Survey Hand Signals

hi and welcome to the old school

construction survey and I'm Francisco

Ferro jr. Construction survey consultant

manager one of the most important tools

on any construction site is

communication back in the days before

communication radios surveyors devised a

system of communication for their job

sites hand signals we're just as an

important survey tool is their

instruments such as levels transits

measuring chains tripods and so on

well in today's world with all the new

technology it would seem that hand

signals can be obsolete no longer

considered I disagree I have found

throughout my experience no matter how

improve the technology maybe they can

still be undependable also the use of

radios in a high decibel work zone is

usually unreliable I use hand signals

throughout my job sites and it has

improved the production time

considerably on every project so today

I'm going to show you the basic standard

hand signals for surveying

try it on your job site and find out how

much you can improve with your survey

services okay the first set of hand

signals I will show you are the numbers

now there are two sets of hand signals

for numbers one for working inside a

building or close quarters but still or

too far or too loud for voice

communication and the other the more

common outdoor open hand signals so

you're the first set of hand signal

numbers for indoor work this would be

one two three this is four five six

seven eight nine zero now again these

were used for indoor work now the more

common numbered hand signals would be

these one two three four five six seven

eight nine and zero now some surveyors

would use decimal point indoor would be

a one hand punch and the outdoor would

be a two-hand punch now these were used

to distinguish decimal either decimals

of a foot or meters to centimeters and

millimeters the only problem is that if

the receiver is too far away they may

not be able to see that particular

signal so what I have taught my teams

are is to give their measurements and

either one hundredths of a foot or in

millimeters depending on what part of

the world you're at let me give you some

examples if I want them to do a

measurement of 145 feet even then it

would be one four five zero zero with

the last two numbers be to the hundreds

of a foot that way they always know that

it's 145 feet and no hundreds or if it's

145 meters then it would be one four

five zero zero zero which would take it

down to millimeters okay now another

important note to bring up is that your

hand signal gestures need to be concise

and clear

just throw in your hands up and whatever

way can cause wrong measurements and

costly errors for example this is how

your hand signals should look like you

always begin with your two hands on your

chest and you create

your hand signals whatever number you

give you bring it back to your chest and

then do the next number back to your

chest

the next number back to your chest the

next number this will make it concise

and clear and there will be no there

will be no conflict or whatever as to

what the numbers you're giving out okay

so now now that we know our numbers I'm

going to show you other hand signals

that will communicate to you on what to

do with these particular measurements so

here we go the first thing is

measurement this is a sign for

measurement this is a sign for going

away from me or going away from the

instrument this is come to me or come

towards the instrument these are two

very very important signals now the

other ones are this is top this is toe

this is ground okay and this is the

bottom now some other hand signals

you've got your left and you've got your

right notice that it is my right so when

you give a left it is the left of the

receiver and this is the right of the

receiver

another important thing on curves

usually you're going to give information

or gather information at the point occur

which is a PC the quarter point half

point three quarter point and at the PT

point of transit so PC would be this

signal quarter point would be this

signal half point would be this signal

three quarter points would be this

signal and this would be point of

transit so now at other times when you

need when you forgot some of your survey

instruments or the Rodman and forgot

some of his particular instances as a

hammer or the tape measure chain or

marker these are a couple of things they

can say they can sit there and they can

go come to me with a hammer or again it

means measurement but it also means tape

go another one is the marker well they

sit there and they do that with a marker

that means I'm

my marker so let's put it all together

let's say I want a team to go away from

the gun from the instrument twenty

twenty feet and forty five hundreds so I

will sit there and I'll say distance or

measurement and then I will go away from

the gun which would be two zero four

five

that's twenty forty five away from the

gun then I will sit there and this means

repeat and then this means what did I

say and they will repeat to me what I

just given them now if they give me the

wrong number and I will do this

which means no good erase do-over and I

will repeat the same distance and the

same measurements that he needs to go he

will repeat it back to me and then if

it's good I'll and that means this is

good and so these are just a couple of

very simple and standard hand signals so

now that you have the old-school survey

tool of hand signal communication you

can eliminate time loss on situations

such as radio batteries going dead and

the survey crew would have to come back

to the office and grab new batteries or

if their layouts are taking too long

because they can't hear each other over

the loud Construction noises hand

signals are still a very good and

efficient procedure for construction

surveyors but don't take my word for it

try it out and see the results for

yourself also go ahead and search

through my website and you'll find my

book on cost-effective construction

survey for the contractor it is a

guidebook to give you some tips on

better managing your construction

surveying for your job sites thank you

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Admin Vendor

Surveyor Market December 16, 2020 at 10:15pm

hi and welcome to the old school

construction survey and I'm Francisco

Ferro jr. Construction survey consultant

manager one of the most important tools

on any construction site is

communication back in the days before

communication radios surveyors devised a

system of communication for their job

sites hand signals we're just as an

important survey tool is their

instruments such as levels transits

measuring chains tripods and so on

well in today's world with all the new

technology it would seem that hand

signals can be obsolete no longer

considered I disagree I have found

throughout my experience no matter how

improve the technology maybe they can

still be undependable also the use of

radios in a high decibel work zone is

usually unreliable I use hand signals

throughout my job sites and it has

improved the production time

considerably on every project so today

I'm going to show you the basic standard

hand signals for surveying

try it on your job site and find out how

much you can improve with your survey

services okay the first set of hand

signals I will show you are the numbers

now there are two sets of hand signals

for numbers one for working inside a

building or close quarters but still or

too far or too loud for voice

communication and the other the more

common outdoor open hand signals so

you're the first set of hand signal

numbers for indoor work this would be

one two three this is four five six

seven eight nine zero now again these

were used for indoor work now the more

common numbered hand signals would be

these one two three four five six seven

eight nine and zero now some surveyors

would use decimal point indoor would be

a one hand punch and the outdoor would

be a two-hand punch now these were used

to distinguish decimal either decimals

of a foot or meters to centimeters and

millimeters the only problem is that if

the receiver is too far away they may

not be able to see that particular

signal so what I have taught my teams

are is to give their measurements and

either one hundredths of a foot or in

millimeters depending on what part of

the world you're at let me give you some

examples if I want them to do a

measurement of 145 feet even then it

would be one four five zero zero with

the last two numbers be to the hundreds

of a foot that way they always know that

it's 145 feet and no hundreds or if it's

145 meters then it would be one four

five zero zero zero which would take it

down to millimeters okay now another

important note to bring up is that your

hand signal gestures need to be concise

and clear

just throw in your hands up and whatever

way can cause wrong measurements and

costly errors for example this is how

your hand signals should look like you

always begin with your two hands on your

chest and you create

your hand signals whatever number you

give you bring it back to your chest and

then do the next number back to your

chest

the next number back to your chest the

next number this will make it concise

and clear and there will be no there

will be no conflict or whatever as to

what the numbers you're giving out okay

so now now that we know our numbers I'm

going to show you other hand signals

that will communicate to you on what to

do with these particular measurements so

here we go the first thing is

measurement this is a sign for

measurement this is a sign for going

away from me or going away from the

instrument this is come to me or come

towards the instrument these are two

very very important signals now the

other ones are this is top this is toe

this is ground okay and this is the

bottom now some other hand signals

you've got your left and you've got your

right notice that it is my right so when

you give a left it is the left of the

receiver and this is the right of the

receiver

another important thing on curves

usually you're going to give information

or gather information at the point occur

which is a PC the quarter point half

point three quarter point and at the PT

point of transit so PC would be this

signal quarter point would be this

signal half point would be this signal

three quarter points would be this

signal and this would be point of

transit so now at other times when you

need when you forgot some of your survey

instruments or the Rodman and forgot

some of his particular instances as a

hammer or the tape measure chain or

marker these are a couple of things they

can say they can sit there and they can

go come to me with a hammer or again it

means measurement but it also means tape

go another one is the marker well they

sit there and they do that with a marker

that means I'm

my marker so let's put it all together

let's say I want a team to go away from

the gun from the instrument twenty

twenty feet and forty five hundreds so I

will sit there and I'll say distance or

measurement and then I will go away from

the gun which would be two zero four

five

that's twenty forty five away from the

gun then I will sit there and this means

repeat and then this means what did I

say and they will repeat to me what I

just given them now if they give me the

wrong number and I will do this

which means no good erase do-over and I

will repeat the same distance and the

same measurements that he needs to go he

will repeat it back to me and then if

it's good I'll and that means this is

good and so these are just a couple of

very simple and standard hand signals so

now that you have the old-school survey

tool of hand signal communication you

can eliminate time loss on situations

such as radio batteries going dead and

the survey crew would have to come back

to the office and grab new batteries or

if their layouts are taking too long

because they can't hear each other over

the loud Construction noises hand

signals are still a very good and

efficient procedure for construction

surveyors but don't take my word for it

try it out and see the results for

yourself also go ahead and search

through my website and you'll find my

book on cost-effective construction

survey for the contractor it is a

guidebook to give you some tips on

better managing your construction

surveying for your job sites thank you
Land Surveyor

Gavin Bowman April 22, 2020 at 1:09pm

This Video on Surveyor Hand Signals should definitly be watched by ALL crew members, as stated in the video, this can save you VALUABLE time and possibly ease your frustrations on the jobsite when tiodays technology fails for one reason or another!!!

Excellent Tutorial!!!
Survey Legend

Justin Farrow March 20, 2019 at 8:43pm

This reply was deleted.

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