Thursday, November 5, 2020

Language Barriers In The Workplace

Inspectors keep in mind that it is your responsibility to determine if there are any language barriers within the crew(s) that you are working with. Your first contact in determining this is with the Foreman or Supervisor over the crew. There may be times that you are told everybody understands English and yet you discover it is not true. It is easy to determine if there is a language barrier among the crew(s) when you are making contact with all your crew members during the day. Simple inquiries such as asking how their day is going, what they think of the weather, or if they know of a good place to eat in town.  If it is determined that a barrier exists approach the Foreman one-on-one and discuss rectifying the issue. Make sure the Foreman is assigning someone to interpret for the individual(s) during "tailgate" meetings and any other situations that require verbal communications and affect these people and their work environments. Do not assume these individuals are being informed of the contents of the meeting. Confirm it for yourself. Ensuring these individuals are part of the group's discussion and understand the contents is vital to their safety as well as their coworkers' safety not to mention the quality of work being performed. Do not become complacent with this awareness. The goal here is to make sure everyone who is involved with the day's activities is fully informed and understands what is expected.

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