What a daycare inspection actually checks

A licensing officer works through a fixed list of ten areas at every routine inspection, and the result of that visit decides how soon the next one happens. This is what gets checked, how the follow-up schedule is set, and what happens when something is wrong.

The ten things every routine inspection covers

Fraser Health licenses child care in Port Coquitlam under British Columbia's Community Care and Assisted Living Act, and its licensing officers inspect under a framework shared across the province. Every routine inspection works through the same ten categories, in every facility, every time:

1. Care and supervision
2. Hygiene and communicable disease control
3. Licensing
4. Medication
5. Nutrition and food services
6. Physical facility, equipment and furnishings
7. Policies and procedures
8. Program
9. Records and reporting
10. Staffing

That list comes from the risk assessment tool the Ministry of Health and the health authorities built together, and it is the same tool used at every licensed community care facility in the province, not only child care. A finding under one category is a different kind of problem than a finding under another. A missing signature on a form sits under records and reporting. Chemicals stored where a toddler could reach them sits under physical facility. The category tells you what kind of thing actually went wrong.

For how to look up which specific centre you are checking, and where the public list showing a centre's licensed capacity lives, see how to check a daycare licence before you tour.

What the officer is actually looking at, category by category

The categories above are the headings. Here is what sits under each one, in plain terms.

Care and supervision. Whether children are watched at the level the law requires, given their age and the activity. This is also where staff-to-child ratios get checked directly: an officer notes who is in a room, checks that against the attendance record, and compares it to what the Child Care Licensing Regulation requires for that care type and group size.

Hygiene and communicable disease control. Handwashing routines, diapering and toileting practice, cleaning schedules, and how the centre handles an outbreak of something like a stomach bug going through a room.

Licensing. Whether the facility is operating inside the actual terms of its licence: the right address, the right capacity, the right care types, and the right manager on record.

Medication. Whether medicine given to a child is authorized in writing by a parent, stored safely, given at the right time and dose, and logged. The Child Care Licensing Regulation requires a written record of every dose: the amount given and the time it was given.

Nutrition and food services. How food is stored, handled and served safely, and whether the centre's practice matches what it has told families about allergies and dietary needs. At this centre, families provide all of their own child's food, and the centre is a nut-free facility, so this category is about safe handling rather than menu content.

Physical facility, equipment and furnishings. The building itself. Usable exits, safe storage of anything hazardous, equipment that is in good repair and age-appropriate, and whether the physical space actually matches what the licence describes.

Policies and procedures. Whether the centre has written policies for things like emergency response, illness exclusion and behaviour guidance, and whether staff actually follow them rather than the policy existing only on paper.

Program. What children actually do during the day. Whether the activities on offer are appropriate for the ages in the room and give children real things to do, not just supervised waiting.

Records and reporting. The paperwork trail. A file for every child with their date of birth and enrolment date, a daily attendance record showing arrival and departure, medication logs, and a log of minor accidents and unexpected events that did not need medical attention. Child records have to be kept for a minimum period after a child leaves, so this category also covers whether old files are still on hand when they should be.

Staffing. Who is working, whether each person holds the qualifications the role requires, and whether the criminal record check and other pre-hiring steps happened before that person was ever alone with a child. This is covered in more depth, including what the Criminal Records Review Act requires and what an ECE certificate actually certifies, in our post on how daycare educators are screened in BC.

How the risk score works, and why it sets the calendar

After a routine inspection, the officer does not just file a list of findings. Every facility gets scored, and the score is what decides how soon the next inspection happens.

The score has two parts. The first looks at any problem found during that specific visit and rates how serious it was: how many people it could affect, and how much harm it could actually cause if nothing changed. A record with a missing date is scored on a different level from a safety hazard a child could reach.

The second part looks backward, over the centre's last three years of operating history. It considers how the centre has handled things it was required to report, how fast past problems got fixed, and how it responded to any investigations.

Those two parts combine into one score, and that score sorts the facility into low, medium or high risk. The rating is not a permanent label. It gets recalculated at every routine inspection, so a facility's rating can move up or down over time.

The rating decides the calendar for the next visit:

Risk rating	Next routine inspection
Low	Within 12 to 18 months
High	Within 3 to 6 months

A medium rating falls between those two windows. None of this replaces a follow-up inspection if a specific problem needs to be checked again sooner, or an inspection triggered by a complaint or a reportable incident, which can happen at any time regardless of where a facility sits on the schedule.

Announced or not

Routine inspections are usually unannounced. The reasoning is straightforward: an officer needs to see the centre running the way it actually runs on an ordinary day, not a version tidied up for a scheduled visit. This is standard practice across many kinds of regulatory inspection, not something specific to child care.

Some inspections are scheduled instead, typically when a particular part of the operation needs the manager present to walk through it. A complaint inspection can also be scheduled, but only when giving notice would not put a child at risk or let evidence disappear. An inspection responding to a complaint about too many children in a room, for example, is exactly the kind of situation where the officer needs to see the room as it is right now.

What happens after a finding

Most inspection findings end the same way. The officer writes down what was observed, points to the specific rule that was not being met, and sets a timeline for the centre to fix it. For a low-risk item, the licensee is usually the one who proposes a reasonable timeline, since the licensee is the one responsible for the fix.

When a problem is not corrected, or when the risk is serious enough on its own, the response escalates. Under the Community Care and Assisted Living Act, a medical health officer can attach terms or conditions to a licence, or suspend it. In a genuine emergency, where there is reasonable belief that someone in care faces immediate risk, the same officer can act the same day, without giving the centre advance notice first. That emergency power can suspend a licence or add conditions to it, but it cannot cancel a licence outright. Cancelling a licence goes through the longer process instead, which gives the licensee the chance to respond before the decision is final.

The most severe legal remedy sits outside the licensing process entirely. Operating without a licence, or certain other serious breaches of the Act, can be referred to Crown Counsel as an offence, and a conviction can carry a fine of up to ten thousand dollars. Fraser Health and the Ministry describe this as a last resort, used only after other ways of getting a centre back into compliance have not worked.

A licensee who disagrees with a decision has a right to ask for reconsideration, and after that, a right to appeal to the Community Care and Assisted Living Appeal Board within 30 days. That process exists precisely because a licence supports someone's livelihood and a family's childcare arrangement, and a decision that takes it away has to be able to withstand review.

Why the risk rating matters more than the raw finding count

Two centres can come out of an inspection with the same number of findings and land in different places on the risk scale, and that is by design.

Scope and severity are what the score is actually measuring, not a simple tally. A finding that a single employee record was filed a week late poses little risk to a child on its own. A finding that cleaning chemicals were stored somewhere a toddler could reach poses a real one, even if it is also just one item on the list. Counting findings without asking what kind of findings they were would treat those two situations as identical, and they are not.

This is also why Fraser Health itself asks parents not to judge a centre by the reports alone. A report is a snapshot against a checklist, on one day. It is a real and useful source, but it works best alongside a tour, a conversation with the manager, and a direct question about what the finding was and what changed after it. Our post on how to choose a daycare, a checklist before you tour covers what to look for once you are standing in the room, which a report cannot tell you on its own.

Frequently asked questions

How often does a licensed daycare get inspected?

It depends on the facility's risk score, not a fixed calendar. A facility rated low risk gets its next full inspection within 12 to 18 months. A facility rated high risk gets checked again within 3 to 6 months. A risk score is produced at every routine inspection, so the interval can change from one visit to the next.

What is the risk score based on?

Two things, added together. The first is how serious and how widespread any problem found during the visit was, scored on a matrix from minimal harm to actual harm. The second is the centre's track record over the last three years: how it reported incidents, how fast it fixed past problems, and how it handled any investigations. The two scores combine into a total that sorts the facility into low, medium or high risk.

What are the ten things a licensing officer checks?

Care and supervision, hygiene and communicable disease control, licensing, medication, nutrition and food services, the physical facility and its equipment, policies and procedures, the program of activities, records and reporting, and staffing. Every routine inspection works through all ten. A finding under one category is a different kind of problem than a finding under another, and the report says which one it was.

Does an inspector check staff-to-child ratios?

Yes, as part of care and supervision and staffing. An officer reviewing a facility will note who is in the room, compare it against attendance records, and check that against the ratio required for that care type and group size under the Child Care Licensing Regulation. A complaint about too many children in a room is exactly the kind of thing that triggers a focused check on ratios specifically.

What happens to the physical space during an inspection?

The physical facility, equipment and furnishings are one of the ten fixed categories. That covers the safety of the building itself: things like usable exits, safe storage of anything hazardous, and whether the space and its equipment match what the licence describes. An inspection is a walk through the actual rooms, not only a review of paperwork.

What records does a licensed daycare have to keep, and does an inspector check them?

Yes, records and reporting is one of the ten categories. The regulation requires a file for each child with their enrolment date, a daily attendance record showing arrival and departure, and a log of any medication given. Facilities must also keep a log of minor accidents and unexpected events that did not need medical attention. Officers may sample these files rather than reading every one, but a pattern of missing or incomplete records is exactly what the check is built to catch.

What happens if a licensing officer finds a problem?

The officer writes it up in plain language, citing the specific rule that was not met, and gives the centre a timeline to fix it. Most findings are resolved that way. If a centre does not correct a problem, or if the risk is serious, a medical health officer can attach conditions to the licence, suspend it, or in an urgent case act the same day without advance notice. Cancelling a licence outright goes through a separate, longer process.

Are inspections announced ahead of time?

Routine inspections are typically unannounced, so the officer sees the centre operating as it normally does rather than a version prepared for a visit. Some inspections are scheduled instead, usually when a specific part of the operation needs the manager present. A complaint or incident investigation is scheduled only if giving notice would not put anyone at risk.

Can I see a specific centre's inspection history before I enrol?

Yes. Fraser Health publishes routine inspection reports and summaries of substantiated complaint investigations online, and it is worth reading before you tour. We cover how to search that database, and how to read the separate public list that shows a centre's licensed capacity, in our post on how to check a daycare licence in Port Coquitlam.

Does a high inspection finding mean a centre is unsafe to send my child to?

Not automatically. The risk score exists precisely because not every finding is the same size. A missing signature on a file is scored on a different level from an unsafe storage practice, even though both are technically non-compliance. Read what category the finding fell under and how quickly it was corrected, and ask the centre directly rather than judging from the label alone.

Before you visit

Ask us directly when our last inspection was and what came out of it. We would rather answer that question in person than have you guess at it from a label.

We are at 1103 Confederation Drive, in the Citadel neighbourhood of Port Coquitlam. You can read about our programs and the centre itself, and we are glad to walk through our own inspection history with you when you come for a tour.