Plumbing and heating
Toolbox talks for plumbers and heating engineers
Shaun Holmes
Soldering a joint next to timber, or lifting a cylinder on your own, is the job I slow down for. Hot work is already written up: HSE's fire-safety book sets the watch for at least an hour after the flame goes out, and another check two hours after. I have not written a second hot-work talk.
What was missing is the space you climb into. A tank, a duct, a sealed void or a chamber can be a confined space when fire, fume, a lack of oxygen or flooding is foreseeable. A loft is not one just because it is awkward. These are the talks I would read out first. The pages stay open. The pack asks for an email the first time.
This talk supplements the site's own risk assessment and method. It does not replace them, and it is not a substitute for competent health and safety advice.
Talks for this trade
About 5 minutes
Fire safety and hot works
Soldering, brazing and grinding. Clear what can burn, including the other side of the wall, and keep the fire watch HSE describes.
Read the talk
About 5 minutes
Confined spaces
Tanks, ducts, cylinders in a sealed space, and chambers. Do the job from outside unless entry has been planned, including the rescue.
Read the talk
About 5 minutes
Asbestos awareness
Flues, cupboards, soffits and pipe boxing in a building from before 2000. Stop if you uncover something you cannot identify.
Read the talk
About 5 minutes
Manual handling
Boilers, cylinders and radiators. Two people means two people are here, not two people on the method and one on the job.
Read the talk
About 5 minutes
Electrical safety
HSE's page on electrical systems names plumbers among the people hurt when a circuit was assumed to be dead.
Read the talk
About 5 minutes
Old lead paint
Old lead pipe, and leaded paint on the window someone is about to burn off. Do not burn it off.
Read the talk
About 5 minutes
Working at height
Loft tanks, soil stacks and anything that means leaving the floor. Plan the rescue before you go up.
Read the talk
Tools for your trade
- What day rate should I charge?
A day rate from the take-home you want, the days you cannot invoice, and the share you set aside for tax.
- Mileage allowance calculator
The HMRC flat mileage rate for a car, van or motorcycle, with the 10,000-mile split.
- VAT threshold checker
A rolling 12-month turnover set against the £90,000 VAT registration line.
HSE pages for this trade
These are the HSE pages I used. None of them are affiliate links.
Hot work and process fire (opens in a new tab)
Anything that makes heat, sparks or flame can start a fire. Clear combustibles, keep extinguishers to hand, and watch the work.
Fire safety in construction, HSG168 (opens in a new tab)
HSE's book includes soldering irons as hot work, and it sets the fire watch after the work ends. The hot-work talk quotes those times.
Confined spaces (opens in a new tab)
Avoid entry. If you cannot, ventilate, isolate what could flood in or start up, and plan how you will get someone out.
Asbestos (opens in a new tab)
A heating flue or a boxed-in pipe in an older building is a reason to stop and ask, not a reason to carry on.
Electrical systems (opens in a new tab)
If the plumbing is liable to disturb the existing system, the relevant parts should be isolated.
Lead (opens in a new tab)
Old paint and old pipework. Do not dry sand leaded paint or burn it off with a torch.
Manual handling (opens in a new tab)
The weight of a boiler matters, and the law still does not publish a single safe kilogram figure.
A blank register, with nothing else on the page, is the toolbox talk sign-off sheet. The full library is on the toolbox talks page, and a year of topics is in the 52-week planner.
Plumbers and heating engineers toolbox talk pack
The talks on this page, each with its own sign-off sheet, on one page you can print. The talks stay here to read. Opening the pack asks for an email the first time.
Get a ready-to-read toolbox talk every week
I've spent over 20 years in UK construction. Every issue of my free weekly email includes a toolbox talk you can read out on Monday morning, plus plain-English tips for the van and the office.
Free tools for a day rate, a tax estimate, a CIS deduction, and materials are on the tools page.