Doerstling, K W (2003) Building inspectors: Bureaucrats, professionals or heroes? PhD thesis, University of Southern California, USA.
Abstract
The building of structures for housing, business and industry is at the core of a societies infrastructure. Throughout history structures have been built and only those that were vastly overbuilt have withstood the ravages of time. Modern society cannot afford to build such structures and consequently builds useful buildings for housing, business, and industry that are safe for the duration of the building's useful life. To ensure that buildings are built to the standard of the construction industry, it is the duty of the building inspector to oversee, monitor, and enforce the building codes which have been adopted by the local municipality or responsible public agency. These building inspectors are the agents of the government, which interact directly with the private builders and contractors engaged in erecting the structures required by the society. The lack of substantial damage to the City of Los Angeles in the 1994 Northridge Earthquake is a testament to the building codes and the integrity of the building inspectors enforcement. Building code enforcement is the government's tool to ensure safe buildings. The building inspectors are the enforces of these codes and buildings inspectors interests in public safety are at odds, at times, with the profit motives of builders/contractors. Building inspector's integrity is at the heart of building safety. This is an inquiry into building inspectors interaction with builders/contractor and the public.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Thesis advisor: | Stallings, R A |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | duration; earthquake; government; municipality; safety |
| Index terms: | motive, integrity, heart, construction industry, duration, interaction, enforcement, earthquake, profit, builder, Los Angeles, public safety, society, agent, building code, history, agency, municipality, duty, housing |
| Subjects: | sociology, emergency and crisis management, project controls, industry analysis, regulatory law, administrative law, architectural and construction history, environmental hazards, behavioral psychology, communities and social development, medical science and clinical practice, health safety and environment, Geography, psychology, economic analysis, construction type, contractual role, practitioner |
| Topics: | Health and Safety, Geographical Context, Sustainability, Legal Issues, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Construction Technology, Human Resources, Contract Administration, Time Control |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here