D1.1 Code Book Question

Hi everyone,

I have a question about leaving tack welds on the other side or the same side of structural steel. for example: we have an I-Beam and are welding a knife plate to the web, the knife plate gets welded on each side 5/16" but one of my welders leaves a tack on the top side that is not touching any other peice of weld on that part. can it be left or shall it be ground off. The only thing that I have found In D1.1 is 5.18.3 that says more or less that it can be left unless otherwise stated by the Engineer. I have talked this over with my Engineer and he had said that it would not be a problem, but we have an outside inspector that is marking all of these tacks found and writing in his report because he is saying that the tacks have to be atleast 1" long according to D1.1, (I cannot find that anywhere in the code) as long as these tacks pass acceptable profile they can be left right?

Thanks in advance on any advise