Meeting the Hispanic Commincation Challenge
Although total workplace fatalities have dropped by 20% in the last decade, workplace fatalities among Hispanic workers, especially those in the construction industry, have jumped by 35% in the same period, according to OSHA.
More Hispanic workers than ever are finding their way into construction. And because many of them speak little or no English, communicating safety concepts to them is often a challenge.
“One of the main concerns we have is to make sure that contractors’ training is understood,” says Gary Anderson, Chicago-area OSHA director. “Hispanics may nod their heads when you train them, yet they may not really understand. It’s important to make sure the word gets through.”
A good way to find out if your workers understand the training is to give a post-test following the course, Anderson says. He suggests five or 10 written questions—and you may have to ask questions one-on-one if the workers’ reading skills are limited.
Reading skills can be a problem, even if you’ve translated the material into Spanish. “A lot of well-intentioned contractors spend a lot of money on Spanish-language programs that they can’t understand, even in Spanish,” says Anderson. “That’s because about half the Hispanic workforce has the equivalent of a fifth-grade education. So the written word may not be the correct vehicle,” Anderson says.
Hands-on Training
What works for Chad Lockhart, a safety manager at Walsh Construction in Chicago, is to provide hands-on training for Hispanics. Lockhart is the safety director for two interstate open-road tolling projects and two other heavy/civil projects in the Chicago area. He finds that demonstrating the safety equipment and procedures is an effective communication method for small groups.
For example, Lockhart has demonstrated confined-space procedures, which involve setting up an extraction tripod over a manhole. A lifeline, or wire rope, is attached to the harness on a worker who enters a catch basin. One attendant is always present near the tripod at the surface to pull out the worker if he runs into toxic gases or other trouble.
“You have gas detectors that sound an alarm if there’s gas present in the hole,” says Lockhart. “If the alarm sounds, they’re trained to exit the hole at that point. I show them readings on the display and then use the calibration gas to set off the alarms. This demo lets them see what happens when it’s time to get out.”
Lockhart says he often draws upon a bilingual foreman or superintendent to help with safety training. He will stand before a small group, with a Spanish-speaking foreman or superintendent who can translate the key concepts as they move through the course.
No English
In Florida, Joe Sieben is the superintendent for four pipe-laying crews and one cleanup crew. All of them work for Jensen Underground Utilities, Naples, and are building a $10 million water/sewer project at Ave Maria University and Town Center, a new town development near Naples.
On the five crews, Sieben supervises some 30 Hispanic workers—and about 20 of them speak no English at all. Six speak broken English, and four speak good to excellent English. Sieben must hire non–English speaking people because there’s a large shortfall of construction workers in south Florida, which has a construction boom in progress. Recruitment is by word of mouth among Hispanic families and friends. “It’s really hard to find good workers,” says Sieben. “You have to take untrained people and train them.”
In seven months, Sieben has built the five crews starting from a core group of seven Hispanic men who know Spanish well and speak English well enough to communicate the basic concepts and procedures. “We disperse my core guys throughout the crews,” says Sieben. “All of my foremen were part of my core group. If you have a queen bee you can build a hive.”
Sieben holds safety meetings each week. Training materials are written out in both Spanish and English. Sieben reads the paper in English and a Hispanic supervisor reads the same paper in Spanish.
Sieben found that just reading the materials in English didn’t work. “Hispanic people will always agree with you,” he says, “and yet I found out they didn’t understand what we were saying. Now, we encourage questions in Spanish, and my Hispanic foreman translates back to me and I answer the question.
“Now, they will speak up, and we have a very good safety record,” Sieben says. “We get a few bumps and bruises, but nothing serious.” Sieben and his crews also use hand signals to communicate construction instructions. It’s a system Jensen has developed over five years, and it helps communicate through the noise of the project.
The project’s owner, Ave Maria University, presents all new workers with a two-hour orientation session—in English, and a Spanish version is available for non–English speakers. Subcontractors go over written materials with workers one-on-one to make sure they understand.
Author's Bio: Daniel C. Brown is the owner of TechniComm, a communications business based in Des Plaines, IL.
September-October 2006
Meeting the Hispanic Commincation Challenge
Although total workplace fatalities have dropped by 20% in the last decade, workplace fatalities among Hispanic workers, especially those in the construction industry, have jumped by 35% in the same period, according to OSHA.
More Hispanic workers than ever are finding their way into construction. And because many of them speak little or no English, communicating safety concepts to them is often a challenge.
“One of the main concerns we have is to make sure that contractors’ training is understood,” says Gary Anderson, Chicago-area OSHA director. “Hispanics may nod their heads when you train them, yet they may not really understand. It’s important to make sure the word gets through.”
A good way to find out if your workers understand the training is to give a post-test following the course, Anderson says. He suggests five or 10 written questions—and you may have to ask questions one-on-one if the workers’ reading skills are limited.
Reading skills can be a problem, even if you’ve translated the material into Spanish. “A lot of well-intentioned contractors spend a lot of money on Spanish-language programs that they can’t understand, even in Spanish,” says Anderson. “That’s because about half the Hispanic workforce has the equivalent of a fifth-grade education. So the written word may not be the correct vehicle,” Anderson says.
Hands-on Training
What works for Chad Lockhart, a safety manager at Walsh Construction in Chicago, is to provide hands-on training for Hispanics. Lockhart is the safety director for two interstate open-road tolling projects and two other heavy/civil projects in the Chicago area. He finds that demonstrating the safety equipment and procedures is an effective communication method for small groups.
For example, Lockhart has demonstrated confined-space procedures, which involve setting up an extraction tripod over a manhole. A lifeline, or wire rope, is attached to the harness on a worker who enters a catch basin. One attendant is always present near the tripod at the surface to pull out the worker if he runs into toxic gases or other trouble.
“You have gas detectors that sound an alarm if there’s gas present in the hole,” says Lockhart. “If the alarm sounds, they’re trained to exit the hole at that point. I show them readings on the display and then use the calibration gas to set off the alarms. This demo lets them see what happens when it’s time to get out.”
Lockhart says he often draws upon a bilingual foreman or superintendent to help with safety training. He will stand before a small group, with a Spanish-speaking foreman or superintendent who can translate the key concepts as they move through the course.
No English
In Florida, Joe Sieben is the superintendent for four pipe-laying crews and one cleanup crew. All of them work for Jensen Underground Utilities, Naples, and are building a $10 million water/sewer project at Ave Maria University and Town Center, a new town development near Naples.
On the five crews, Sieben supervises some 30 Hispanic workers—and about 20 of them speak no English at all. Six speak broken English, and four speak good to excellent English. Sieben must hire non–English speaking people because there’s a large shortfall of construction workers in south Florida, which has a construction boom in progress. Recruitment is by word of mouth among Hispanic families and friends. “It’s really hard to find good workers,” says Sieben. “You have to take untrained people and train them.”
In seven months, Sieben has built the five crews starting from a core group of seven Hispanic men who know Spanish well and speak English well enough to communicate the basic concepts and procedures. “We disperse my core guys throughout the crews,” says Sieben. “All of my foremen were part of my core group. If you have a queen bee you can build a hive.”
Sieben holds safety meetings each week. Training materials are written out in both Spanish and English. Sieben reads the paper in English and a Hispanic supervisor reads the same paper in Spanish.
Sieben found that just reading the materials in English didn’t work. “Hispanic people will always agree with you,” he says, “and yet I found out they didn’t understand what we were saying. Now, we encourage questions in Spanish, and my Hispanic foreman translates back to me and I answer the question.
“Now, they will speak up, and we have a very good safety record,” Sieben says. “We get a few bumps and bruises, but nothing serious.” Sieben and his crews also use hand signals to communicate construction instructions. It’s a system Jensen has developed over five years, and it helps communicate through the noise of the project.
The project’s owner, Ave Maria University, presents all new workers with a two-hour orientation session—in English, and a Spanish version is available for non–English speakers. Subcontractors go over written materials with workers one-on-one to make sure they understand.