Inspectors may be authorized to conduct several categories of fire and life safety inspections. These include routine inspections of existing occupancies to ensure compliance with adopted fire and life safety codes, as well as re-inspections to verify that previously identified violations have been corrected. Inspectors may also perform complaint inspections in response to reported hazards or unsafe conditions.

In addition, they may conduct acceptance or final inspections of new or remodeled occupancies prior to approval for use, inspect regulated activities or operational permits involving hazardous materials or processes, and carry out special inspections for temporary events, assemblies, or other unusual fire and life safety hazards.