Communication and Documentation
What this domain covers
These questions test whether the right information reaches the right people at the right time, and whether the paper trail would survive an audit or an incident investigation.
Core rules
- Before work: job hazard analysis, permit to work where required, a documented toolbox talk with signatures, and confirmation that everyone holds the current drawing revision.
- During work: one nominated banksman, agreed hand signals or radio protocol, tag lines on loads, and immediate reporting of defects and near misses rather than at shift end.
- Handover: a scaffold tag does not replace a handover certificate. Record location and tag number, type and duty/load class, height and dimensions, date of erection, names of erector and inspector, restrictions, and signatures.
- Records: inspection register, material inventory and count, maintenance log, incident and near-miss reports, delivery and return sheets, shift handover notes.
- Signage and barriers are communication too: "Scaffold incomplete", "Do not use", "Men working above", and load-class notices.
Worked example
A subcontractor's crew needs the scaffold at 07:00 after your crew tied it in the previous afternoon. The correct handover is a signed certificate and green tag issued after a fresh inspection, plus a toolbox talk for users stating the load class (say 2.0 kN/m²) and the restriction that the top lift still lacks toe boards. A verbal "it's okay, go ahead" is not a handover.
Traps
Verbal-only instructions, signing a tag you did not personally inspect, working from a superseded drawing revision, and omitting the load class - the most common cause of overloaded platforms.