Posted By Howard HSE website. Type "Russian" into Search Facility.

Posted By Merv Newman I've worked with some people (north west africa) who don't have a written language. Make it very visual. Lots of photos. Merv

Posted By mark c o'loughlin i am currently doing my msc. in h&s on the topic of communicating safety information to non-nationals in a small construction company in ireland. What i have found most common is the use of the best english speaker in the group as a translator for the rest. The HSE website has a lot of translated material (26 languages as far as i can remember) but another very useful tool i found was a basic construction site safety booklet, with translated signs, in seven languages (mostly eastern european) produced by the irish construction federation, cif.ie. Have done a lot of work on this but i won't bore anyone too much! would be happy to discuss further if it would help. Mark

Posted By IT Lets see if we can stay on subject for this post(meaning not like the lastone that was removed) We have NON English speaking Labor and Supervisors ,when this issue was raised we had English Speaking Workers translate our Toolbox talks and programs ,as pointed out in previous post not always successful, we then translated all toolbox talks ,procedures,policies ,Risk Assessments and Method Statements to ensure the Workers knew exactly what was expected. We were challanged by a site who quoted ENGLISH language only ,we ended the debate after conatcting the HSE ,Construction Confederation etc. Asking the English Speaking person to translate ,can be fraut with danger . IT

Posted By mark c o'loughlin In my defence i was merely pointing out that use of english speaker to translate is one method used in this situation. Believe me i have seen the complexity of dealing with this problem first hand. There is no perfect solution, especially when you dig deeper into the problem and start looking at literacy issues, quality of translated material and true levels of understanding of 'common' languages. The authorities are starting to make headway on the issue with pictogram material etc. but this is limited as the minor issues which spring up on the day are not always covered. The individual site/workplace has to go with the best solution for them - be it translation, pictogram forms or a buddy system for non-english speaking operatives. All the methods for dealing with this language problem have their merits and drawbacks but the simple fact is that this issue is going to grow and grow. The enforcers will have to address it soon. Regarding the initial query, the material is out there in Russian and many other languages but the problem doesn't go away when you get the phrases in place, there are then a host of other issues attached.For example Many migrants can communicate through a common language but can't necessarily read it! If anyone has come across a foolproof system for this communication issue i would love to hear about it.

Posted By IT @Mark , No Need for you to defend yourself ,my post was a general one. we have Chinese,Malaysian,Japanese and Philipino workers and you information on literacy and language is spot on ,I guess I am lucky that some of the various workers speak english and have worked with the various local languages to establish of system. @Frank Agree it is about time the HSE came out of the Closet and addressed the issue PUBLICLY .