Safe Practices for the Home Inspector Course
Welcome to InterNACHI's free, online "Safe Practices for the Home Inspector Course." This course is free, open to everyone, and provided by our tuition-free college, InterNACHI® School. Goal:
This course teaches the inspector how to be safe on an inspection.
Objectives:
Upon successful completion, the student will be able to:
- wear personal protection equipment;
- use a ladder safely,
- provide client safety; and
- take action if an injury occurs.
Course includes:
- 47,690 words;
- 35 minutes of instructional video;
- student study guide;
- inspection and writing assignment;
- research and writing assignment;
- 94 quiz questions in 13 quizzes;
- 35-question final exam (drawn from a larger pool);
- instant grading;
- a downloadable, printable Certificate of Completion.
You will learn the following:
- Introduction to Inspector Safety
- A Brief Word Regarding OSHA's Role
- Inspector Liability
- InterNACHI Residential Standards of Practice
- The Limitations of a Home Inspection
- To Exceed or Not to Exceed
- 12 Steps That Help Inspectors Avoid Lawsuits
Basic Safety Tools and Tips
- Apparel for Safety and Professionalism
- Personal Protection Equipment (PPE)
- Inspection Signage
- Tools of the Trade
- Tools of the Business
- Avoiding Common Back Injuries
Ladder Operation and Safety
- What is a Ladder?
- Ladder Injury Statistics
- Protecting Yourself
- OSHA's Requirements for Ladders
- Ladder Sizing and Ratings
- Inspecting a Ladder
- Setting Up and Using a Ladder
- Ladders and Electricity
- Review
Being Safe with the Roof
- Inspecting Roofs & Risk Factors
- Gaining Access to the Roof
- Fall-Arrest Systems
- Alternatives to Walking a Roof
Being Safe with the Exterior
- Asbestos Cement Siding Inspection
- Lead Paint Hazards
Being Safe with Heating Systems
- Gas-Fired Combustion Appliances
- Gas-Fired Wall and Floor Heaters
- Oil-Fired Combustion Appliances
- Electric Heating Systems
Being Safe with Electrical Systems
- PPE for Electrical Inspections
- Using a Voltage Detector
- Removing Panel Screws
- Removing the Dead Front
- Inspecting the Panel Interior
- Replacing the Dead Front
Being Safe with Confined Spaces
- What is a Confined Space?
- Permit-Required Confined Spaces
- Attic Inspection
- Attic Pull-Down Ladders
- Crawlspaces, Cellars & Other Confined Spaces
- Unseen Hazards
Unusual Hazards in Problem Homes
- Hydroponics Inspection
- Marijuana Grow Operations
- Meth Labs
Post-Disaster Inspections
- Inspecting After an Emergency
Animal and Pest Hazards
- Dealing with Dogs
- Arthropods and Snakes
What to Do in Case of an Injury
- General First-Aid Information and Disclaimer
- What to Do If You Fall from a Ladder
- Skull Fractures
- Closed-Head Injuries
- Broken Bones
- Electrical Burns
- Puncture Wounds
- Severe Bleeding
- Animal Bites
- Snake Bites
- Animal Bites
- Bee Stings
- Minor Cuts and Scrapes
Take the free, online course now.
Safe Practices for the Home Inspector Course Course # 3000 | ||
Activity | Assignments | Estimated hours for the average student |
Academic Engagement | Reading online course material at 140 words per minute | 5.7 |
Watching and listening to instructional video | 0.6 | |
Taking quizzes | 2.9 | |
Taking the exam | 1.0 | |
Conducting a directed and independent inspection study performed according to the Standards of Practice, including the development of an inspection report | 4.0 | |
Submitting an inspection and writing assignment | 0.5 | |
Submitting a research and writing assignment | 0.5 | |
Total | 15.2 | |
Preparation | Studying and reviewing instructional material in preparation for taking quizzes and exam | 16.0 |
| Reading the downloaded student course book including taking the quizzes with the book | 6.0 | |
Reading, research, and studying related to completing the research and writing assignment | 4.0 | |
| Studying and preparing for inspection processes according to a Standards of Practice, including capturing and storing digital images with a camera or device, making observations, evaluating conditions, deducing, formulating opinions, communicating observations in written form, attaining competency in performing inspections and using an inspection checklist or software and other inspection tools in producing a report. | 10.0 | |
Total | 36.0 | |
Sub Total | 51.2 | |
Overall Total | 51.0 clock hours 51.0 InterNACHI CE credit hours 5.1 CEU | |
And, in keeping with InterNACHI's commitment to Continuing Education, this course is open and free to all (even non-members), and can be taken again and again, without limit.
Reminder to members: InterNACHI's Code of Ethics 1.10 requires that you comply with all government rules and licensing requirements of the jurisdiction where you conduct business. InterNACHI's courses and Standards generally exceed the Standards of Practice that you are required to abide by locally.
This course has been approved by:
- the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors;
- the Master Inspector Certification Board;
- the International Association of Certified Indoor Air Consultants;
- the Certified Commercial Property Inspectors Association; and
- many government agencies and licensing boards.
Upon completion of this course and passing the 35-question final exam (drawn from a larger pool), the student can download and print their own Certificate of Completion, which is auto-generated in their own name.
The student's (InterNACHI member's) information is recorded on InterNACHI's servers for membership-compliance verification, and automatically logs completion into InterNACHI's online Continuing Education log.
Non-members and consumers may take the course. It is open and free to all.
Members will need their username and password. If you have forgotten your password, CLICK HERE (instant response) or email fastreply@internachi.org and request it (don't forget your name).
InterNACHI... #1 in inspection education.
Take the free, online "Safe Practices for the Home Inspector" course now (open and free to all).
We also have a free, online "Home Inspection Business Course" that is open and free to all.
To order the companion book to this course, visit www.InspectorOutlet.com. Purchasing a textbook is not required to complete this course and receive credit.
Some features that make InterNACHI's courses superior to existing continuing education options:
- The course is free for all InterNACHI members.
- InterNACHI is able to monitor student enrollment by requiring that each student log into the system with a unique identification at the start of the course, when the student begins the course portion, and when the student begins the final exam. The student enrolls by completing a registration form, which includes name, InterNACHI ID member number (if applicable), company name, address, e-mail, phone number, desired username and password.
- Student identification is linked both to individual e-mail and mailing addresses, and also to membership information, if applicable. This information is stored with that inspector’s unique Internet protocol (IP) address and is verified by the system before allowing the inspector to take the final exam.
- The course comprehensively tracks the progress of the student and ensures progress through the entire course. The system records and displays the progress of the student through the course. If the student logs out of the course, the system remembers the student’s position in the course and will automatically jump the student to where they left off when they log back into the course.
- For courses that contain multimedia (video) presentations, those components must be viewed in their entirety by the student before s/he will be allowed to progress through the course. The student may stop, pause or rewind the video at any time. Once the presentation is complete, the learning management system will re-activate the navigation buttons, allowing the student to progress. The system is designed to ensure that students watch and listen to the presentations. If the student leaves the computer and the video finishes but the student isn’t present to press the “next” button to proceed, allowing the system to time out, the student will have to watch the video again from the beginning. Many quiz and exam questions are derived from the multimedia presentations, so the course system suggests that students take notes on each.
- The student cannot progress to the final exam without visiting every slide of the course, playing every video of the course, correctly answering each question of each quiz, reading all required reading, and clicking all required links. Before the student can progress to the final exam, the system informs the student of portion(s) of the course that are incomplete, and provides an easy link to that portion of the course. The course provides opportunities for interactivity between the student and the course's author/instructor via direct email and the message board. The student can join in the conversation with fellow course-takers by visiting a dedicated online forum. The course author/instructor monitors and moderates the thread and forum.
- The course is written in pure XHTML code for quick and accurate loading, even on old computers and those using dial-up Internet connections.
- The course is designed using a hierarchical menu coupled with sequential page navigation, which provides the student with the option to easily repeat areas of weakness.
- The course permits the student to start, stop and restart any part of the course as often as desired.
- Each course contains a variety of images, including diagrams, illustrations and photos.
- The illustrations can be enlarged for clearer viewing by clicking on them.
- The text is integrated into InterNACHI's Inspector Glossary. Rolling over blue-colored terms provides their definition.
- The final exam uses multiple-choice questions that reference the images.
- The course's quizzes and final exam have numerous advantages over traditional exam systems:
- The course, quizzes and final exam incorporate built-in intelligence, which identifies and strengthens each student's unique subject weaknesses.
- Not only is each question weighted with regard to score, but each answer is weighted, as well as the correctness of each answer.
- Answers to easy questions are weighted such that the student is penalized, in terms of score, for answering incorrectly, but rewarded modestly for answering correctly.
- Answers to difficult questions are weighted such that the student is rewarded, in terms of score, for answering correctly, but not penalized for answering incorrectly.
- Answers to questions regarding basic safety, and questions every inspector should know the answer to, are weighted such that the student is severely penalized, in terms of score, for answering incorrectly.
- The course measures learning and addresses comprehension of content at regular intervals. There are numerous quizzes integrated with the course's main topics to ensure comprehension. The quizzes contain multiple-choice questions that reinforce learning. Incorrect answers allow the student to review previous information for remediation. The student is not allowed to progress without correctly answering all of the questions.
- Upon passing the final exam, the student can print out a Certificate of Completion which is auto-generated in their own name.
- The student's (InterNACHI member's) information is recorded on InterNACHI's servers for membership-compliance verification, and automatically logs completion into InterNACHI's online Continuing Education Log.
- The course management system stores: (1) the time that the student logs into the course (the start time); (2) the time that the student finishes the course (the end time); and (3) the time that the final exam starts and ends. Additionally, the system calculates: (4) the student’s score on the final examination; (5) the actual questions asked; and (6) which answer the student provided for each question.
- All information is stored securely over distributed databases and can be verified by InterNACHI at any time upon request by an official regulatory body. All records are kept for at least five years. All records can be provided to boards/departments upon request. All student attendance records will be automatically updated and emailed to the appropriate state contact person within five days of each student’s completion of the course.
