Construction Forecast Issue Home

March 30, 2000

Contractors tackle language barriers for safety's sake

There's no universal language in construction: employers are responsible for communicating safety rules to non-English speaking workers.

By LISA LANNIGAN
Journal staff reporter

Do you know how to give safety instructions in Spanish? You, or someone on your construction site, may need to.

A booming construction market often means a lot of work and not enough qualified, skilled laborers. But contractors are finding a wealth of qualified workers -- if they can provide information in foreign languages.

"It's getting much more common," said Carolyn Ivey, human resources manager for W.G. Clark Construction of Seattle. "They're great workers."

Ivey said that in many subcontractor areas, such as drywall, a Spanish-speaking worker will have a friend or relative in the industry to show them around and help them get beyond the language barrier. "A lot of our subcontractors have a foreman who is bilingual," she said.

W.G. Clark also offers incentives for workers to learn English. "We strongly encourage them to take English as a second language," Ivey said.

Jennifer Richards, safety director at W.G. Clark, said they use a translator to interpret the weekly safety meetings into Spanish. "We pay the translator. We never charge our client," Richards said. And, though translating instructions may take a while and be more expensive, Richards says it's definitely worth it.

"You're seeing more and more of the trades flooded with Hispanic workers," Richards said. W.G. Clark has even hired a bilingual consultant to answer questions Spanish-speaking workers may have about benefits.

It's also becoming important to have someone on-site who speaks Spanish for safety reasons.

"One of the biggest factors is industrial hygiene hazards," Richards said.

Unlike a fire or fall hazard, where you can point to the problem, issues like lead paint safety need to be explained. "We have to protect the workers from lead exposure," Richards said. "It's tougher to communicate, because it's not visual."

John Spear, assistant regional administrator for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said it's up to the employer to provide safety information, regardless of language.

"The OSHA standards themselves do not speak specifically to any training being conducted in a foreign language," Spear said. "But the regulations are that the employee be trained."

OSHA does offer several of its informational pamphlets and booklets in Spanish, Spear said. "It's an issue that we address, and probably not well enough," he said. "It certainly can be a problem."

Kathleen Garrity, executive director of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington, said the organization provides instructional resources in Spanish, but that doesn't always cover the need. "There are other countries as well," Garrity said of the immigrants making their way onto local construction sites. "There are a significant number of Russian immigrants."

Garrity remembered one particular employer who was looking for foreign-language materials, "I said 'We have resources in Spanish,' and he said 'These are Ethiopians!'"

She says the ABC is looking for more resources in a variety of languages to help its members. "We have to become more open to training and supervising in a language other than English," she said. "They're good workers, we just have this language hump."

That hump may be bigger than just providing instructions in other languages.

"What if you are yelling 'fire' or 'danger' or something urgent? People need to know those words," Garrity said. "I don't know how to say 'watch it' in Ethiopian."

Richards says that, while the need at her work sites seems to be predominately Spanish, "I am seeing where, for some of our contractors, there's a need for Russian and Korean."