile in your face as if they have done something good.
You are the real deal, good going!

J

Unbelievable how stupid and clueless some people are about things like fire safety. There was a story here a few years ago where a guy set his mattress on fire, so he pulled it out into the hallway of his building and threw it down the stairwell. It set fire to the whole building and killed a couple of people. Then there are the people who run from their burning apartments making sure to leave all the doors open along the way, or the idiots who leave lit candles near drapes that are wafting in the breeze etc. And all the people who have died through lack of a $20 smoke or carbon monoxide detector...unbelievable. 

That's a horrible story Herb, but one that's all too common anymore. I could tell you a couple horror stories I've run in to in the few short months I've been here in MO already.

I was going to post this a while back when I was redoing the electrical in my house but never got around to it.

This seems like a good thread to throw in since we're on the subject of shoddy workmanship.

I was so shocked (figuratively) that I took a pic and texted to my wife. I replaced all the outlets and switches in my house. Took 2 solid weeks because there was something new to fix in every box. Not a single ground was hooked up in the entire house.

Here's a list of what I found in just one box.

1. Crimp on connector.
2. Stranded wire.
3. Hot wire just jammed in the box. It has 120 at all times.
4. Crimped neutrals. I was told this used to be acceptable in MO, but I've never seen this anywhere.
5. All grounds just ganged inside the boxes.
6. Push in wires. It meets code, but it's bad practices. Over 50% of them just fell out and were burnt.
7. Wire got hot and melted the casing. The wire just spins inside the casing now.
8. Wire on in the wrong direction. Always hook it in the direction the screw turns.

Right click on the pic and select view image to see high res.

I grounded everything in the house, all the wires were there, they just weren't hooked up because of laziness.

Isn't it a function of the Fire Marshall to actually check this stuff?

What happened to the government? Did the citizens scare it into submissiveness?


:-)

Get it fixed up good Herb, we are all watching now.

:-)


Oh and don't forget to charge em lots of money... they got off cheap last time and they risked it all. Make it memorable!


best regards,
mike