Accident was 'a language warning'
AN accident that saw a Teesside firm fined last week for failing to protect a foreign worker who could not understand English instructions, should stand as a warning to others who hire migrant labour, said the Health and Safety Executive.
Between two and three million migrant workers are thought to have arrived in the UK looking for a job within the past five years. As many as 700,000 of the 1.5 million to 2.5 million that remained during the recession are believed be here illegally. According to Jeremy Bevan, senior policy advisor with the HSE for vulnerable workers, however, basic grasp of English is often woefully inadequate for following even the simplest health and safety warning signs and procedures.
The Baked Snack Company at South Bank was fined £2,400 after a Pakistani mixing operative suffered serious injuries to his hand when it became trapped while cleaning the cooling conveyor. Following the case, local inspector Peter Bruno said the company had failed to make sure he understood what was expected of him.
The case brings a chilling reminder of the cockle pickers’ tragedy in 2004 when 21 Chinese labourers drowned in Morecambe Bay.
Mr Bevan said failure to communicate the hazardous conditions in the bay and failure to understand the cockle pickers’ fateful mobile phone call, which repeated the words “sinking water” almost certainly contributed to loss of life.
Most of the accidents he was called to took place in small and medium sized companies, which did not have a communications policy in place, but there was plenty of help and free downloadable guidance available, he said.
“It is the case that smaller firms lack the expertise in health and safety and often they are reluctant to contact us if they have already got themselves into a bit of a stew, not recognising we are there to give people advice - we are not there to close them down.
