{"id":15,"date":"2010-11-02T18:17:11","date_gmt":"2010-11-02T18:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lawsafety.wordpress.com\/?p=15"},"modified":"2010-11-02T18:17:11","modified_gmt":"2010-11-02T18:17:11","slug":"osha-steps-up-enforcement-of-worker-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/?p=15","title":{"rendered":"OSHA Steps Up Enforcement of Worker Training"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From BLR.com Safety Daily Advisor:<\/p>\n<p><strong>OSHA has stepped up enforcement of worker training requirements, especially for non-English-speaking workers. OSHA says employers have to provide training in a format these workers understand.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>OSHA&#8217;s requirement that training be comprehensible to employees is nothing new. What is new, however, is the enforcement angle. Says Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, &#8220;OSHA compliance officers will verify not only that training has been provided, but that it was provided in a format that workers being trained can understand.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>An OSHA memorandum provides examples of what is required:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>If an employee does not speak or comprehend English, training must be provided in a language the employee does understand.<\/li>\n<li>In the case of an employee with a limited vocabulary, the training must account for that limitation.<\/li>\n<li>If an employee is not literate, an employer will not satisfy its training obligation by telling the employee to read training materials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8220;As a general matter,&#8221; says the memo, &#8220;employers are expected to realize that if they customarily need to communicate work instructions or other workplace information to employees at a certain vocabulary level or in a language other than English, they will need to provide safety and health training to employees in the same manner.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While meeting this requirement may present difficulties and extra costs, it can also improve safety performance and reduce the risk of accidents. Employees who don&#8217;t understand safety instructions or safety training information are much more likely to have accidents and be injured on the job.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What to do<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are many ways you can comply with OSHA&#8217;s training requirements if you employ non-English-speaking workers or workers with limited English skills.<\/p>\n<p>For employees who speak no English, use a translator to assist during training sessions. A bilingual employee could do the job, or you could hire a qualified individual from the community.<\/p>\n<p>When training employees with some English, instruct trainers to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Speak slowly, explain fully, and repeat important points several times.<\/li>\n<li>Choose the simplest words. If trainers need to use technical terms, they should always define them clearly and check for understanding.<\/li>\n<li>Demonstrate while they speak and use visual aids, such as pictures and props, to supplement verbal explanations.<\/li>\n<li>Encourage participation in discussions. Trainers need to be patient and help trainees express thoughts and questions.<\/li>\n<li>Have trainees practice new skills and procedures during the training session so that trainers can see that trainees have understood.<\/li>\n<li>Use feedback to confirm comprehension.<\/li>\n<li>Allow plenty of extra time for questions.<\/li>\n<li>Provide handouts in the language trainees speak and read.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You should also be sure to follow up training on the job to make sure employees have understood and correctly applied training points.<\/p>\n<p>As an extra precaution, team non-English-speaking workers with bilingual co-workers, if possible. If not, team them with willing English-speaking workers. This can both help non-English speaking workers develop English skills and decrease the risk of accidents. This is especially important with illiterate employees who can&#8217;t read warning signs, safety instructions, and so on.<\/p>\n<p>For all your training needs, contact L.A.W. Construction Safety Consultants today! 770.880.1487<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From BLR.com Safety Daily Advisor: OSHA has stepped up enforcement of worker training requirements, especially for non-English-speaking workers. OSHA says employers have to provide training in a format these workers understand. OSHA&#8217;s requirement that training be comprehensible to employees is nothing new. What is new, however, is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/law-safety.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}