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Safety for All!

Protecting the safety of construction and general industry workers is of the highest importance to everyone – workers, business owners, and managers. Are you or your association members at risk?

Challenges:

Workers cannot protect themselves from harm if they haven’t been taught and shown the best practices for reducing their personal risk.
A company cannot protect itself from the high costs of worker injury or litigation if it does not provide authorized safety training to its workers…ALL of them.
Many states (NY, NH, CT, MA, RI and others) and cities have required all workers on state or municipal construction projects to have OSHA 10 Hour cards to document their training.
A significant percentage of construction and industrial workers speak Spanish and are of limited English ability to absorb safety training in English

Solution! Language Directions brings authorized OSHA 10 hour training to your plant, school, or building. It is taught in English OR Spanish, in accordance with your schedule, to comply with all federal requirements. The 10-hour course provides basic awareness training on the recognition, avoidance, abatement, and prevention of workplace hazards. The availability of the in-person training by authorized bilingual instructors assures that every worker is protected……and that employer risk is significantly reduced. A 30-hour course, also available, provides a greater depth and variety of training on an expanded list of topics associated with workplace hazards in specific industries.

Affordable! Contact us to talk. Protect current and future construction/industrial employees and give them a competitive employment edge. For business owners, reduce your risk resulting from safety violations and accidents in the workplace.

27September2017

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Articles

Safety Through Understanding

“PUSH” and “PULL” are both four letter English words and begin with the same two letters. If a worker does not read English, he or she has only 50% chance of making the correct choice. Making the wrong one can cause an error or even a serious injury with the result of costly down time, increased insurance costs, and possibly even litigation. Most languages, including Spanish, have two completely separate words for PUSH and PULL and they don’t look or sound anywhere near the same. Lead to confusion for the immigrant worker? You bet! Everyone knows that safety training is required, but how many are aware of the consequences of providing essential protection and safety training exclusively in English?

In 2006, fatal work injuries involving Latino workers reached the highest level ever recorded for Latino workers. According to government sources, the fatality rate for civilian foreign-born Hispanic workers in 2006 was 6.0, or 50 percent higher than the rate of all workers. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA at the time noted that “far too many Latino workers have needlessly lost their lives just trying to earn a living and it must stop.”

To be sure, most companies are careful to provide essential safety training for their workers; Personal Protective Equipment, Fork Lift Safety, Hazardous Materials, First Aid/CPR etc. Typically, OSHA materials are provided in Spanish with class instruction in English or through interpretation. When instruction is not in a language the workers speak, and there is no way to ask questions to clarify content, there is no way to determine how much essential training is understood. This can lead to accidents and errors on the job! Most, however, provide this training in English. Is there any way of truly knowing that everyone really understood and can successfully implement the safety training they ‘’learned?”

On April 29, 2010, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis issued an enforcement memorandum that
directs Department of Labor compliance officers to check and verify that workers are receiving OSHA-required training in a language they understand to conform with the government goal of reducing injuries and illnesses among Latino and other vulnerable workers.

Unfortunately, like many directives, the means for enforcing the directives are often not adequately in place. To save dollars, many employers continue to offer English-only training in the hope that there will be no accidents resulting from misunderstanding. When bilingual training is available, one must measure the additional cost of providing it against the estimated costs of a violation or accident. Many workers can “get along” in English but are unable to grasp sophisticated or technical instruction in their second language. Companies can minimize their risk by assuring that their Spanish speaking workers completely understand essential OSHA and other safety concepts and techniques by providing training in Spanish.

20September2017

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Articles

Fixing the “Communication Equation”

Clear speech = understanding

“I didn’t understand a word he said.”

“I had to replay her voicemail message four times to get her extension, department and name in
order to return the call.”

“He’s brilliant and would be a great hire, but my team won’t be able to communicate with him.”

“I don’t know why I can’t understand people at work. I’ve been learning English since I was 5
years old!”

“I hate having to repeat everything I say. Why can’t they understand me?”

Do any of these concerns resonate with you? Do you get impatient when you speak with an accented person? Is your accent holding you back? It’s frustrating for both sides of the communication equation – speaker and listener – when understanding breaks down. Stereotypes and pre-judgments can be formed when what comes out of your mouth does not reflect the sophistication and knowledge that is in the brain of the speaker. In order for a transmission of information to be successful, the listener must clearly receive, decode, and understand what the speaker is saying. When either or both sides of the equation break down, productive communication suffers immensely, often to the embarrassment of highly successful people.

What makes these things happen? A wide variety of possibilities. Many people do not learn English from someone whose first language is English. They may have learned “accented” English, unaware that there is a difference between how they learned to pronounce words and how they are pronounced correctly. Something as simple as stressing the wrong part of a word or not pronouncing the ends of words can create large pockets of miscommunication between speaker and listener. Additionally, native speakers of American English tend to use many idioms and expressions that refer to American history, sports, or other subjects that are not in the active knowledge of a foreign-born person. For example, “He made a home run with his presentation,” might not be necessarily understood. The equation is unbalanced in favor of the speaker to the disadvantage of the listener. See that polite smile? It’s an indication that the listener is being polite, doesn’t want to indicate non-understanding, and is frantically trying to figure out what you mean. Sound familiar?

The fact is that English is a complicated and difficult language to learn. There are few rules and many exceptions, and pronunciations that make no logical sense when words that look alike can mean different things when pronounced in different ways. Examples: “He refused the refuse” or “It’s time to produce the produce.” There is an entire list of sentences like this that a native US speaker will say easily and without hesitation, but can totally confound a foreign-born English speaker.

A person who has studied English as a Second Language (ESL) for many years and has mastered all official levels of ESL often remains at a lower level of fluency and comfort than a native speaker, thus creating a “gap” of perception and clarity of communication. It is this “gap” that Language Directions can reduce or eliminate with our customized course MAPS (More Americanized Pronunciation and Speaking). The person described above does NOT need another ESL course; he or she can speak, read and write English.

What that person needs is “pronunciation polishing,” help with any remaining grammar issues, assistance with voice quality, and all the other factors which affect his comfort and clarity when speaking American English. Many companies are committing to aggressive diversity hiring initiatives, only to leave many foreign-born employees unsupported with their communication skills. The good news is that communication skills of all types are trainable. A MAPS program for a group or an individual can be transformative to the consistent and overall success of the Communication Equation in the workplace.

20September2017

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Articles

Are English Classes a Practical Fit for Your Business?

In today’s workforce there continues to be a growing number of workers who have emigrated from other countries, and this trend will continue for decades to come. The United States Census Bureau predicts that there will be between 39 and 43 million Spanish speakers in the U.S. by 2020. This number has increased 233% since 1980 and as of 2012 there were 38 million Spanish-speaking people in the U.S. Today, there are fewer and fewer organizations throughout the country that do not have some employee population whose first language is not English. HR Magazine conducted an interview with employers and identified many reasons why English as a Second Language (ESL) programs in the workplace make sense and have a positive impact on the bottom line. Among the most common (findings from study are noted below in bold):

Improve compliance with safety and other policies: What does it cost an employer for each accident on the job, or each employee lawsuit?
Boost worker productivity by improving comprehension: What does it cost when a task must be redone because the worker did not understand instructions…and did not admit it or ask for help?
Ensure that workers understand pay and benefits: What is the cost of misunderstandings resulting in poor morale, performance, and turnover?
Improve customer service: Can you track “ungained business” when a customer hangs up the phone in frustration and calls your competitor instead?
Prevent waste resulting from worker error: What is the cost for each manufacturing error if it gets detected in time…and if it doesn’t?
Enhance communication and relationships among workers and managers: It is well documented that ‘’engaged’’ employees who respect their managers are more loyal to the company and are more productive.
Improve recruitment and retention: Immigrants are known to be hard workers and, contrary to many employers’ beliefs, are more loyal and less likely to leave for more money when their employer has helped them improve their English on the job. Historically they are a fertile recruiting source for additional workers of the same high caliber as well.
Help low-wage workers improve earning and productivity potential: How much does it cost to advertise for, interview and train new managers rather than promote proven and loyal employees who can fill the job?
Plan for future workforce needs. As noted earlier, the number of non-English speaking workers is rising, and will probably continue to do so. Having a plan in place will help to ease any future potential communication barriers.

Comparing the cost of English language training with costs associated with product recalls, lawsuits, error correction, high turnover, non-compliance, it’s clear the benefits of English language training are a good insurance policy for any business.

20September2017

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