IN 1995 NEW YORK CITY BEGAN A CONTROVERSIAL PROGRAM that allowed builders and renovators to hire private engineers to perform the necessary code inspections.

This allowed construction to continue without the long delays that would have occurred if they had to wait for the City’s own building inspectors to make their regular visits.

As you might imagine, this led to widescale mischief and they found that at least half of the self-inspections were bogus or insufficient.  The city has been cracking down on the fraud and has revoked or suspended the engineering licenses of several businesses.

Saturday it was announced that the Bronx District Attorney will be entering criminal charges, probably today, against an engineer whose failure to properly inspect a construction job was a leading factor in the deaths of two FF’s on Aug. 27, 2006.

New York Times

The event took place in a 99¢ store in the Bronx when a floor that was supported by rotted columns collapsed with a company of ten Firefighters on it.  Eight were rescued from the pit, but two perished.  It turned out that the engineer being charged failed to perform the complete inspection of the building while it was having a new roof put on.  He is being charged with perjury for lying about his actions to the investigators studying the fire.

The New York Times has a good story that fully explains the “honor system” building inspection scheme and gives a detailed accounting of the fatal fire HERE.

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