Communication is
essential for a safe working environment. Now that the number of nationalities on the
warehouse floor is increasing, companies can no longer assume that
everyone is proficient in Dutch. Companies that manage this effectively can
avoid accidents and, consequently, the time-consuming and costly fallout.
The fact that language differences can lead to workplace accidents
was scientifically proven as early as 1994. Research into migrants who had come to
Australia and did not speak English showed that
they were twice as likely to suffer a fatal
accident than Australian workers. In the first year after migration, the
risk of a fatal accident is as much as 3.9 times higher.
Since the 1994 study, language differences in the workplace have only
grown. Warehouses make extensive use of temporary workers
from Eastern and Southern European countries. In some cases, this can even extend to warehouses with
twenty different nationalities. At 9 per cent of companies, there are currently
people who do not have a sufficient command of the Dutch language: disastrous for a safe
working environment.
Language differences in the workplace
Many companies are responding to the internationalisation of
the working environment by providing safety instructions in several languages. They
often translate instructions into English, German or Polish. Due to the growing
number of nationalities, this selection is increasingly proving insufficient. What
the best approach, then? Providing the instructions in the mother tongue of all employees?
The Global Work Talk website (www.global-work-talk.eu)
can serve as a guide here. It contains information and tips on dealing
language differences in the workplace. Founder Jeanette Paul advises
to first identify the language differences. Do not base your approach on the
nationality of the staff, but on the languages they speak or
write. After all, someone of Belgian nationality may speak Flemish, Walloon or
German. It is also important to ask which language is spoken at home
. It may well be that migrants do not speak their mother tongue at home
and therefore have a poorer command of it than they used to. Only once the
language differences are clear cann a solution be considered
a solution. That solution does not necessarily have to involve translating
the safety instructions, but may also involve offering
language training.
Low literacy
Another area of concern is low literacy among
staff. Safety instructions must be written in clear language
. If this is not the case, it can lead to misunderstandings in warehouses that employ
unskilled staff. Even if employees come from the Netherlands
, this does not automatically mean that their command of the language is sufficient.
Solutions for low literacy in the workplace can be
available on the website www.taalwerkt.nl, an
initiative of the Reading & Writing Foundation and the Labour Foundation. The
website offers tips, solutions and practical examples to help
and to make it a topic of discussion. At www.taalmeter.nl and www.nederlandsetaaltest.nl
you’ll find online tools that enable organisations to quickly and easily identify
which employees have difficulty with reading and writing.
Visual language
Finally, don’t forget that there is a language that all staff
understand: visual language. Research from the
University of Glasgow. The study showed that staff who spoke English
as a second language remembered safety instructions better when
visual aids. Illustrations, photographs or pictograms can
clarify safety instructions. Everyone knows that a blue sign with a
white arrow indicates one-way traffic. Similarly, photographs featuring a red cross or
a green tick can quickly make it clear what the correct way is to
carry out a particular action.
TOM van Blom – internal transport expert
