Plumbers face a lot of challenges. However, the least discussed and yet most important are the challenges to their own health. A plumber’s day often combines heavy physical labor, awkward positions, and long hours. It’s easy to see how this could take a toll on anyone’s health. However, the following tips can keep any plumber healthy even during the roughest days.
1. Have a Good Workout Routine
It’s often said that prevention is the best medicine and this is most certainly the case for plumbers. The greatest threat to a plumber’s health comes from pushing past his limits and becoming injured in the process. A good workout routine, regularly followed, helps to raise those limits so that the injury never happens in the first place.
2. Maintain a Healthy Diet
This is similar to the need for a solid workout routine. Eating right provides the fuel to both grow muscle and maintain health. In fact, nutrition has been shown to be an important part of disease prevention. This is especially important when you’re visiting many different homes. However, there is an easy-to-miss point here. Busy plumbers often skip lunch and don’t keep properly hydrated. It’s important to take a break to let your body rest up and give yourself time to provide it with the nutrients it needs.
3. Take Care of the Air
Anyone who’s been in the profession for a while can attest to the fact that you’re going to be breathing in some unpleasant things. There’s dust, debris, dirt and so much more. And it’s easy to just decide to grit your teeth and deal with it for however long the job takes. But the toll of making that decision over and over again can be significant. Much of what you breathe in can accumulate in your body and lungs over time. As such, it’s important to use a respirator when the situation calls for it. Likewise, make sure that you scale up the respirator as needed to help deal with the most difficult environments.
4. Use the Right Parts
Most plumbers have strained at one time or another while using a part that’s almost, but not quite, right for the job. However, using the right plumbing parts instantly removes the need for stressing and straining.
5. Protect Your Hands
It’s not just your muscles that strain under physical labor. The skin on your hands puts up with a lot over the course of a day. Likewise, you might also wind up touching a variety of dangerous substances. Those reasons and more all necessitate using gloves. Whether that’s chemical-resistant or just protection from rough surfaces.
6. Protect Your Eyes
Your eyes are usually going to be safe from harm during your work. But those one-time-in-a-thousand flukes are going to hit eventually if you work on the job long enough. That’s why you should always wear goggles or other protection for your eyes when you’re dealing with anything that might fly at your face.
7. Protect Against the Environment
Goggles, gloves, and respirator masks are a good start. However, protecting yourself against potentially hazardous environments necessitates constant appraisal. So before a job, take a moment to think about how that environment might hurt you and what accessories would protect against that threat.
8. Use and Maintain High-Quality Tools
In theory, even lower-quality tools can be used for high-quality work. But theory and practice aren’t always the same thing. In general, you’re going to do better work when you’re using higher-quality tools. Likewise, the higher quality tools will help protect your health. You’ll strain less when using tools that are as strong a year into the job as they were when you bought them. And ergonomic designs will ensure they’re working with your health rather than against it.
9. Pay Attention and Follow Up With a Doctor
It’s normal to feel aches and pains every now and then. But if you notice that any part of your body consistently gives you trouble when you’re on the job then you should see a doctor. And don’t forget to be your own best advocate. If the discomfort persists but the doctor can’t help? Then get a second opinion. If your work is compounding an injury then it’s only going to get worse without proper treatment.
