“Many county building departments across the U.S. are faced with the unenviable challenge of managing inspections—which are crucial to the safety and economic wellbeing of their county—with limited staff, budget and resources.”

Why this is important: The construction industry is filled with opportunities to leverage technology to increase productivity and accelerate project timelines, and one of the latest targets for integrating technology has been the code inspection process. Project delays due to inspector backlogs have long been an issue in the industry, and as rural development continues to grow and county building departments are stretched thin, remote inspections may be one of the answers to reducing the scheduling impacts government inspections cause on both residential and commercial projects. Like with any new technological integration, however, remote inspections come with their own roadblocks and risks. Without a physical on-site presence, inspectors may not be able to identify all of the issues they otherwise would have seen, and connectivity limitations may make remote inspections infeasible in some areas. Any county or municipal government interested in implementing remote inspections should establish thorough policies and procedures for remote inspections to mitigate these risks. At the same time, contractors and property owners should assess their procedures for inspections to ensure they are prepared for remote inspections and the potential issues that can arise. --- Steven C. Hemric

Safety Issues in the Spotlight: Recent Updates from OSHA