It is important to remember that you also need to provide information;
you need to confirm to your supervisor that you have understood what you are being told. As part of being a positive member of a team, you need to respond quickly to requests for information from you. You may also need to offer to take the initiative and tell other people what is going on. Also, you should be aware that you need to inform people if something you are about to do could cause them inconvenience, for example you may have to shut down a shared electricity supply while you make connections. Obviously, you must tell others when this is about to happen as apart from being inconvenienced they could also be in the middle of a delicate operation that could be ruined if the power went down. Similarly, if you are about to do anything else that could alarm people or cause any amount of danger, then it is your duty to inform others of your intended operations.
Sometimes we also have to fill out official forms, such as an accident or incident form, which are very important as they are for
Mr. Ali, I've got those drawings in front of me.
62 Developing yourself and working with other people on engineering activities
official purposes. An accident form effectively notifies management that an accident or incident has occurred. All employers have to have insurance that covers everyone who works on or visits the site. So filling in an accident form is important for insurance purposes and it is in everyone’s interest that these are filled out when the accident happens or as soon as possible afterwards. They need to be accurately filled in with as much detail as is requested.
EXERCISE 2.12 Showing that you can communicate effectively with those who are helping to train you
Give an example of when you were worried about some aspect of your training and you sought advice from your trainer or supervisor:
Explain briefly why you should confirm instructions you are unsure of:
Explain why using approach (a) shows that you are a better communicator than when using approach (b):
(a) ‘Excuse me, could you explain that again please?’
(b) ‘Oi you, how do I do this?’
Give an example of when you took advice from someone in order to improve your work:
Witness testimony
The above exercise has been completed satisfactorily by. . . .
Signed. . . .Job title. . . .Date. . . .
EXERCISE 2.13 Accident reporting
Read through the following report of an accident and then complete either the accident report form in this book or one provided by your supervisor. You will notice that another form is mentioned as well, which is a risk assessment form. Risk assessments are carried out to identify potential hazards and the risks associated with carrying out specific activities. See the Safety section.
Accident Report
The following is the report of an accident that occurred on a building site after a severe storm:
Name of Employee: Stu Pid
Address: 4 Elm Street, Washburton, Cheshire Date of Birth: 13 May, 1964
Statement from Mr. Pid:
When I got to the site in the morning after the storm I noticed that quite a lot of damage had been done to the top of the brickwork I had been working on the day before. So, first of all I filled a barrel with bricks and then I went up to the work and rigged up a block and tackle.
Then I pulled up the barrel to carry out the repair work. There were some bricks over so I lowered these to the ground. Unfortunately the rope slipped and the barrel went down too fast and burst when it hit the ground. As I was acting as the counterweight at the top I was now heavier than the broken barrel and fell from the top onto the pile of bricks at the bottom.
On my way down I was hit severely on the shins by the broken empty barrel on its way up.
When I hit the bricks at the bottom I broke my ankle. The pain was so bad that I forgot what I was doing and let go of the rope. The next thing I knew was that the empty barrel landed on my head and knocked me unconscious.
Statement from the Investigating Health and Safety Officer:
I was called to the site at Grangemouth at 8 a.m. on the morning of Friday 13thFebruary 2000 by the site manager. A passer-by had witnessed the accident and luckily carried a
64 Developing yourself and working with other people on engineering activities
mobile phone so had called for an ambulance. Mr Pid was treated by paramedics at the site before being taken to Grangemeouth General Hospital for treatment for a broken right ankle, concussion and cuts to his left leg and face. I later visited Mr Pid in hospital. Mr Pid told me that he had been worried about storm damage and being quite concerned about the unstable state of the brickwork had decided to start work on his own rather than wait for his work mate. I have completed the Accident report form and have also carried out a Risk Assessment, although procedures are in place for normal working, as the storm represents a situation we have not considered before.
Action 1
Use information from the above report (which was given to the site Health and Safety Officer by the injured man in hospital) to fill in the accident report form which can be found as Appendix XV at the end of the book.
Action 2
Imagine you are the site H & S Officer. Carry out a risk assessment using the form provided at the end of the book in Appendix XIV and make recommendations as to the procedure to be followed.
Witness testimony
The above exercise has been completed satisfactorily by. . . .
Signed. . . .Job title. . . .Date. . . .
Another form of communication that is very powerful is ‘nonverbal communication’. This form of communication includes:
• facial and body gestures
• your appearance
• the way you position yourself in relation to someone else, e.g.
turning your back on someone
• giving someone your attention or obviously not listening
• making eye contact.
Very few of us probably appreciate just how much we communicate in this nonverbal way, but the messages we give out are very obvious.
EXERCISE 2.14 Look at the two pictures below and note four points each for good and bad communication
(a) ON OFF SAFETY NOTICE Power supplies
Excuse me, but I'm switching the power off in a couple of minutes.
(b) Ty notice
ON OFF
Err. Sorry luv.
(Include both verbal and non-verbal communication.)
Good Bad
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.
4. 4.
Witness testimony
The above exercise has been completed satisfactorily by. . . .
Signed. . . .Job title. . . .Date. . . .