17 - Accompanying personnel during inspections

Purpose

To assess the effectiveness of inspectors' building control processes, how they use the Council's inspection methodology, the level of building compliance achieved, and how inspectors interact on site with consent applicants and builders/contractors.

Background

The inspection processes and the effectiveness of the inspectors are critical to the overall effectiveness of the building control process. This section of the review involved accompanying the inspectors during their normal inspection workload. Observations from the Department often reinforce observations made during the case studies.

Initial review

The initial review identified that:

there were some limitations in the overall level of inspectors' technical knowledge, particularly in relation to weathertightness detailing, storm water drainage, plumbing and drainage, retaining excavated ground, and smoke detector legislation
inspectors were not always referring to approved consent drawings on site and thus were less able to ensure any non-compliant items were identified
inspectors were not referencing appropriate provisions of the Building Act and Building Code on inspection checksheets
the delegations register did not delegate authority to undertake on-site inspections to building consent officers
due to heavy workloads building consent officers were not always able to spend sufficient time on site to properly complete the inspection.

Recommendations made and action taken by the Council
Recommendations made to the Council	Action taken by the Council before the follow-up review
Enhance its inspection methodology by: developing a comprehensive inspection checklist to ensure Code compliance is achieved and the process is documented ensuring record-keeping of inspection findings and the interfacing back to Council consent conditions is appropriate ensuring on-site amendments are documented and reviewed in a way that clearly demonstrates how Code compliance was achieved undertaking audits of its inspections to determine if Code compliance was demonstrated considering developing a system for recording inspections that would allow a written copy of the inspection outcomes to be left on site.	The Council enhanced its inspection methodology by using duplicate inspection record sheets and ensuring plans were adequately referenced on site.
Review its delegations register to ensure building consent officers are delegated the ability to undertake on-site inspections.	The Council reviewed its delegations register to ensure officers are delegated the ability to undertake inspections.

Follow-up review

The Department accompanied the Council's inspectors on eight inspections during the course of the review. The main findings were that:

the Council had enhanced its inspection methodology by:
using duplicate inspection record sheets to better record decisions
ensuring that plans are adequately referenced on site
the initial review's recommendation concerning the Council's delegations register had been addressed
the Council did not have an on-site peer review process for its inspection work
inspectors were not always adequately recording inspection findings and taking adequate notes
inspectors were not always being provided with adequate access to the equipment necessary to fully complete inspection activities
some inspectors had not been provided with sufficient regulatory building compliance training opportunities
in some cases it was clear, from checking the approved documentation on site, that the building consent arguably should not have been issued by the Council because the consent documentation was incomplete or not have demonstrated compliance with all relevant clauses of the Building Code.

Recommendations made and response from the Council
Recommendations made to the Council	Response from the Council
Continue to strengthen its inspection methodology by: developing further policy and procedures to guide its inspections and ensure they are being carried out consistently (eg, introducing a peer review process of inspection work) ensuring that inspectors have adequate access to appropriate equipment ensuring inspectors are provided appropriate training in regulatory building compliance matters ensuring that inspectors are adequately recording all inspection findings.	The Council advised that the new Policy and Procedures Manual: provides further policy and guidance on inspection methodology includes a training plan includes the adequacy of inspection reports. The point regarding equipment has been addressed under part 13 of the terms of reference.
Strengthen the linkages between the Council's consent- processing functions and its inspection functions (eg, providing feedback to processing staff if inspection staff find deficiencies in on-site copies of consent documentation that has been approved by processing staff).	The Council advised that regular staff meetings and training sessions take place together with service management meetings between the team leaders and the building compliance manager.

Conclusion

Some improvement in the Council's inspection methodology was observed and there had been work to implement the Department's recommendations. However, the Council needs to continue improving its inspection processes consistent with the recommendations outlined below. Ongoing work has occurred as part of the Council's preparations to be accredited as a building consent authority. However, this was not considered as it occurred after the Department's visit.