Special Inspections Form:
Statement of Special Inspections and
Tests (html) 9/13/05
Statement of Special
Inspections and Tests (Word) 9/13/05
Statement of Special
Inspections and Tests (PDF) 9/13/05
Instructions:
New York State Education Department
Office of Facilities Planning
Special Inspections
As required by Chapter 17 of the Building Code of New York State
Special inspections are the monitoring of the materials and workmanship that are critical to the integrity of the building structure to assure that the approved plans and specifications are being followed and that relevant codes and reference standards are being observed. Section 1704.1 states, Where application is made for construction as described in this section, the owner or the registered design professional in responsible charge acting as the owner’s agent shall employ one or more special inspectors to provide inspections during construction on the types of work listed under section 1704. NOTE: Some seismic design categories and wind exposure categories may require the preparation of a quality assurance plan. See sections 1705 and 1706 for requirements.
Chapter 17 can be broken down into two parts - the building permit requirement and the report requirement.
· The permit applicant shall submit a statement of special inspections prepared by the registered design professional in responsible charge as a condition for permit issuance. This statement shall include a complete list of materials and work requiring special inspections by this section and the inspections to be performed. We have added to our website: www.emsc.nysed.gov/facplan a Statement of Special Inspections and Tests form which must be filled out and submitted as a requirement of the permit application process.
· Special inspectors must keep records of inspections and furnish inspection reports to the registered design professional in responsible charge. The reports must indicate that the work inspected was done in conformance with the approved construction documents. Discrepancies must be brought to the attention of the contractor and non-corrected discrepancies must be brought to the attention of the registered design professional in responsible charge. A final report of inspections documenting required special inspections and correction of any discrepancies noted must be submitted to the registered design professional in responsible charge at the completion of the project. The design professional shall forward a copy of the final report to the school district for their records.
The registered design professional in responsible charge can be either the architect or the structural engineer. Since the structural engineer is typically a consultant to the architect, the architect should decide who will take what responsibility and specifically state so in any contract with the consultant. The contract between the owner and the architect should also state whether the owner or the architect is hiring the special inspectors. The owner ultimately is the one that is responsible for the cost of special inspections but normally the contractor is responsible for the cost of any re-inspections or retesting. This should be stated clearly in the specifications.
Due to the unique relationship between the architect and the State Education Department, whereby education law requires the Architect or Engineer of Record to perform the code required construction inspections, they will be responsible for determining the qualifications of the special inspectors, receiving and retaining all reports and assuring that any discrepancies are corrected. The architect or engineer assurances section of our Certificate of Substantial Completion form have been revised to reflect these responsibilities. Architects and engineers are reminded that this form is a legal document and the assurances are professional certifications of fact that should not be taken lightly. We do not allow changes to the wording of this certification.
Design professionals are advised to carefully review Chapter 17 to fully understand the scope of their responsibility and ensure that these serious provisions are being met. Additional information can be found at the following locations:
· Building Code of New York State, Chapter 17
· New York State Department of State Technical Bulletin, www.dos.state.ny.us/code/pdf/specialinspect.pdf
· NYSED Office of Facilities Planning Newsletter #41 - July 2003
· American
Council of Engineering Companies
www.acec.org/index/cfm. Search of Statement of Special Inspections
Forms/special inspections instructions