Communication Tips for Site Junior and Setting out Engineers
- Communications are vital to your success, some engineers have a habit of waiting to be told what to do, often this entails a rush of setting out as concrete may have been ordered, or men are standing around waiting for your setting out, Its good practice to have a weekly meeting to discuss programme, and plan the works, this does not occur on most sites, or if it does the Engineer is not invited, here you need to be proactive, request the meeting, or at least get your Foreman or line manager to complete his daily planning board (if he has one), either way you should be a couple of days ahead of construction with your setting out.
- Remember that you are a vital part of the site team, much of the work will fall on your shoulders, and increase the more senior you become, therefore you need to act as part of the team, many of you see things that are unsafe, or of poor quality, and fail to warn relevant persons of these problems, plan your work load, and not be bullied into rash decisions, The only way to obtain job satisfaction is to do your job well, and see the results of good planning and accurate work.
- Good Management encourage communications at all levels, your foreman and agent should be approachable, your contracts manager will be happy to talk about any problems you face on site, If you are experiencing safety problems and need a solution that is not forthcoming on site, contact your safety manager who should address your problems immediately.
- If in doubt……….Ask! Some engineers are happy to coast along without a full understanding of aspects of the work, Site Management would prefer to help wherever they can, so don’t be embarrassed, discuss the problem. Coaching will be given, just ask for it.