Safety: COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION

In the construction trades, workers and supervisors must constantly act and react to their changing environment. In doing so, they exchange facts, plans, and proposals. The one essential ingredient in all of these activities is communication.

Think for a moment of the types of communication common to worksites in construction:

• contracts
• blueprints
• safety talks
• health and safety committee minutes
• hand signals for hoisting and traffic control
• radio transmissions
• training sessions
• accident reports
• WSIB forms
• instructions to new workers
• specifications
• WHMIS labels and material safety data sheets
• regulations
• operating manuals.

All of these communications involve messages of different types being sent to and from senders and receivers.

These are the elements in the communications cycle, which consists of a sequence of steps. If any step is interfered with, blocked, or left incomplete the result will be miscommunication or no communication at all.

Step 1
Using his or her knowledge and experience, a "sender" creates a message in his or her mind.

Step 2
The message is "encoded." This means the message is put into speech for oral communication; into writing for written communication; or into signals or images for visual communication.

Step 3
After encoding the message, the sender sends or "transmits" it. In verbal communication, the message is transmitted by speech.Written communications are delivered by hand, mail, FAX, or over a computer network. In visual communication, a signal is transmitted by hand, flag, pictures, or images.

Step 4
The "receiver" receives, that is, hears, reads, or sees the message.

Step 5
Using his or her own unique knowledge and experience, the receiver interprets the message.

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