Why is everyone skipping the torque spec on panel lugs?

I was doing a service upgrade in Tacoma last week and found a 200A main breaker lug torqued to maybe 15 ft-lbs instead of the 250 it called for. If that connection loosens under load, you're looking at a fire behind the deadfront that nobody will catch until it's too late. I get that some guys are in a hurry, but I've seen two panels with melted lugs in the last 6 months, both from undertorqued connections. Anyone else running into this on resi work, or am I just getting the slack jobs?

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jamiekim20d ago

Torqued mine loose for years till one melted on a school job, now I carry the chart everywhere.