Spanish Worker Training
The Spanish-speaking or Hispanic workforce increased 36 percent times faster than other ethnic groups between 1996 and 2006 and will make up more than 15 percent of the U.S. workforce by 2050, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Spanish worker training about safety will help reduce injuries and fatalities for these workers.
OSHA’s Training Language Policy
According to OSHA’s training standards policy statement, if an employee does not speak or comprehend English, instruction must be provided by the employer in a language the employee can understand. Similarly, if the employee's vocabulary is limited, the training must account for that limitation. According to OSHA, an employer's responsibility to provide employees with safety information and training doesn't go away because an employee can't understand standard English-language training programs. When that is the case, employers must inform and train these workers in a language they can understand.
The policy directs OSHA compliance inspectors to determine whether workplace instructions regarding job duties are given in a language other than English. If so, they will also need to provide safety and health training to employees in the same manner. If a reasonable person would conclude that the employer had not conveyed the training to its employees in a manner they were capable of understanding, the violation may be cited by the inspector as serious.
Tips for Spanish Worker Training
Following are some common-sense tips for safety training in a bilingual workforce:
- Establish companywide safety policies for bilingual training supported by top management.
- Hire supervisors who are bilingual.
- Provide signage (safety guidelines, emergency evacuation, warnings) in Spanish and include diagrams or symbols.
- Pair new employees with bilingual veteran employees who comply with safety and health guidelines.
- Conduct periodic jobsite visits and work with employees in the field.
- Follow up formal training with demonstrations, then have employees demonstrate to one another.
- Conduct safety meetings and toolbox talks to reinforce formal training.
ETC Helps Fulfill Spanish Worker Training Requirements
ETC provides Spanish-speaking training courses and testing on many safety topics, including:
- Back safety
- Bloodborne pathogens
- Confined spaces
- Defensive driving
- Emergency Action
- Fire Prevention
- Hazard communication
- Hand protection
- New employee orientation
ETC will automatically track and document individual employee training and test scores to help keep your organization protected during an audit or legal proceedings.
More About Spanish Worker Training
BLR's Spanish Training Resource Center
Training Courses
This online back safety training course in Spanish will help Spanish-speaking employees and employers alike to understand how back injuries occur and how to prevent them. The course highlights proper lifting, load carrying, and unloading techniques and tips to help intelligent thinking about back safety at work. This back safety training course discusses one of the most common workplace injuries and what can be done to help prevent back injuries. The course provides Spanish training on the many
This online sexual harassment training course will teach Spanish speaking employees about sexual harassment in the hope that awareness will help lead to the prevention of such harassment. By the end of this session, employees will have learned to be able to recognize sexual harassment, differentiate between the two main kinds of harassment, understand and follow company policy, and report incidents and cooperate in investigations.
Training Resources
Training topics may include general skills such as literacy, technical skills,orientation about the organization, as well as programs designed to prevent lawsuits, audits,and fines, such as sexual harassment training, safety training, and ethics training.
Here are some specific tips and techniques to help you run an effective training session that accomplishes your goals in an enjoyable and engaging way for everyone involved.
There are numerous methods and materials available to help you prepare and equip employees to better do their jobs. In this article, we take a close look at each of the myriad techniques, and examine their advantages and disadvantages. We also explain how you can combine the various methods into an effective blended learning approach.
Related Training Topics
A growing number of employers are turning to online employee training for a hands-on, interactive way for employees to learn. More economical in both time and money than conventional training, this form of training has become more and more popular as Internet technology has improved.
OSHA believes that computer-based training programs can be used as part of an effective safety and health training program to satisfy OSHA training requirements, provided that the program is supplemented by the opportunity for trainees to ask questions of a qualified trainer, and provides trainee