Lessons in many languages can boost workplace safety.

For most U.S. employees, on-the-job safety training in English works well. But for about 32 million others, English is a poorly comprehended second language and the message on safe work practices and job hazards may not be getting through.

According to the most recent Census, the top 10

"For many of these non-English-speaking workers, training programs presented in English are only minimally effective. They are often placed at risk on the job," explains Michele Gonzalez Arroyo, a safety trainer in the Labor Occupational Health Program at the University of California, Berkeley. Arroyo has used Spanish to teach more than 2,500 workers about California's requirements for hazard communication and hazardous waste handling.

Communicating safety instructions effectively in more than one language is a continuing problem, that's not always acknowledged. The federal government recommends, but does not require, bilingual safety information and training. Only one state, California, requires clear communication of safety information. Also complicating the problem are lower educational levels of some members of the non-English-speaking population. Arroyo says that in her classes, she finds a high percentage of workers with lower literacy skills because many have not had the advantage of a U.S. education.

PRACTICAL APPROACHES FILL A NEED

Several companies, safety associations and outreach programs are taking practical and creative approaches to meeting the needs of employees who speak foreign languages by providing safety instructions and training materials in their native languages.

Safety training often begins with simple job instructions from a supervisor or co-worker who knows the second language and uses it to help break in the new employee on the job. The employer may then convert written safety training materials from English to one or more other languages, hitting key points from the original English lesson plan.

Trainers usually start with a session in English followed by training in a second, third or fourth language. One Connecticut manufacturer presented hazard communication training in English, followed by a session in Spanish using a Spanish voice-over of the training film. Next came sessions translated by supervisors and co-workers into Polish, then Hungarian, for other employees.

Translated materials are often scaled-down versions of English materials that include the translation of key terms or phrases. The New York State Health Department has taken a realistic approach to deciphering complex information often found on Material Safety Data Sheets by reducing the information to generic terms and providing the sheets in both English and Spanish.

Safety outreach programs. In addition to employers, several state safety associations and outreach programs have jumped in to fill the breach with safety training and materials in multiple languages. These languages include Vietnamese and Laotian on the West Coast; French in the Northeast; Portuguese, Hungarian and Polish for pockets of recent immigrants in factories of the Northeast and Midwest; and Spanish in many parts of the country.

Some examples of safety programs include the following:

* The state safety association in Texas has trained more than 1,000 Spanish-speaking workers in basic safety procedures required in the oil and gas industries.

* The outreach program at the University of California at Berkeley now has a request to train Chinese-speaking workers in the metal plating industry.

* Immigrant self-help groups, such as the Asia-Pacific Environmental Network and the Asian Immigrant Women's Advocacy in California, have extended their mission by offering basic training programs in hazard communication for members.

* Union-supported Committees on Occupational Safety and Health around the country offer basic safety training in many languages.

Companies with bilingual programs. Aurora Packing Co. in North Aurora, Ill., offers safety training in Spanish in new-employee orientation sessions, says Michael J. Fagel, human resource and safety director. Half of the company's 160 employees are Spanish-speaking, and bilingual training programs cover OSHA's hazard communication standard, safe use of hand knives, forklift safety, and the correct way to wear personal protective equipment. Aurora found it most effective to develop its own training materials in-house with help from supervisors and Spanish-speaking employees.

"Our managers try very hard to communicate with their employees in whatever language is needed - the word training is overdone and effective training should be called 'communication and understanding,'" Fagel comments.

The safety training industry has tried to assist the population with greatest need-Spanish-speaking workers - with video voice-overs, training materials and employee booklets prepared in Spanish. But for employers wanting to convert English-based training materials into other languages, it's mainly a do-it-yourself effort at the local plant.

Cindy Lavado, human resource manager at the Taylor and Fenn Foundry in Windsor, Conn., speaks Portuguese fluently as well as English and serves as a translator and interpreter in leading the safety activities at the 230-employee facility. She translates safety training materials into Portuguese, then presents the training in both languages.

Most French-translated safety training takes place in the logging industry in the northeast. Michael St. Peter, program manager of Maine's Certified Logging Professional program, offers safety training in English and French to some 35 woodlands companies as part of their certification training programs. One-third of the more than 1,300 persons who have completed the program are French immigrants from Canada; they are instructed in chain saw safety, dangers in mechanical harvesting, hazardous chemical substances, and first aid at remote logging sites.

REINFORCING TRAINING ON THE JOB

After the trainer presents a program, what kind of follow-up mechanisms are used to ensure that the classroom training sticks and is actually practiced on the job? Supervisory follow-up is the principal method for some companies. At Aurora Packing Co., supervisors participate in the same training as their workers so they know what to look for in terms of unsafe work practices, says HR manager Fagel.

In the logging industry, a two-hour certification interview is held with all job candidates to see if they understand work-practice elements in the potentially dangerous tree felling and cutting business. Every other year, the safety trainers do a follow-up inspection of work sites to assess safety conditions and safe work practices.

Spanish trainer Arroyo says her client companies in California are usually small, locally owned businesses. As a follow-up to the training, she recommends methods to management for reducing hazards or changing work practices. She maintains contact with employers to see that recommendations are carried out.

SAFETY TRAINING TIPS

To help bridge the language gap, bilingual trainers advise emphasizing the visual aspects of material with simple words and phrases used in supporting text. Comprehension of safety and health materials can be improved by taking the focus off reading and speaking; instead, trainers suggest the following:

* Use line drawings, sketches and photographs to emphasize key points in the text.

* Use examples with videos or photographs taken on the job.

* Use real-life examples of accidents at the workplace.

* Incorporate safety signs and symbols from your workplace in the training presentation.

* Have relevant materials translated into the second language, keeping technical jargon to a minimum and matching key English words with a side-by-side translation to the other language.

* Develop materials with English on the lefthand page and the second language on the right, so that trainees can quickly cross-reference words in both languages.

* Use the "buddy system" for training new hires on the job, with a supervisor, job instructor or safety committee member who speaks the employee's language and can communicate instructions clearly.

* Choose safety and health trainers who can speak the workers' native language. Michele Arroyo advises: "Train in the native language rather than using simultaneous translation, if at all possible. Simultaneous translation is much slower and does not allow as much interaction with participants."

RELATED ARTICLE: Federal and State Safety Training Measures

Federal OSHA does not specifically require training in languages other than English but tells its field staff (Instruction CPL 2-2.38 C): "If employees must receive job instructions in a language other than English, then (safety) training and information will probably also need to be conducted in a foreign language."

At the state level, a 1991 California law mandated that companies doing business there clearly communicate occupational safety and health issues to their employees. To help meet this need, California's occupational safety and health agency offers basic safety material in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Arabic.

Federal OSHA and several state safety agencies have provided training materials and basic employee information booklets on the federal Hazard Communication Standard in Spanish. The federal agency regularly makes grants to employer associations, labor unions and state safety associations to develop safety training materials in foreign languages. In September 1995, for example, OSHA granted $95,000 to the West Texas Safety Center in Midland, Texas, to develop a small business safety and health guide and teach managers and supervisors how to conduct safety training with programs and materials provided in English and Spanish.

In Washington, D.C., the Carpenters union received a grant of $205,000 to train 1,260 persons in fall protection, with some training presented in Spanish.

Neville C. Tompkins, SPHR, is a safety and health consultant and trainer in Cedar Run, N.J., and a member of SHRM's national committee on safety, occupational health and security.