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THREE-PART COMMUNICATION

What?

Three-part communication ensures that the message you send is the message that is received. Poor communication is often one of the factors that contribute to safety incidents - so making sure your messages “get through” is an important skill.

Where?

Whenever communicating important information – it could be over the radio, phone, or over a shoulder (especially in noisy environments).

1 Minute 4 Safety

  1. The Task Owner states the message
  2. The Task Performer acknowledges and repeats the message or paraphrases it
  3. The Task Owner acknowledges the Task Performer’s reply in an affirmative way – e.g. “That's correct”, or if the Task Performer did not understand as intended, the Task Owner repeats the message to clarify

How?

Why?

The purpose of three-way communication is to ensure that everyone has the same understanding, and is especially important when misunderstanding could lead to injury, operational damage, etc. Effective communication can help prevent errors.

Facilities needs to shut power off to one floor of a building.

Part 1: Facilities manager announces their intent to the Building Manager, who

Part 2: Repeats back, “I understand that you are going to turn the power off to this floor, and that is OK with me.”�Part 3: Then the Facilities manager confirms, “That’s right - I am going to turn off power to this floor.”

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Only after receiving this acknowledgment do they proceed.

Examples