WBL Employer and Worksite Safety Verification Checklist

This template covers the core items a school, district, or program coordinator should verify before placing a student at a worksite. It includes site identification, general worksite hazards, emergency and fire-life safety, PPE and supervision, minor-labor restrictions, and the final approval decision. It is designed to document what was observed, what needs correction, and whether the site is ready for placement.

Use it before the student begins work at the site, ideally during a pre-placement walk-through with the employer contact or site supervisor. It is also useful after a site change, a new task assignment, or any incident that could affect the placement. If the worksite changes materially, the checklist should be rerun rather than reused as-is.

A school-based coordinator, CTE instructor, WBL coordinator, or other designated staff member should complete it, preferably someone familiar with student placement requirements and local minor-work rules. The employer can provide information, but the inspection record should reflect the verifier’s own observations. If a hazard is outside the verifier’s expertise, it should be escalated to the appropriate safety lead or program authority.

The checklist is aligned to common workplace safety expectations under OSHA general industry or construction rules, plus fire-life-safety and hazard communication practices. It also helps document that the site is not assigning prohibited tasks or unsafe conditions to minors, which is important for labor-law compliance. For foodservice, agriculture, or specialized settings, the checklist can be adapted to the relevant regulatory framework and site hazards.

A common mistake is treating the form like a paperwork exercise instead of a real walk-through, which leads to missed hazards and vague approvals. Another is failing to verify the actual student tasks, since a site may be safe for adults but not appropriate for minors or for the specific placement type. Programs also sometimes forget to document corrective actions, making it hard to confirm that issues were fixed before placement.

Yes. You can add industry-specific checks for shops, labs, kitchens, healthcare settings, warehouses, farms, or office environments. The template should keep the same core structure, but the hazard questions, PPE requirements, and restricted-task review should reflect the actual student role and site conditions. That makes the record more useful and easier to defend if questions come up later.

Recheck the site whenever the placement changes, the student’s duties expand, a new supervisor takes over, or the environment changes in a way that affects safety. Many programs also reverify at the start of each term or placement cycle. If the site has recurring hazards or prior corrective actions, a follow-up visit is a good practice before the student returns.

An ad-hoc visit often misses key items because different staff members ask different questions and document findings inconsistently. This checklist gives you a repeatable structure so every site is reviewed for the same safety, supervision, and minor-labor concerns. It also creates a clearer record of approval, restrictions, and corrective actions, which is useful for both program management and compliance review.