on the 2nd fix stage when I start; using nail guns.
Is health and safety for this eye protection and ear defenders if I'm going around with other blokes nailing in stuff?
Standard PPE for
any site work as laid down by the HSE is:
Minimum SBP-rated boots (often higher on larger sites) - safety trainers are no longer acceptable on most sites and riggers are frowned on by the HSE
Hi-viz jacket or tabard or shirt (often ignored by small builders - but the HSE can fine both you and your employer for non-compliance)
Hard hat (needs to be in-date and to a British standard) and
Gloves (fingerless often permitted for joiners).
Trousers should be full length where there is any hazard that can cause risk of dermatitis, injury, or abrasion to bare skin or sunburn, e.g. working on scaffolding/towers or where shot blasting, welding, grinding, cutting, etc is taking place (again, small builders have a habit of ignoring this)
In addition for nail guns you
do need to wear safety glasses or goggles and
ear defenders or plugs (despite what one previous poster states this is HSE law and has been for decades). Whilst cordless 2nd fix nailers are relatively quiet, you might find yourself working alongside a guy using a 2nd fix gas nailer, or maybe a 1st fix gas nailer (doing framing) which are a
lot noisier, or there may be other noise hazards adjacent to where you are working which you need to protect yourself from such as grinding, shot blasting, etc. A lot about
legal duty there, but consider this
deafness as a result of exposure to high levels of workplace noise is fairly common, and is TOTALLY irreversible. It is also progressive, so you don't even know you have a problem - until it is too late
You might also want to consider this - the HSE mandated the use of appropriate headwear for working at heights back in 2017 (again something that most small builders are clueless about or just plain ignore). Basically, it means if you work even one step up a ladder, or beside a small flight of steps (let alone on a scaffolding), you are required to wear a hard hat that has both extra padding inside it and a chinstrap. The idea is that if you have a fall the hat cannot be dislodged from your head and you are therefore far less likely to suffer major and/or permanent head injury (or to die for that matter) because your head has hit a hard object such as a pile of bricks or a concrete floor. Never mind what RoSPA, IOSH or the HSE say, from personal experience I can tell you that these do work. Either way NEVER work on scaffolding without at least a basic hard hat regardless of what others are doing
BTW the last (plastic) fascias I fitted went on with UPVC finish head nails
and were hand nailed. If you are using a 2nd fix nailer better take a hammer, nail set and nippers
@johnny2007 - have any popcorn you could spare?
