You know, as a plumbing engineer, it can be an extremely risky industry, and it pays for everyone to be aware of the risks that you can come into contact with by joining your day-to-day job. Working as a self-employed plumbing engineer involves infinitely more risks because, as a sole person, you are responsible for staying safe at all times and working through the correct safety laws and protocols put in place to ensure the safety of both yourself, your clients, and your working environment.
So whether you find yourself working on plans to install brand new plumbing on a new residential property, working with people to extend their homes, or your work takes you to a construction site, being aware of your responsibilities as a plumbing engineer can help to keep you safe at all times and ensure that the work you carry out as completed meets the highest standards and doesn’t pose any safety risks to the environment or to the users.
So what do you need to know, and what do you need to do to ensure your safety at all times?
OSHA
OSHA, the cornerstone of workplace safety, controls and sets the standards for all health and safety initiatives for workplace employers and employees. For plumbers and plumbing engineers, specific sets of standards are in place and designed by OSHA to ensure that you can work safely, especially in hazardous environments. These standards include hazard protection, materials protection, and confined space regulations, providing you with a secure framework for your work.
Use Proper Tools and Equipment
As mentioned, during the course of your working day or week, you can face a range of different environmental scenarios and hazardous materials. Ensuring you’re using the correct tools and equipment for the job can help you minimize and reduce any potential risks or impacts of an incorrect job being carried out.
As a plumbing engineer, you will be responsible for designing, instaling and the maintenance of plumbing systems in various scenarios and environments, whether residential properties, chemical plants, hospitals, shopping malls, or anything else.
This means that you need to know what tools and equipment are required for the job at hand. So whether this is knowing the right gasket material types for the type of plumbing work and substances flowing through the plumbing or you need to understand the intricacies of navigating different construction materials to implement the right plumbing structure and connections and being able to understand the scope of the work can help you to ensure that you’ve got the right tools and equipment for use at all times.
PPE
Everyone is aware of what PPE is; however, due to the nature of the work you’ll be carrying out, ensuring you have the correct type of PPE for every single type of job is paramount for health and safety. As a self-employed engineer, the last thing you want is to be injured at work due to being negligent and then not being able to work for prolonged periods while you recover from accidents or injuries. The correct PPE will, of course, depend on the work you carry out, but at a minimum, this includes safety gloves, glasses, protective clothing, and even still cap boots to protect your feet while working.
Join the conversation: