Real-Life Communication
Civil engineering technicians work as part of the engineering team
along with engineers, technologists and others. Teamwork requires cooperation.
In order to cooperate, team members need to know what's going on with the
other members.
But what happens when a member of the team is not following
instructions?
You are working on a residential housing project. Your
team is building a development of nine new houses near an existing neighborhood.
The
project engineer has told you to check on the day-to-day progress of the initial
clearing and grading in his absence. He is away supervising another project.
Most
things are running smoothly. But you notice that the heavy equipment operators
are piling sand in an area where runoff will send mud onto neighboring property
owners' driveways. The trucks delivering and carting away sand and other materials
are tracking dirt on to the public road in front of the project.
The
city building code states that property and streets must be kept clear during
any kind of construction work. If they cannot be kept clear, they must be
cleaned off at the end of each day.
You ask the contractor to have
his people move the sand pile into a more appropriate area and to clean the
street at the end of the day. He gives you a little smirk and walks away.
The
next day, the contractor's people are still piling sand in the same area and
the street has not been cleaned. You ask the contractor about it and he brushes
you aside, calling you "kid."
You need to write a report for the project
engineer about what is going on.