As it has with every industry, coronavirus has upended the world of safety inspections—but in this case there might actually be some good news! With communities across the world social distancing, remote video inspections (known as RVI) have taken off dramatically, and building departments are seeing unexpected benefits. Jesse starts off the show with an overview of RVI and some reasons why it’s suddenly so popular. Next, he talks to Jim Muir, a building official in Washington State who some consider the inventor of RVI, about its benefits and challenges, a proposed NFPA standard on the topic, and how RVI could change the industry for the better (5:18). Then, Derek talks to an electrical inspector in Connecticut to learn how he created and launched a new RVI program at his building department in less than a week, and why he plans to continue it even after things return to normal (42:31).

For much more info on remote video inspections, visit nfpa.org/rvi, and read the new feature in NFPA Journal “Are You Seeing This?” at nfpa.org/journal.