Your first day on site
Talk about your experience, meet the foreman and get your safety gear.
Key words
Read these before you listen: you will hear most of them.
il cantierethe building site
Il cantiere apre alle sette e mezza.
Masculine, plural i cantieri. You work in cantiere, without the article; a sign saying lavori in corso means works in progress.
il / la capocantierethe site foreman / site manager
Se manca qualcosa, chiedi al capocantiere.
Same form for a man or a woman; the plural is i capicantiere. On site you will usually call them by first name and use tu.
il manovalethe labourer
Il manovale porta i materiali ai muratori.
Masculine, plural i manovali. The entry-level job on a site: carrying, mixing, cleaning up. Fare il manovale is to work as a labourer.
il muratorethe bricklayer / builder
Mio fratello fa il muratore da dieci anni.
Masculine, plural i muratori, from il muro, the wall. In everyday Italian it covers a general builder, not only someone who lays bricks.
il cascothe helmet / hard hat
In cantiere il casco è obbligatorio.
Masculine, plural i caschi. The same word for a bike helmet and a builder's hard hat.
le scarpe antinfortunistichethe safety shoes
Senza scarpe antinfortunistiche non puoi entrare in magazzino.
Feminine plural, from infortunio, accident. Workers often just say le scarpe da lavoro.
il gilet ad alta visibilitàthe high-visibility vest
Metti il gilet ad alta visibilità quando lavori vicino alla strada.
Gilet is masculine and doesn't change in the plural; say it the French way, ji-LÈ. On site people often just say il gilet arancione.
Listen: Il primo giorno in cantiere
A new labourer meets the foreman on his first morning on a building site. 5 questions; finishing them completes this step.
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