Compliance Notice

[ScottP]

I had an Asian guy from the State of California Department of Industrial Relations Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Pressure Vessel Unit come to one of my car washes today. First off, I'm not sure if he was speaking English or not. It wasn't until he gave me a compliance notice that I realized what he was doing. He inspected my air compressor and gave it a number which he etched on it. The pressure gauge on the unit goes up to 300psi. According to the notice I need to replace it with one that only goes up to 200psi. I have 15 days to replace it and it is cheap and easy to do, it just seems a little weird to me. I've been in business at this location for 11 years now and have never encountered this agency before. Anyone else ever had to deal with this?

 

[MEP001]

One of our compressors has a 300 PSI gauge on it, even though it's also rated only to 200. That's how it came.

 

[mac]

This is your tax dollars hard at work.

 

[JMMUSTANG]

About 6 yrs. ago I had an new county inspector come by and after looking over my compressor and boilers said I needed a certain size safety valve on one of my boilers that was 23 yrs. old and had been inspected every year before with no problems.
It cost around $250 to get it installed.
The next year the same inspector came by and said I needed a new safety valve installed on the same boiler.
I told her she told me last year and I had a new one installed and showed her the paperwork.
She told me that I installed the wrong size.
I showed her where I wrote down in front of her what size to install on the paper she gave me
She informed me that if I did not install the required safety valve she would shut me down when she returned in 30 days.
I told her I would only if she wrote down the exact size and would sign off on this one and guranteed that this size was the right one in writing.
So I installed the new $600 valve. The darn thing is ablout the size of a large grapefruit.

 

[rph9168]

County Inspectors can be a real pain in the a$$ but they can cause a lot of trouble. Many have a "Napolean Complex" and get a real high by forcing people to do what they want. I would do what they say and get documentation on your compliance with their recommendation.

 

[jjw]

About 6 or 7 years ago I had a city inspector drop by with his books and note pad, greeted and shook his hand. He had a fresh pressed uniform and shined shoes with a straight gig line. The jerk went about writing a book on the old truck wash. My partner said he was uncomfortable with this guy. The guy was the most wanted serial murder in the country, BTK ( Beat, Torture, Kill ). BTK was caught and will not ever see the sun again. You just never know who will visit you with a note book.
jjw

 

[petitemoose]

If it were the other direction i could understand the logic. This way I cannot. Who cares if the gauge can read more than your compressor can generate? I'd think this would be a bonus should the safety valve fail, you'd see 225 psi on the gauge and would instantly know to turn it off and fix it. Seems rediculous to me. But then again, that's what Goverment is for...