Trade Safety
Domain 1 tests how well you spot danger before you pick up a tool: hazard recognition, PPE selection, safe handling of chemicals and solvents, excavation and confined-space work, and electrical isolation on domestic and site plumbing jobs.
Hazards you must be able to name
- Falling objects, cuts, wet and uneven floors, and open trenches.
- Sewer gas in manholes and septic tanks: hydrogen sulphide, methane, and low oxygen.
- Solvent cement and primer vapours, which are flammable and narcotic; lead and asbestos in old installations.
- Live wiring, and pumps or immersion heaters with a broken earth.
Rules that carry marks
- Isolate and lock off water and power before dismantling; drain down and prove dead with a tester.
- PPE: helmet, goggles, nitrile gloves, dust respirator, safety shoes, ear plugs near breakers, and a full harness above 1.8 m.
- Trenches deeper than 1.5 m need shoring or battering; heap spoil at least 0.6 m back from the edge; ladder at about 1 in 4.
- Treat every chamber, tank and septic tank as a confined space: gas test, permit, standby person, harness and tripod, no naked flame.
- Store cement and solvents away from heat, keep eyewash water available, and never smoke near primer.
Worked example
A 2 m deep inspection chamber is blocked. Reasoning: 2 m depth plus possible gas means confined space, so first barricade the area, test for oxygen and combustible gas, arrange a permit and a standby observer, ventilate, then enter with harness and tripod. Rodding from outside comes before entry. Only after the blockage clears do you wash down and replace the cover.
Traps
Assuming a smell is "only sewage"; treating a ladder as a work platform; entering a tank to "just check"; leaving an open trench unbarricaded at night.