One of the bedrocks of workplace safety is to have written health and safety rules, procedures, policies, manuals, etc. But these written documents are no good if your workers can’t read or understand them. Yet employers often either ignore literacy issues in their workplaces or don’t see illiteracy as their problem. Unfortunately, illiterate workers (or those who are new to Canada and thus have weak English and/or French language skills) are at risk if they can’t read or understand your safety policies—and they may endanger other workers as well.

Value of Investing in Literacy

A recent report from the Conference Board of Canada indicates that an overreliance on written safety materials and less attention to literacy training may be putting workers at risk. What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: Literacy’s Impact on Workplace Health and Safety summarizes the results of a two-year research project that examined the impact of literacy skills on workplace health and safety. It outlines the value—including direct and indirect benefits—of investing in literacy with the expected outcome of improving health and safety in the workplace.

Through an online survey, individuals in the labour force, employers, labour organizations and service providers to Aboriginal Peoples and immigrants were questioned about the benefits, costs and other connections between workplace health and safety and low literacy skills among workers. 319 questionnaires were completed by:

• 136 employers, including 4 Workers’ Compensation Boards
• 126 learners
• 26 union representatives
• 19 providers of services to immigrants
• 12 providers of services to Aboriginal Peoples.

Although respondents gave high ratings to the importance of literacy skills in the workplace, training to build these skills wasn’t always available through their workplaces. Responding employers had a much higher level of confidence in workers’ understanding of OHS policies than did any other responding group. Non-employer respondents expressed a higher expectation that literacy skills development opportunities would enhance workers’ understanding of workplace health and safety. Survey respondents also provided examples of health and safety risks and actual incidents in the workplace that they felt were connected to literacy issues.

As part of this research study, 10 Canadian workplace literacy and learning programs were studied and analyzed for positive impacts on workplace health and safety. Each organization’s initiatives were published as models of good workplace literacy practice in standalone case study reports available in the Conference Board’s e-library.

The results of this research demonstrate that workers with low literacy or language skills, who are assisted in improving their skills, are better able to act and react to workplace safety incidents in accordance with approved health and safety measures. They’re also better equipped to understand their own right to refuse work that’s potentially unsafe.

Bottom line: Companies will see health and safety benefits when literacy and/or language skills development is introduced in the workplace.

Click here for a Model Checklist based on recommendations in the report that you can use to create a plan to address literacy issues in your workplace.