Risk assessment
Plumbing risk assessments for bathroom, boiler, and leak work
Plumbing jobs mix weight, water, and sometimes gas. A bathroom install is mostly manual handling, slips, and old asbestos fittings. A boiler swap adds flue, gas tightness, and work at height. A leak in a loft or floor void is an access problem before it is a pipe problem.
Gas work on a boiler is limited to people competent under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Water fittings have to avoid contamination of the supply. Legionella is a COSHH matter where stored water can stagnate. The library keeps those duties on the hazards they belong to, rather than pasting gas law onto every plumbing line.
No law requires a document called a RAMS. The duty is to assess risk under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3, and to plan the work safely.
What to decide before the job
- The route for baths, trays, and the boiler, including stairs and a second person.
- Asbestos in old cisterns, toilet seats, textured coatings, and floor tiles.
- For a boiler: flue route, ventilation, tightness test, and who is allowed to work on the gas.
- How the water is isolated, and where a leak will go if a joint fails on refill.
Every hazard below is from the RAMSPack library and is marked draft – awaiting competent review. Use it as a starting list, then change it for the site. It is not HSE approved.
Worked example: Bathroom installation
Strip out and install sanitaryware, associated pipework, and wastes in an existing bathroom. Electrical and gas connections are included only where the person doing them is competent for that work.
Order of work
- Protect the route and agree which rooms will lose water. Find the stopcock before strip-out.
- Isolate water. Check for electrics and gas in the work area and keep water away from them.
- Check for asbestos before disturbing old cisterns, floor tiles, or boxing. Stop if it is suspected.
- Strip out the old fittings. Cap open pipes. Keep wastes segregated.
- Install soil, waste, and supply pipework. Support pipes and maintain falls on wastes.
- Fit sanitaryware, seal where required, and reinstate surfaces that this scope includes.
- Restore water slowly, check joints, and explain the isolation points to the occupier.
Manual handling of baths, shower trays, and sanitaryware
Who might be harmed: Operatives
Before controls: 12 Medium. After controls: 4 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Use two people for baths and heavy trays. Plan the stairs and landings before the lift.
- Use handling aids where the route allows. Do not twist while carrying.
- Store materials so they cannot fall on a stair.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981.
Asbestos in old cisterns, toilet seats, textured coatings, or floor tiles
Who might be harmed: Operatives doing the work, other workers, occupiers and visitors
Before controls: 15 High. After controls: 5 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Do not break suspect materials to 'have a look'.
- Stop work and tell the client if asbestos is suspected. Licensed or non-licensed work, as the material requires, is a separate task.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981; Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.
Bacteria in stagnant or warm stored water, including Legionella
Who might be harmed: Occupiers and operatives
Before controls: 10 Medium. After controls: 5 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Avoid creating dead legs. Insulate hot and cold pipes so they do not touch.
- Flush new or altered outlets before they are used.
- Do not leave stored water systems partly drained and unused without telling the occupier.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981; Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999; Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002.
Cuts from blades and slips on a wet floor
Who might be harmed: Operatives and occupiers
Before controls: 9 Medium. After controls: 4 Low. These scores are a prompt. Score the job yourself.
- Cut pipe away from the body. Keep knives closed when not in use.
- Contain spills, dry the floor, and keep the bathroom out of use until it is safe.
- Cap pipes before leaving the job, including overnight.
Regulations that fit this hazard: Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974; Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015; Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 (as amended 2022); Health and Safety (First-Aid) Regulations 1981; Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999.
Start this bathroom installation RAMS
Other plumber tasks in the library
Boiler replacement
Replace a domestic gas boiler and the immediate flue and pipe connections. The gas work itself is done only by an engineer on the Gas Safe Register.
- Fire, explosion, or carbon monoxide from a gas escape or a faulty flue. Only a Gas Safe registered engineer breaks, remakes, or commissions gas connections.
- Fall while installing a flue or working at a high boiler. Use a scaffold or a podium where the flue is at height. Do not lean a ladder on guttering.
- Manual handling of the boiler on stairs. Use two people or a suitable stair-handling method. Know the boiler weight before the lift.
- Scalding and pressurised hot water during drain-down and commissioning. Let the system cool before draining. Open vents in a controlled order.
Leak repair
Trace and repair a water leak on domestic hot or cold pipework, a fitting, or a waste, and make the area safe if electrics have been wetted.
- Electric shock where water has reached sockets, luminaires, or wiring. Do not enter standing water that may be live.
- Working in a cupboard, loft, or floor void with poor access. A floor void or cupboard is not automatically a confined space. Apply the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 if there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of serious injury from the enclosure, such as fume, oxygen deficiency, or drowning.
- Scalding from hot water or heating pipework. Isolate and cool the circuit before opening it. Open fittings slowly.
- Further water damage and slips while the leak continues. Isolate first, then investigate. Catch water in containers.