We can admit that our North American labor force is getting more and more diverse. While Canada and the U.S. both use English as a primary language, there are people from all different countries and cultures who have had to learn English as a second or even a third language to be able to assimilate into society. And English is one of the most difficult languages for a non-native speaker to learn to write, read and understand.

[Image courtesy of romana klee from Flickr via a Creative Commons license]English is a very important language in international business, but there is a fair percentage of the workforce that does not speak English at all – especialy workers from Latin American countries. And these workers, due to language barriers, are often at higher risk of workplace incidents or injuries.

And while we all love to think that foreign workers come here prepared, many of them get their work permits or guest-worker visas and without a reasonable grasp of the English language, often relying on immersion in America or Canada to learn English “on the fly,” as it were. Well think about the challenges that could be presented if a non-native speaker comes to your workplace without a good foundational understanding of English.

Workers from Central and South American countries like Panama, Guatemala, Colombia, Argentina and the like, are often just happy to be in America and have a job to earn some wages and make an honest living for themselves and their families. But if they are not prepared with English laguage training before they come to Phoenix or Dallas or Victoria or Edmonton, they will often be at high risk for an incident and possible injury on the job in their first few weeks if you do not accommodate instructions and job training in Spanish.

This may not surprise too many people, but a recent study by the Center for Construction Research and Training indicated that construction workers of Hispanic backgrounds are at a higher risk of suffering a fatal injury on the worksite than non-Hispanic workers. This is based on a conclusion that the ratio of such injuries among Hispanic workers is greater than the ratio  of Hispanic workers in the workforce. It is estimated that one in five construction workers are of Hispanic descent, with about 7 percent of the total workforce has Spanish as its only language. Do you have projects that involve 15 or more people? Chances are then that you have at least three people in that group who are Hispanic, and at least one who only knows a language other than English.

There is help on the way if you find that you need to rely on the skills of your Hispanic workers to get a project done and you want to reduce  their incident risks. First, the U.S. Department of Labor has renewed agreements with several Latin American countries (you can read about this here) to provide information about U.S. wages, labor laws and health and safety regulations in consulates and embassies that potential workers from those countries can know before they work in the U.S. or Canada. Of course, those resources are available in English as well as in their native language.

If you have workers already on your work site so that consulates and embassies are not really not an option, you can direct them to the Center for Construction Research and Training (visit the website) or provide Spanish-language resources from the Center such as hazard alert cards, safety videos, a Day Laborer’s health and Safety Workbook and trainer’s guide, just as a few examples.

Remember that one of the keys with any incident that happens is that you and your company exercise due diligence and take reasonable measures in order to mitigate risks of injury or accidents. And making efforts to bridge the language gap would certainly go a long way toward securing that reasonable effort and due diligence outcome.