Female house claim officer inspecting inside the damaged house.

Health and safety inspections are more than walk-throughs

March 3, 2025 • Health and Safety Articles • 4 minutes to read

March 3, 2025 Health and Safety Articles 4 minutes to read

Preparation and follow up

By Dorothy Wigmore

Be prepared. It’s not just a slogan for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. It applies to union members doing school health and safety inspections or walk-throughs.

“What you do before and after is likely more important than what you do on the walk-through,” says Allen Barkkume, New Jersey Work Environment Council (NJ WEC) industrial hygiene consultant. He’s a key player when the organization provides technical help and training to NJEA members.

“These inspections should not be spectacles with large groups of people wandering about a school,” he says. “It’s the stuff afterwards that gets results; when you collate data and figure out how to use it. Preparation—through training, reviewing documents, talking to members—helps connect the actual inspection to follow up.”

What’s the point?

Inspections are one tool in a union’s health and safety kit. The goal is to find and document hazards or potential problems, and follow up on earlier findings, complaints or concerns. They are effective when committees and the local association use the information gleaned to take action to get problems fixed and hazards removed.

As NJEA’s Health and Safety Manual says, they “systematically monitor school conditions, check that promised improvements have been made and bring new problems to light.”

Who participates?

Health and safety committees do inspections as one large group, in small groups, with or without a UniServ rep or outside help like Barkkume. Local association executives also might join. Sometimes committees involve district officials, depending on the union’s or committee’s goal.

“At the same time,” Barkkume says, “recognize individual members are doing it every day, whatever their job.

“On regular inspections, you’re likely in a room for less than five minutes,” Barkkume explains. “Maybe you’ll see or smell something. But the person working in that space will know what’s going on or can point out possible issues.”

However it’s organized, always have at least two people working together. Members new to inspections could go with those who have more experience. Two-person teams can take one area to look for all hazards there. Others can take one or two hazard categories and look for them in the whole school.

What’s involved?

Preparation includes:

Talking to or surveying members.
Reviewing past inspection materials, health and safety reports (e.g., a classroom may have a history of water leaks), committee minutes, member’s questions/concerns and district health and safety plans (e.g., indoor air quality, asbestos – see the Manual).
Sorting out the best timing and amount of time to spend, numbers involved, hazards and areas to focus on.
A basic map/floor plan and ventilation system schematic (if you can find one) for an initial guide.
Deciding how to record what you find (e.g., paper, tablet, phone, forms).
Tools such as a powerful flashlight, a tape measure, a camera, tissue on a stick (to check air movement), perhaps a ladder.
Monitoring devices for noise, temperature, humidity, particles in the air, CO2 (an indicator of fresh air) – some available as apps, others can be bought and shared among local associations.
Whatever protective gear you need.
A card/paper with your information.
Something to carry what you need, comfortably.

Plan on talking to members. When someone doesn’t want to talk on the spot, a card with your information or exchange of phone numbers allows follow-up.

During inspections, be methodical and thorough. A useful sequence in a room or space includes:

Look around: get in the habit of keeping to a system by starting from the left or right.
Look down: check the floor, etc.
Look up: check the ceiling, upper storage racks and cupboards, overhead fixtures, etc. (e.g., an open ceiling tile can indicate a health hazard).
Look inside: storage cabinets, cupboards, storage rooms, etc.
Check for data sheets (SDSs), labels and warning signs.
Ask why something is the way it is, to better understand situations.

Along the way, ask for suggestions about how to fix whatever you notice or people bring up. Resist recommending solutions before you have all the information you need.

Afterward, compile what you learned and discovered. If there’s an urgent situation, deal with it right away. Spread sheets help see patterns, as do workplace maps (see the Resources sidebar) of what you actually found, not what other documents say is supposed to be there. Figure out what more information you need (e.g., about specific hazards, people’s symptoms, relevant history).

“Schedule a meeting two weeks afterwards,” Barkkume advises. “Discuss ‘What are our actions?’ What needs to be followed up? What’s urgent? Who will keep track and how? How long will you wait for responses? Do you need more information, and from whom? What needs to be done?’”

Once you’ve done these things, make recommendations and deliver them to the appropriate people.

What about checklists?

Checklists provide helpful inspection reminders and guidance.

Unfortunately, many focus on obvious—usually safety—hazards. They become blinders, making it easier to ignore the invisible or hard-to-see problems. Too often these are health hazards, especially ones with long-term effects like asbestos or pesticides.

The Belgian “SOBANE” method offers a gradual approach focusing on what can be fixed quickly and what more information is needed. Its checklists were adapted into the categories of general working conditions and the six traditional hazard groups, including stressors. (See the Resources.)

The state’s Health and Safety Evaluation of School Buildings (part of the state’s Quality Single Accountability Continuum or QSAC), which districts must submit annually by Jan. 30, covers requirements in specific regulations. Review this for what applies to your situation, especially after discovering a possible hazard; something may be useful in making your case for fixing the problem. (District administrators know and fear this quality control tool that is enforced.)

The PEOSH indoor air quality (IAQ) checklist also is helpful. The union’s manual has more about doing inspections specifically for this topic.

Dorothy Wigmore is a long-time health and safety specialist and WEC consultant. She has worked in Canada, the U.S. and Mozambique, focusing on prevention and worker participation to fix job-related hazards. Trained as an ergonomist and hygienist, she’s also a pioneer of body and workplace mapping.