Rhode Island General Laws Title 23. Health and Safety § 23-24.5-7. Health department inspections

(a) The director, or his or her designee, or any inspector employed by the department of health or the department of labor and training designated by the director of health is authorized to inspect at a reasonable time without prior notice as part of an overall plan of periodic inspection, or to respond to a complaint of the existence of friable asbestos material, any building, except private residences, in which a person may become exposed to friable asbestos or asbestiform material. Any person refusing entry to a designated public health inspector or obstructing an inspection ordered by the director shall be fined by the director a sum not exceeding two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each violation.

(b) State inspectors shall conduct inspections of the following types of buildings on an equal basis: public and private high priority buildings, initial inspections of public intermediate priority buildings, and inspections prompted by the complaint process.

(c) The director shall not be precluded from requiring abatement of a friable asbestos hazard in the event an air monitoring test does not establish that the indoor non-occupational air exposure standard has been exceeded.

(d) The director may assess fees for inspections conducted in accordance with rules or regulations promulgated pursuant to the authority conferred by this section, provided that the fees are assessed only after procedures in accordance with chapter 35 of title 42 have been followed.