Maybe there needs to be a periodic inspection of all ground connections. I have noticed that many of the ground wire to ground pole connections in my home town are loose enough that there is almost no (and in some cases, none) connection between the ground pole and the ground wire. Everything works properly, unless there is a fault to earth ground, in which case the breaker which should trip doesn't, and the frame of an appliance could be electrically hot. Or the fault current could find somewhere else to go. I worked one fire case where I suspect the cause of the fire was a loose connection between the ground pole and the ground wire. The fault current went through some aluminum foil coated insulation to a gas pipe, causing some dust to ignite when the aluminum foil flashed. I walked across the street and found the same condition on the next house. When these conditions are noticed, should they be reported? If so, to whom? Also, I was visiting with the manager of a local restaurant and found the same condition existing. Since the manager was a friend of mine, I tightened the fixture. I haven't done a real survey to determine the extent of the problem. Has anyone?

This is a hard sell. How are you going to convince people that this check and adjustment needs to be done. Maybe the building inspectors should be required to do these inspections, and require repairs be made when necessary.

Maybe the utilities need to do the same thing. In the case of the dog that was electrocuted, I really suspect deferred preventitive maintenance was the problem. Since systems will work with a broken or loose ground, there is no need to fix the problem, because there are no obvious effects. That is, until someone or some animal gets hurt.

Maybe the next issue of the NEC could address this issue.