Site communication, signalling and working with others
This domain tests how you create and maintain a shared understanding with signallers, other plant operators, groundworkers and the public - including the discipline to stop when communication fails.
Core rules
- One nominated signaller per machine. Multiple signallers is a stop condition, not a preference.
- Agreed signals only - the recognised hand signals for the machine type, or an agreed radio code. Every message is acknowledged and confirmed back; unclear messages are repeated, never guessed.
- Losing sight of the signaller means stop. If the signal disappears from view or the radio fails, you stop and wait; you do not complete the movement on assumption.
- Warn before moving: horn before start-up, before slewing and before reversing. Audible warnings are supplementary, not proof that people heard you.
- Blind spots and cameras - set mirrors and check camera views before moving; cameras do not remove the blind spots behind the counterweight.
- Pedestrian interaction: never let a banksman walk in your intended path, keep eye contact, and stop if anyone enters the exclusion zone without being escorted.
- Loading a dumper: the driver stays in the cab with the seat belt on while the bucket is over the body, unless the site plan requires them to stand in a marked safe position in the operator's full view.
- Anyone may stop the job on safety grounds; the stop signal must be obeyed whoever gives it.
Worked example
Two groundworkers are giving you opposite instructions at a chamber excavation. You lower the bucket, stop the machine and ask the supervisor to nominate a single signaller for the rest of the shift. Reasoning: conflicting signals make every movement unpredictable, so continuing to act on the clearer instruction would still leave an uncontrolled interface between plant and people.
Traps that cost marks
- Believing reversing alarms and cameras make a banksman unnecessary.
- Using improvised signals because both parties "know what I mean".
- Edging forward when you lose sight of the signaller rather than stopping.