Personal protective equipment (PPE) in plumbing is critical for maintaining worker safety and compliance with worksite safety protocols and regulations.
PPE is specifically designed to protect your plumbing technicians from hazards they could encounter, such as biohazards, mold, gas leaks, and hot water burns.
In this article, we’ll discuss the different types of plumbing PPE, how to implement PPE guidelines in your business, and how ServiceTitan contributes to job safety and compliance.
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Why Is Personal Protection Equipment Important in Plumbing?
Plumbing PPE is important because it protects plumbers from hazards and prevents or reduces the severity of injuries caused by accidents.
Most plumbers regularly work with hot water systems, drains, and sewerage systems, and they are exposed to many potential hazards on every job. For example, accidentally inhaling gases from a sewer can cause dizziness, and a pipe joint failure can cause scalding water burns.
Furthermore, plumbing involves biological and chemical hazards that can lead to sickness, injury, and even death if technicians aren’t properly protected.
Safety regulations also require plumbers to wear certain PPE to protect themselves and maintain minimum safety standards. Failure to do so will make your business non-compliant, and you will face disciplinary action and fines.
What Are the Must-Have Plumber PPE Essentials?
The exact plumbing PPE your workers need depends largely on the type of job they will perform that day. However, a plumber will need a few essential items for almost every job.
Let’s take a look at them:
1. Safety glasses or goggles
Safety glasses and goggles prevent debris and chemical or biohazard splashes from entering the eyes. These hazards could cause damage to the eye, infection, or even blindness.
Eye protection should be cleaned after every job and replaced when scratched.
Why they’re essential: Protect the eyes from flying debris and chemical or biohazard splashes.
Features to look for: Scratch resistance, anti-fog, UV protection.
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2. Gloves
Plumbers require hand protection when handling unsavory items. However, gloves are a vital piece of PPE for more than just this reason.
Heat-insulated gloves protect the hands from burns from hot pipes and during soldering, and rubber gloves make it safer to work with chemicals and biohazards.
You should stock a mixture of disposable nitrile or latex gloves and reusable gloves for different jobs. Reusable gloves should be inspected before use and replaced when torn or damaged.
Why they’re essential: Gloves protect hands and arms from chemicals, biohazards, unpleasant substances, burns, and more. They also make it easier to clean up after a job and reduce the transference of bacteria and viruses.
Features to look for: Cut-resistance.
3. Steel-toed boots
Steel-toed work boots feature a metal toe cap that reinforces the front of the shoe. They protect the feet from crushing injuries.
Ideally, you should look for steel-toed boots that are slip-resistant and non-conductive. These boots protect the wearer from slips, falls, and electric shock.
Why they’re essential: Prevent serious injury if a heavy tool, equipment, or debris is dropped onto the foot.
Features to look for: Anti-slip, lightweight, waterproof, nonconductive.
4. Respirators or masks
Drains and sewerage systems contain unpleasant and dangerous chemicals and biological hazards. Inhalation of fumes or gases from these sources can cause light-headedness, loss of consciousness, and respiratory damage.
Additionally, plumbers working on pre-1989 buildings or pre-1975 heating systems may be exposed to asbestos, a known carcinogenic compound. As the ongoing use of chrysotile asbestos was only banned in the US in March 2024, it’s advisable to supply particulate-filtering face masks to all workers just in case.
Why they’re essential: Prevent inhalation of noxious gases and particulates and protect the wearer from damage to the respiratory system and cancer.
Features to look for: Combination air purification.
5. Ear protection
Plumbers can be exposed to deafening noise during routine plumbing work. This noise can stem from general job site noise, reverberation in confined spaces, and even their own power tools. It’s crucial to supply adequate hearing protection, such as headphones or earplugs, to prevent hearing damage.
Why it’s essential: Repeat exposure to excessive noise can severely damage the hearing.
Features to look for: Noise-cancelling.
6. Coveralls or protective clothing
Protective workwear helps plumbers reduce the risk of contaminant transference, especially when they have done filthy work.
Supplying coveralls allows your workers to remove their outer layer once a job is finished, and the soiled coveralls can be cleaned or disposed of appropriately.
Furthermore, protective clothing can help prevent minor injuries like cuts and abrasions.
Why it’s essential: It prevents cross-contamination and soiling of non-work clothes and vehicles. Protective clothing made from thick materials can also protect the skin from splashes.
Features to look for: Tear resistance, durability, waterproofing, and built-in knee pads.
7. Head protection
Plumbers who work on construction sites or pressurized systems must be supplied with a hard hat to protect the head from impact. This could be from falling debris, pressurized projectiles, or other bumps, especially in small spaces.
Hard hats should be replaced after an impact or every five years to ensure effectiveness.
Why it’s essential: Head injuries can be life-threatening, especially if an employee is struck by an item falling from a height.
Features to look for: Accommodates hearing protection, chin strap, adjustable.
What Are the Risks of Neglecting Proper PPE?
If your workers are not supplied with proper PPE, they are exposed to numerous plumbing hazards that could cause serious injury and even death.
However, the risks don’t end there.
When one of your workers is injured on a job, there will generally be an investigation. If it’s discovered that the plumber wasn’t given adequate PPE for the job, your business is liable for OSHA penalties of over $16,000 per violation.
Furthermore, you will be responsible for paying workers’ compensation to the injured employee(s). Your business will also suffer downtime while the injured parties recover. This can add to a massive expense that proper PPE could have avoided or minimized.
Additionally, you risk a heavy impact on your business reputation.
All in all, it is not worth the risk to neglect proper plumbing PPE.
How Can You Implement PPE Safety Guidelines in Your Plumbing Business?
As part of onboarding to your company, all your staff should be fully trained on correct PPE usage and applicable safety guidelines. However, every employee must remain current on safety guidelines and how they apply to PPE. You should provide a training program that includes annual refresher training.
It’s important to note that supplying PPE is not a one-and-done task. PPE items should be inspected regularly to ensure they offer complete protection. Damage and faults can render PPE useless, so it's important to check for holes, tears, perishing, and other wear and tear.
Lastly, PPE safety guidelines should be part of your team's larger safety culture. Encourage your workers to hold themselves and their teammates accountable for safety, PPE use, and maintenance.
How Can ServiceTitan Support Safety and Compliance?
ServiceTitan is an all-in-one business management solution designed for trades and home service businesses. It has a robust feature suite that includes tools for improving and managing safety and compliance.
With ServiceTitan’s Field Service app, your technicians can review important property details before they arrive, including the build date. This lets them know if there’s an increased risk of hazards like asbestos so they can choose the right respiratory protection and other protective gear.
Users can set up paperwork triggers so that all the relevant forms and checklists appear at the right part of the job cycle. For example, you can create a PPE checklist to verify that each worker has the correct items for the given job, such as gloves, safety goggles, and a coverall.
ServiceTitan lets users create automated reminders for overdue safety tasks, ensuring technicians remember to complete the required checks. You can also create recurring safety tasks for daily, weekly, or monthly checks, such as checking PPE items for wear and tear.
Users can also log incident reports through the ServiceTitan dashboard. By keeping accurate records of these checklists and documentation for every job, you can reduce liability in the event of an accident or compliance query.
ServiceTitan Mobile lets technicians quickly and easily check in with the office and vice versa. This streamlines team communication and helps ensure everyone is on the same page regarding the job at hand and the required safety protocols.
Lastly, you can upload training materials and safety manuals to the mobile app so technicians can access them in the field. The tool also tracks completion, so you can ensure all staff safety training is completed and up-to-date.
Over to You
PPE is another way to protect your plumbing technicians on the job and create a safe working environment. However, you must implement strict PPE guidelines to ensure it is used correctly and remain compliant with safety regulations.
A tool like ServiceTitan can supplement your PPE guidelines and existing safety procedures and help you better manage your plumbing business compliance.
Book a demo with ServiceTitan today and see how it can help your business.
ServiceTitan is an all-in-one field service management platform designed with the trades in mind. The feature suite contains tools that help plumbing businesses revolutionize their business management processes, from safety and compliance to marketing and customer experience. It is trusted by over 100,000 contractors around the country.
ServiceTitan Plumbing Software
ServiceTitan is a comprehensive plumbing business software solution built specifically to help service companies streamline their operations, boost revenue, and achieve growth. Our award-winning, cloud-based platform is trusted by more than 100,000+ contractors across the country.
