How to Stay Safe on an HVAC Job: Key Tips

Working as an HVAC professional in one of the heating and air conditioning companies, you must be feeling rewarded in your career choice. There are no doubts on that because you're able to solve other people's problems while enjoying a great salary.

But while working in the exciting world of heating and cooling industry, you should also practice precautions to stay safe while on the job. As you will be exposed to a set of hazards, safety is big time in your profession. Keep reading and discover the top safety tips for your work.

Take Time and Assess the Situation

Don't just dive into the job and get your hands on it. Instead, take the time and assess the situation to get it right and safely the first time. It will be better to stay safe than rush it and end up injured. 

Taking the time and assessing the situation - this is how experienced heating and cooling companies work. Once you have your safety gear on, take a look around and assess the situation. Understanding how your work-in-progress schedule affects your company's outcome is imperative. You must check for the potential hazards, both on and around the heating and cooling system.  It will also be a good idea to know what problem you are working with because every HVAC job is unique.

Put Your Safety First
Just like in other industries, safety comes first in the heating and cooling industry. Consider it as the top priority. For example, you may have to work around harmful contaminants and debris, which you can inhale easily when repairing an air conditioner. 

To protect yourself from pathogens, dusts, and other contaminants, which may lead to infection and disease, wear your protective gear, such as a respirator to ensure that you won't be inhaling contaminants.

On the other hand, you should wear goggles to keep foreign objects away from your eyes. Also, you should put on gloves when handling objects, which can potentially cut your skin when handling them.

You also need to know about the correct placement of ladders. Otherwise, wrongly placed ones can put your life in danger. That is why you should not hurry when setting up the ladder.

You should also see to it that it extends at least a foot for every 3 feet of height to prevent you from falling backward. And then, you also have to know about electrical safety to prevent electrocution or electrical shocks. As you know, you are dealing with electrical equipment daily, and the risk of electrical shock is high when a water leak occurs.

To prevent electrocution and equipment damage, you should turn off the main circuit breakers prior to working with the system. For additional help, you might want to watch safety videos tackling electrical safety for HVAC professionals.

Don't Forget Chemicals
Chemical safety is another top priority.

As you may already know, you'll be in contact with a host of chemicals that can pose health hazards.  It is one of the reasons you should get yourself familiar with the substances that you're going to deal with so that you can handle them correctly.

A few of the hazardous chemicals you may come in contact with on the job include cleaning liquids, refrigerants, and solvents. If you won't handle them properly, you might suffer from skin burn. And worse, some of these chemicals might explode and lead to serious injuries.

To stay safe, you should know the proper procedures in handling, moving, and storing specific chemicals. Part of chemical safety is that you should not start working unless you're wearing complete protective gear, including safety glasses and gloves.

Double Check Your Equipment

The pros working at heating and cooling companies move from one project/job site to another. It's common and a part of their daily lives, so it is crucial to have the right tools and equipment for each of it.

In addition, it is as important as taking some time to look over the condition of your equipment, which can make or break the job. Using broken or damaged equipment can be detrimental to both your job and health.

So whether it is a wire stripper, a wrench, or a vacuum gauge, you must double-check them to ensure that you can complete the job safely and efficiently. For example, you should not work on a maintenance job without the right tools, or it may lead to accidents or injuries.

You also should replace faulty tools to ensure you can perform the next job correctly. Nevertheless, you should do routine maintenance on the HVAC equipment to prevent using faulty ones that might lead to disasters on the job.

Good heating and cooling companies implement safety training for their technicians to ensure that they're safe when dealing with electricity, chemicals, and other potential hazards on the job. Just as said, safety comes first – and it's better than to deal with potential accidents, injuries and equipment damage later.

Armondo Mollindeo is the co-founder and CEO of Elite Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, which has been providing AC repairs and maintenance to Las Vegas residents since 2005. It is a full-service plumbing, heating, and air conditioning company with an extensive list of satisfied customers. At Elite, the team believes in earning our customers' trust with quality work, excellent customer service, and professionalism. (702) 263-2665, [email protected].

Posted on Jun 29, 2018