March 22, 2010

Safety issues raised as Vancouver hires chief electrical inspector

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

Electrical contractors and an electrical inspector in Vancouver are concerned about public safety after the role city electrician was combined with other positions. Chief building official Will Johnston assumed the duties of chief electrical inspector in January.

The position is also known as city electrician in Vancouver.

The move has raised concerns.

“This leaves the city with an electrical department head who has no formal knowledge of the Canadian Electrical Code and whose ability is severely handicapped when it comes to making informed judgments on applications for variances, deviations and formal acceptances,” said Frank Kurz, executive director of the Fire Technicians Network.

“So much so that any such decisions made by Mr. Johnston would, in opinions expressed by concerned industry stakeholders and the engineering community, put the public at grave risk.”

Graham Trafford, general manager and co-owner of Mott Electric, said he is unsure of the ramifications of the appointment.

“I don’t know if he has the qualifications to grant a variance from the Canadian Electrical Code,” he said.

City of Vancouver general manager of community services David McLellan said Johnston’s qualifications are not an issue.

“We don’t believe there is any reason for concern, because we have other people who are quite respected and well versed with the code,” he said.

“He is a professional engineer and knows the limits of his knowledge. He will draw on specialist expertise inside and outside of the department.”

McLellan said the new process is working as Johnston has already dealt with issues of interpretation or deviation from provisions in the Electrical Code made by several electrical contractors.

Right before the appointment, Vancouver’s city electrician, Arkady Tsisserev, was terminated, after 16 years with the city. It was done about a year and half before he was set to retire.

“Our members believe the electrical safety of the city has been compromised by his removal from office,” said Deborah Cahill, executive director of the Electrical Contractors Association of B.C., which represents more than 150 firms in the province.

“Mr. Tsisserev is a nationally recognized expert in the field of electrical safety and as such, was a valuable resource for our members.”

According to Trafford, nobody in Canada knows more about the Canadian electrical code than Tsisserev.

He has been the chair of the Canadian Electrical Code Part I committee for the past three editions of the Code.

“The Canadian Electrical Code is a document that is open to interpretation by the various stakeholders, who are governed by it,” said Cahill.

“As such there are occasions when rulings by electrical safety officers are disputed by our members, who have completed the installations.”

McLennan maintains that the move was part of a larger restructuring of positions.

“He was ready to retire and we would have had to replace him anyway,” said McLellan.

“We are consolidating a number of positions established by city bylaw, including the chief building official and the chief electrical inspector.

The chief license inspector will also be consolidated into this position.”

Nine municipal jurisdictions in B.C. are responsible for their own electrical inspection and issuing permits, including Burnaby, Maple Ridge, the city and district of North Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Vancouver, Victoria and West Vancouver.

“The chief electrical inspector in these jurisdictions would usually be an electrician or an electrical engineer, who has spent time as an electrical inspector,” said Trafford.

“These jurisdictions don’t vary too much from the Canadian Electrical Code, even though what happens in Vancouver may be a little different.”

According to Trafford, these jurisdictions for the most part have an electrical expert in charge of electrical inspection.

Tsisserev was appointed city electrician in January 1994 by the then sitting Vancouver city council in accordance with the Vancouver Charter.

It is a unique position that doesn’t exist in other Canadian jurisdictions.

The BC Safety Authority is responsible for regulating electrical safety and inspecting commercial, industrial and residential sites in all other municipalities in the province.

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