Starting a new welding job

New-starter checklist

Questions to settle before work starts

Use the employer's assessment, the actual process and the site's rules as the source of truth. Do not buy equipment for a new role until you know what the employer must provide and permits. If the risk assessment shows PPE is needed for employees or workers, it must be provided free of charge.

1. Ask about the work and its controls

   Ask which welding processes and materials you will use, what the relevant risk assessment and COSHH information says, and how extraction, ventilation or separation controls fume before RPE is considered.

2. Confirm what the employer and site supply

   Establish which assessed PPE the employer will provide free of charge, fit, maintain and replace, and which helmets, RPE and other PPE are approved to work together. Ask separately about personal tools or clothing that are not assessed PPE. Do not assume any of this from a vacancy summary.

3. Settle face fit, training and site policy

   Ask what training and pre-use checks are required, whether any tight-fitting RPE needs face-fit testing, and how facial hair or anything else that could affect the seal is handled under the site's policy.

4. Know the care and change-record routine

   Confirm who inspects, cleans and stores the equipment, how battery and airflow checks are recorded where relevant, and which assessed schedule or manufacturer instruction governs filter changes. Ask where those checks and changes are logged.

5. Escalate uncertainty before exposure

   If the likely exposure, control plan, required protection or filter choice is unclear, the employer should seek a competent occupational hygienist or RPE specialist before the work starts. A product page cannot replace that assessment.