Posts are the anchors of a railing system. Poorly mounted posts jeopardize the safety of the entire railing, making it insecure and even prone to failure. Posts that aren’t securely mounted can fail at the attachment point, and on a second story deck or balcony (or higher) that could mean disaster. Code officials who are looking at post mounting will investigate where the post is mounted (for example, if it is surface-mounted, it should not be too close to the edge of the deck) and how (it should be secured into the substrate, not just the deckboard).