For some U.S. manufacturers, the plant floor has become a mini United Nations. Their workplaces are populated with employees from several different countries, and for some of those workers English is not their primary language, if they speak it at all.
The diversity of cultures and languages can provide rich learning opportunities among the workforce. However, it also presents challenges in an area in which many manufacturers struggle already: safety. Does putting up safety signage in multiple languages meet the needs of the workforce? Does that worker who understands spoken English have a grasp of the written language? And language aside, what impact might cultural beliefs have on developing a workplace dedicated to safety excellence? Get those answers wrong and the results can be costly.
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| The diversity of cultures and languages can provide rich learning opportunities among the workforce. However, it also presents challenges in an area in which many manufacturers struggle already: safety. |
It is a challenge, admits Michael Topf, owner of Topf Initiatives, an organizational effectiveness training and consulting firm that specializes in safety training. The first steps to meeting the challenge are recognizing that diversity and language differences exist, and then understanding how the differences influence workplace safety, as well as production and quality, he says.
"They are all tied together. The same misinterpretations because of language can produce a poor quality job or get [workers] hurt or sick or pollute the environment," Topf says.
To that end, it is important to provide signage, training and instructions in the languages needed by the workforce. If there is a large population of employees who speak a single language -- Spanish, for instance -- it may make sense to require bilingual skills of a supervisor or lead position to provide adequate communication on an ongoing basis.
