Inspections 1

Summary

Highlights

• Construction stormwater inspections are vital for ensuring BMPs are effective and compliant ✅.
• Weekly inspections occur regardless of weather and ensure ongoing construction site monitoring 📅.
• Rainfall inspections must be done within 24 hours if over half an inch of rain occurs in a day 🌧️.
• Effective inspections require proper preparation, including wearing PPE and having inspection documents at hand 🛡️.
• The next module will provide insights into documenting inspection reports with photos. Don't miss it! 📸

Key Takeaways

• Regular inspections are crucial for compliance and effective stormwater management 🌧️
• Inspectors must be well-prepared with PPE and necessary documentation 📋
• Both weekly and rainfall-triggered inspections are required to ensure site compliance with permits ⚠️
• Be on the lookout for pollution signs and BMP effectiveness during inspections 🔍
• Stay tuned for the next module on documenting inspections with photos 📸

Overview

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Construction Stormwater Inspections The chapter 'Introduction to Construction Stormwater Inspections' introduces the topic of construction stormwater inspections. It covers various aspects such as what these inspections are, how they are performed, why they are carried out, and the timing for these inspections. The purpose of performing these inspections is to evaluate the entire construction site conditions.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Purpose and Importance of Inspections This chapter discusses the purpose and importance of inspections, particularly in the context of construction storm water permits. It emphasizes the necessity of ensuring that BMPs (Best Management Practices) are both functional and adequate. The text highlights that these inspections are not only a regulatory requirement but also essential for evaluating whether the BMPs in place are effective and if they require any maintenance.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Inspection Requirements and Preparation The chapter titled 'Inspection Requirements and Preparation' discusses the necessary preparations and requirements for conducting inspections at construction sites. It highlights the importance of bringing personal protective equipment (PPE), such as a hard hat, which is typically mandatory on most construction sites. The chapter emphasizes that evaluating whether any best management practices (BMP) need replacement is a key aspect of site inspection to ensure safety and compliance.
• 02:00 - 05:00: Types of Construction Stormwater Inspections The chapter discusses the preparations needed for conducting construction stormwater inspections. It emphasizes ensuring appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) like steel-toed boots and safety glasses. Inspectors should check with the site for any additional PPE requirements. Documentation tools are essential; traditionally involving papers and pens or pencils, but increasingly, electronic forms on tablets are being used.
• 05:00 - 08:00: Inspection Focus Areas This chapter discusses 'Inspection Focus Areas,' emphasizing the essential tools and documents needed for construction stormwater inspections. Notably, carrying a cell phone, a copy of the site plan, and a camera is recommended. It highlights various types of inspections categorized by frequency, such as the weekly inspection.
• 08:00 - 08:30: Preparation for Inspection The chapter 'Preparation for Inspection' discusses the routine and significance of weekly inspections on a construction site. These inspections are conducted every Monday, regardless of weather conditions or rainfall, and persist as long as the construction project is ongoing. The discussion also hints at another type of inspection, specifically tailored for rainfall conditions.
• 08:30 - 08:50: Conclusion The chapter discusses inspection regulations specific to Minnesota, focusing on rain-related inspections. It states that if it rains half an inch within a 24-hour period, an inspection must occur within the next 24 hours. It's important to note that this rule is based on a rolling 24-hour timeframe rather than strict calendar days. For example, if it rains a third of an inch at 11 PM on the 7th, this would be taken into account for that timeframe.

Inspections 1 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 this module will talk about construction stormwater inspections including what they are how they are performed why they are performed and when they are performed to begin with why do we perform construction storm water inspections and what are they a construction storm water inspection is an inspection that occurs of the entire construction site to look and see if
• 00:30 - 01:00 the bmps that are in place are functioning and are adequate we perform these inspections because it is a requirement of the construction storm water permit and again we perform them in order to assess the adequacy of the bmps for example if there is a bmp in place is it functioning properly does it need to be maintained
• 01:00 - 01:30 is it so overwhelmed that perhaps a different bmp needs to be put there in its place these are reasons why we look at construction sites so what do you bring with you when you are inspecting ppe of course is very important your personal protective equipment most construction sites require that you bring with you and wear a hard hat construction safety
• 01:30 - 02:00 vest steel-toed boots and safety glasses be sure to check with the site to see if there are additional items of ppe that you need to bring with you and wear you'll want to have something to document your inspection many times that's a paper and pen or pencil a clipboard and a paper inspection form however many sites now use electronic forms that you may have on a tablet or even a
• 02:00 - 02:30 cell phone you'll want to bring with you a copy of the site plan and perhaps even the swip but for sure the site plan and you'll want to have with you a camera there are several different types of construction stormwater inspections and these are determined by their frequencies so for example one type is what we call the weekly inspection
• 02:30 - 03:00 not surprisingly the weekly inspection takes place every week so every week pick a day say monday every monday you will be doing an inspection these weekly inspections occur whether or not it is rained or not rained and they occur as long as the construction site is active another type of inspection is a rainfall
• 03:00 - 03:30 inspection in minnesota if it rains one half inch within a 24-hour period the permit says you must be inspecting within 24 hours now bear in mind that this is based on a 24-hour time period not based on calendar days so if on the 7th it rains a third of an inch at 11 pm
• 03:30 - 04:00 and on the 8th it rains a third of an inch at 1 am you'll still have to do an inspection because it rained more than a half of an inch in a 24 24-hour period so it doesn't matter that it was less than a half on the seventh and less than a half on the eighth it matters that within that 24-hour period it rained more than a half an inch so you'll then have to inspect within 24
• 04:00 - 04:30 hours now let's say it rains more than a half an inch on the seventh more than a half an inch on the eighth and more than a half an inch on the ninth in that case you'll need to be inspecting within 24 hours after that half inch on the seventh which will generally put you on the eighth after that half inch on the eighth which will put you to the ninth and a half after that half inch on the ninth which will put you on the 10th
• 04:30 - 05:00 so every time it rains a half inch and 24 hours you'll need to be out inspecting the site within 24 hours now remember when i said that you need to be doing weekly inspections the permit says that after you have completed a rainfall inspection your next inspection does not need to occur until seven days later so if you were doing inspections every
• 05:00 - 05:30 monday and then it rained on wednesday so you were then doing your inspection on thursday your next inspection would be the following thursday you wouldn't have to do it on that monday again now bear in mind that certain owners like mndot do require that you continue doing weekly inspections on for example every single monday the permit does not
• 05:30 - 06:00 but certain owners sometimes do require that some things to look for when you are inspecting first of all look at the discharge points and downstream off-site areas for signs of dirt dirty water or other impact from your site
• 06:00 - 06:30 inspect the perimeter controls the bio logs the berms the silt fence you're going to be inspecting the other bmps that have been installed for example inlet protection straw mulch bonded fiber matrix you'll be looking at where there are not bmps installed and seeing if there are any that might be needed you're going to be looking at where
• 06:30 - 07:00 there are pollutants being generated and are those leaving the site they shouldn't be they should be being contained correlated to that are materials on the site being handled properly additionally you'll want to look at are there bmps that are listed on the plan but are not in place on the site
• 07:00 - 07:30 for example is silt fence shown to be around the entire site but you only see it on one side of the site when you're there in that case the site plan is not matching the site you'll want to look at disturbed areas that are not being worked remember that there are time frames that are required in order to get things stabilized and we want to make sure that we are stabilizing things within the required time frames
• 07:30 - 08:00 you'll look at areas where final stabilization has occurred is the vegetation in place is it growing if there's been landscaping planted is that staying is it in place and finally you'll want to look at wedded perimeters we know according to the permit that there are time frames where wetted perimeters need to be stabilized and we want to make sure that they are being stabilized within the required time
• 08:00 - 08:30 frames so prior to performing the inspection there's a fair amount of preparation that must be done you're going to make sure you have the appropriate ppe you're going to make sure that you have your site plan with you along with your inspection form in the next module we'll give some examples of looking at some photos and figuring out what you might want to write on your inspection report