Posted By Tracey C Hi All Wonder if somebody could help me on this one. We have just bought a building and taken over the management side of things, some of the staff do not speak any English and to the point they cannot read numbers. These staff are maintenance and cleaners, we have to physically take them to the rooms we want cleaning as they get very confused. I have been asked to train them on safety!! Do we have any legal obligation to bring in interpreters and is there a standard English test they can take so we can bench mark their language abilities. Thank you in advance. T

Posted By Paul Leadbetter Tracey You have a legal obligation to provide information, instruction and training. While there may be HSE information available in the appropriate language, you still need to provide instruction and training as well; an interpreter may be the only option. You may also need to provide a supervisor with appropriate language skills. Paul

Posted By Brett Day I know of one contractor (construction related) who in addition to dual signage on site and an interperter for inductions and tool box talks got together with the local adult education college and sponsored basic english classes for the workforce.

Posted By Bill01 It might be worth bearing in mind, that if you use interpretors that information is not lost in translation. Some sort of test to get an idea of whether the message has got through or not may be appropriate. Photographs showing PPE required are can convey the message without the need for words. Regards.