Inspector of collapsed Philadelphia building commits suicide

Reuters ^ | JUNE 13, 2013

[Conscience of a Conservative]

There are some in the biz who use the slang term "crane" when referring to an excavator, along with the terms hoe, back hoe and track hoe.

That, and I'm sure there are plenty of lazy reporters out there who are perfectly happy to call any piece of heavy equipment a "crane." Kind of like how any gun is an AR-15 (or, in older stories, an AK-47).

[utahagen]

I am going to give this man zero “credit” for committing suicide. Whether he didn't inspect the building, inspected it and (correctly) cleared it, or inspected it and (incorrectly) cleared it, he should have been a man and accepted that he was in for a difficult time. Instead, he threw away the life God gave him and left his family and friends to grieve. The word “coward” is overused — I've never understood why wife-abusers are necessarily “cowards — but this man deserves to be called a coward.

[KC Burke]

It varies from jurisdiction to juridiction but often crane operators have to have special certification for the crane they are operating, a special current medical exam, a special crane safety check on that exact piece of equipement, a field safety inpsection and load test after crane set up and similar detail items that could have be also required to be checked by the inspector under local code guidelines.

The inpsector could have done something inproper prompting his suicide event, but that is pure speculation as the deaths themselves could have had a serious impact on him as he was the last code inspector present.

Demoliton companies range from very competent to fly-by-night and there is reason to believe that with an possibly impared operator they have the biggest liability in this issue.

[Liberty Valance]

*yikes* Dang if that doesn’t make sense.

[Safetgiver]

I’d say you are lucky, but I see you are from California.

[radiohead]

I lived in Philly for years and have been following this story in the Philly newspapers.

Apparently several people had complained to the Inspector’s Office about the demolition. One person had his email and responding emails from the Inspector’s Office published in the newspaper.

It appears that someone (the suicide?) took a look (or took a bribe, being Philly) and said everything was OK, nothing to see here.

Turns out he was wrong, huh? So it could be that this guy would be on the hot seat during an investigation. Did he actually look at the site? To what extent? Was he taking money not to look? etc. Was he negligent? Criminally negligent? We could keep on like this all afternoon. Suicide probably seemed like a good idea after he realized what a mess he was in.

[jiggyboy]

Well played sir.

[DeWalt]

Like a fire inspector I knew. He offed himself after a tragic fire in a apartment complex killed several children. Turns out it was the kids that set it, but he blamed himself.

[Roccus]

Not long after the Sago mine disaster two men, the dispatcher that day and a fireboss who had detected methane at the face 5 days before the explosion, committed suicide. (not together)
Also, a bit later on, one of the big wigs in the mining company took his own life.

[bert]

Tis a case of Phillycide

Dead men can’t spill the bribe beans