Boilermaker

Job overview
Boilermakers manufacture and repair a wide range of structures in steel, plate and piping.

These can include almost anything on a big scale, e.g. pressure vessels for power stations and petrochemical plants, mine head gears, bridges and oil-drilling platforms down to small jobs in a local factory.

Boilermakers by no means spend all of their time making actual boilers.

What do people do in this job?
Prior to the construction of a new boiler, or other heavy metal structure, all the required material must first be prepared before the work of assembly and construction can begin.

Boilermakers work to plans or blueprints which they must study before the actual work begins. The materials or plates are marked off according to specifications, then cut to the correct dimensions, then straightened, bent or rolled to the required angles and curves.

When this has been completed the parts are assembled and checked to ensure that they will fit each other and form the intended shape.

The final stage is fitting and welding the parts together.

What kinds of people are suitable for this career?
Boilermakers should have mechanical aptitude, physical strength, the ability to interpret plans and drawings and a good grounding in basic mathematics. They need to be able to concentrate on the job in hand and work accurately.

Boilermakers?'? work may be indoors in workshops or factories, or outdoors on construction sites.

What qualifications are needed?
An apprenticeship is the normal method of entry into the boilermaker?'?s trade.