Audit: L&I Fails To Follow Demo Inspection Guidelines Nearly 80% Of The Time
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Inspectors in Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections fail to follow the guidelines on demolition inspections nearly 80% of the time.
That's the finding of an Inspector General's audit requested by Mayor Michael Nutter.
The department and its commissioner have been under siege for more than two years, since the fatal Center City building collapse, but Mayor Nutter has been a staunch defender.
Even he, though, was troubled enough by a Philadelphia Inquirer story about improper inspections to request the audit and he announced its findings.
"It is true that the department is not closely following its own guidelines. Only 22% of sampled private demolition permits had an inspection process that was administered in accordance with L & I's internal, written procedure," he explained.
Nutter stressed it wasn't intentional, Inspector General Amy Kurland explained, the result of other problems.
"Over the course of six months, I think, there were five different supervisors; the inspectors were not given instructions," she told KYW Newsradio.
Kurland made recommendations that will fall to the next L&I commissioner.
