Your workforce
If you employ a multilingual, multicultural workforce or if you have deaf employees you need to be aware of the factors that could affect effective communication.
By addressing the skills needed to wholly integrate your workforce you will ensure that barriers to communication, embarrassing situations and potential dangers are avoided.
Health and Safety
Health and Safety Guide for Workers - the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) offers a guide entitled 'Your health, your safety - a guide for workers' available to download from their website ( PDF format) in 24 different languages including Arabic, Chinese, Polish, Punjabi, Turkish and Ukranian.
Download guides from HSE website 
Telephone interpreting service - also offered by the HSE and covering over a hundred different languages. To use the service, contact Infoline on 0845 345 0055, and tell the operator which language you wish to speak. The operator will then arrange for an interpreter to be connected into the telephone line within a minute or so, and you will be able to continue your enquiry in your own language.
Find out more about telephone interpreting service
Deaf Employees
British Sign Language - If you employ deaf workers you should consider using a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter in meetings or other situations where information needs to be shared in English. Alternatively you could train one or two other employees in BSL and get them to act as a mentor/translator to the deaf employee.
The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) can offer you further information and support, including details of training courses in BSL.
Visit the RNID website
The Council for Advancement of Communication with Deaf People (CACDP) also offers information and details on a wide range of nationally accredited qualifications.
Visit the CACDP website
Cultural diversity
The Civil Service has produced a booklet entitled 'Cultural Diversity: a resource booklet on religious and cultural observance, belief, language and naming systems' which can be downloaded in pdf format from their website.
Download booklet (pdf 275 KB)
Embracing Cultural Diversity - B&Q have produced this very thorough leaflet on cultural diversity in the workplace, with brief information on minority ethnic and religious cultures and a calendar of festivals and celebrations.
Download leaflet (pdf 630 KB)
Multicultural-matters.com - this website gives information on festivals and communities within the UK.
Visit Multicultural Matters website
Intercultural competence
Intercultural competence enables you to interact both effectively and in a way that is acceptable to others when you are working in a group whose members have different cultural backgrounds. A framework of competences can be found at the INCA project website.
Visit INCA project website
Sectors/Case Studies
Language in the Construction industry: Communicating with Second Language Speakers - this report, published in March 2004, provides a snapshot of how native English speakers and second language speakers communicate in the workplace, identifies good practice and suggests how the construction industry might continue to promote effective operational communications in the context of health and safety.
Read the full report
Resources
The following 'How to...' guides are available to download from our website in pdf format. Alternatively, please contact us to request hard copies:
Intercultural skills
How to work with BSL interpreters
Foreign language training
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