The Child Care Site Visit SOP
Purpose
This procedure gets a tech in and out of a child care center with the work done, no moment alone with a child, nothing left behind that a toddler can swallow or climb, and the director able to show a licensing inspector exactly who was in the building and under whose supervision. A center's license depends on who is near the children and what is within their reach. A shop that skips the check question, arrives at nap time, or leaves one wire nut under a cubby does not get a second visit, and the director may have a report to file.
Scope
Covers any service visit to a licensed child care center, preschool, before- and after-school program or similar site, whether children are present or not.
Does not cover in-home family child care, where the house is also a residence and the provider's own rules govern; treat it as a residential call with this SOP's tool count added. Does not cover schools during the school day (see related: What Changes in a School When Students Are in the Building). The detailed method for counting tools and parts in a room is its own HowTo (see related: How to Keep Tools and Parts Controlled in a Child Care Room).
Roles and responsibilities
| Role | Owns | Hands off to |
|---|---|---|
| Shop office | The check and escort question, the window, assigning a tech who meets the center's rule | Tech, with the answers on the job |
| Center director or designee | Approval, the window, the visitor log, naming the escort | Escort staff member |
| Escort staff member | Being in the room whenever children are, moving the group if needed | Tech, room by room |
| Tech | The work, the tool and parts count, the closing walk | Director at sign-out |
Procedure
Settle the background check and escort rule before booking. The office asks the director two questions and records both answers: does the state licensing rule or the center's own policy require a background check or fingerprint clearance for a contractor, and must a contractor be escorted at all times. Acceptance: both answers on the job, with the director's name. Wrong looks like "just send whoever"; the stop rule is the office asks the director to check their licensing rule, because the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9858f) requires states that take its funds to run comprehensive checks on child care staff members of licensed, regulated or registered providers, and each state decides how far that reaches a contractor who is supervised. If a check is required and no shop tech holds one, the visit is booked for a time with no children in the building. Risk: an unchecked adult with unsupervised access is a licensing violation for the center, not the shop.
Book the window around drop-off, nap and pickup. A common starting pattern is drop-off from about 7:00 to 9:00, nap from about 12:30 to 2:30 for toddler and preschool rooms, and pickup from about 4:00 to 6:00; the director gives the real times. Best is after close or a weekend; next best is a mid-morning window while the room's group is outside or in another room. Acceptance: a window the director agreed to, with the rooms named and whether children will be in them. Wrong looks like a window that lands on nap; the stop rule is rebook, since noise during nap wakes a room of twelve. Risk: drilling, ladder work and open ceilings during pickup put a tech in the hallway parents use.
Build the count sheet at the truck. Before going in, the tech takes only the tools and parts the job needs, writes each on a count sheet with a quantity (screws, wire nuts, anchors, caps, batteries counted individually), and keeps small parts in one closed container. Acceptance: a written count before the tech enters the building. Wrong looks like a full tool bag carried in "just in case"; the stop rule is go back and strip it to the job. Hazard: small parts are a choking hazard and coin-cell batteries are an ingestion hazard that can burn through tissue, so batteries stay sealed in the container until installed.
Check in with the director and sign the visitor log. The tech presents photo identification, signs in with the time, wears any visitor badge the center issues, and asks the director to name the escort. Acceptance: signed log entry, a named escort. Wrong looks like the director being out and a staff member saying "go on back"; the stop rule is the tech waits for the designee the director left in charge, and if there is none within 15 minutes, calls the office to reschedule. Risk: an unsigned visit is invisible to the inspector who later asks who was in the building that day.
Never be alone with a child. Whenever a child is in the room, a staff member is too. If the escort is called away, the tech stops, sets tools down in the closed work area, and steps into the hallway until the escort returns or the group is moved. The tech does not enter a bathroom or diapering area while it is in use, does not photograph children, and keeps conversation with them brief and polite. Acceptance: at no point is the tech in a room with children and no staff. Wrong looks like a teacher stepping out "for a second"; the stop rule is the tech leaves too. Risk: being alone with a child is the single exposure that ends the shop's work at every center that hears about it.
Work above reach and leave nothing open. The tech sets a barrier or works behind the escort's group, keeps tools on a high surface or in the closed container rather than on the floor, never leaves a ladder standing, and replaces every cover the moment the tech steps away from it. Acceptance: at every pause, no tool below counter height, no ladder up, no cover off. Wrong looks like an open junction box while the tech fetches a part; the stop rule is close it or stand at it. Hazard: a child climbs a standing ladder, reaches into an open box, or opens a mechanical room door, so isolate and verify any circuit dead before opening it, and close and lock mechanical rooms behind you.
Count at every break and before leaving the room. The tech compares tools and parts against the sheet: installed parts plus parts left in the container plus waste must equal what came in. Acceptance: the count closes. Wrong looks like a count short by one; the stop rule is the room stays closed to children, the escort moves the group, and the tech and escort search the floor, cubbies, mats and toy bins. If the item is not found within 20 minutes, the director is told, the shop office logs it, and the director decides whether the room reopens. Hazard: a missing screw or wire nut in a toddler room is a choking hazard the next morning, not a lost part.
Walk the room with staff at the end. The tech and the escort walk the work area together: covers on, receptacles that were changed are tamper-resistant where NEC 406.12 as your jurisdiction adopted it requires that (child care facilities are among the listed locations in recent editions), cabinet and door locks restored, chemicals and adhesives removed, debris swept, ceiling tiles seated. Acceptance: the escort initials the count sheet. Wrong looks like a cabinet latch left off; the stop rule is fix it before leaving. Hazard: before restoring power, confirm the device is installed, the cover is on and the escort knows power is coming back.
Sign out with the director. The tech signs out with the time, gives the director the count sheet copy, and says what was done and anything still open. Acceptance: time out on the log and the director told in person. Wrong looks like leaving through a side door; the stop rule is go back to the front. Risk: a visitor with no sign-out time stays in the log as present.
The record this produces
The job carries: the check and escort answers with the director's name, the agreed window, the tech assigned and whether they hold a clearance, the count sheet with the escort's initials, any short count with how it was resolved, and the sign-in and sign-out times. The center keeps its own visitor log. The shop office reads the job record before the next booking at that center, and the owner reads any short count, because one search is an event and a second at the same site is a pattern.
A worked pass
A center calls about a dead receptacle and a flickering light in its toddler room. The shop's electrician takes the job.
Step 1. The director says state rules require fingerprint clearance only for adults with unsupervised access, and the center's policy is escort at all times. The electrician holds no clearance, so the visit is escorted.
Step 2. Nap runs 12:30 to 2:30; the toddler group goes outdoors 9:30 to 10:30. Window booked 9:30 to 10:45, with children possibly back at 10:30.
Step 3. Count sheet: 1 tamper-resistant GFCI receptacle, 1 cover plate, 6 wire nuts, 2 device screws, 1 LED lamp, plus 7 tools. Parts in one lidded box.
Step 4. Signed in 9:24, badge on, the director names the lead teacher as escort.
Step 5. The room is empty while the group is outside; the teacher stays in the room anyway.
Step 6. Circuit isolated, proved dead with a tester checked on a known live source before and after, receptacle replaced, lamp changed from a stepladder that comes down between moves.
Step 7. Fails. At 10:20 the wire nuts come to 1 installed and 4 in the box, 5 against the 6 brought in. Everything else closes. The room stays closed; the teacher asks the director to hold the group in the hallway. The missing wire nut turns up under a cubby 9 minutes later, inside the 20-minute line. The count closes: 1 installed, 5 in the box.
Step 8. Power restored after the cover is on; the GFCI tests and resets. The teacher walks the room and initials the sheet at 10:38. The group comes back in at 10:40.
Step 9. Signed out 10:44, inside the window, with the short count and its resolution on the sheet.
References
- Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014, 42 U.S.C. 9858f (background checks on child care staff members, required of states that receive its funds; each state sets the reach)
- Your state child care licensing agency's rules on visitors, contractors and supervision
- NEC 406.12, tamper-resistant receptacles, in the edition your jurisdiction has adopted
- See related: Daycares and Child Care Centers: Checks, Supervision and Tool Control
- See related: How to Keep Tools and Parts Controlled in a Child Care Room