1. Site Visit: Practicing a Healthy Home Evaluation

2. Site Visit Location and transportation Teams Process Forms
Bring your visual identification form with you
Bring your Environmental measures worksheet with you
Location: provide the address of the site and any pertinent details (e.g. occupied / vacant, how long it will take to get there, type of house, safety considerations, etc.)
Transportation: Divide students up among available vehicles.
Teams: Divide the students up into teams of 2 – 3 people – you should have 5 – 6 teams. They will do the assessment in these teams. Assign 1/3 of the teams to start with exterior, then mechanical systems/appliances, then other rooms. Change the order for the second set and third set of teams. Explain that this will keep everyone from being in the same place at the same time.
Process: Explain that when you first get to the house, you’ll lead a brief tour to point out key features and get everyone familiar with the house. Then the teams will get together and begin the assessment.
Forms: Students need to bring their Visual Assessment field report and Environmental Measures worksheet from their binder for the site visit. They must also bring a pen or pencil, and something hard to write on.

3. Site Visit Debrief
For this session, the instructor places large flip chart sheets on the walls of the classroom along one wall. Label one each for the following: Building, mechanical, appliances, child bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and basement. If there was more than one of any one room, make a separate sheet for this room. Now have the teams report their findings while you record them on the individual sheets. This often takes some time so you’ll want to work quickly.
After all items are listed on the walls, have a short discussion of the items listed and why. Emphasize that they have now gone through and identified their concerns and now it time to prioritize things. Remind them of the concept covered the day before regarding Acute and chronic hazards. Acute hazards are immediately dangerous to life and health. Chronic hazards are not immediately dangerous, but will likely lead to a health outcome at some point if not addressed.
Starting with the Building sheet ask the class to start by identifying the acute hazards. Tell them you will mark these hazards with and “A” with a circle around it. Call out the items listed and ask the class if it is acute or not. Move through the list quickly, but if they have some debate about an issue that is exactly what you want. Feel free to challenge any issue you think needs more discussion. The goal is to have the class evaluate each hazard and justify in their own minds why the issue was listed as a hazard by one of the teams. When complete, go back to the beginning and now ask the class to identify the chronic hazards and mark these with a “C” with a circle around it. Once again, challenge some of the choices to promote discussion and make the point that you often have to choose the level priority about healthy home hazards because the relative risk is often hard to determine. Once the chronic hazards are identified, point out that the other items listed could be included in a report, but the acute hazards are the most important.