Protecting migrant workers
December 1st 2007 Managing the health and safety of workers whose
first language is not English can present some
challenges. With an estimated 23 000 migrant
workers among its workforce, in 2004 the food and
drinks industry joined forces to produce some guidance
for employers on this issue. The resulting document,
"Working Safely in a Multicultural Food and Drink
Industry," is now regularly updated and has proved
invaluable to employers in the industry, explains Naeema
Choudry of Eversheds LLP
Employers have an obligation under the relevant health and
safety legislation to provide all of their workers with
information, training and supervision in an understandable
form irrespective of their literacy, mother tongue or national
origins.
There is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that many
migrant workers are not able to communicate in English and
have to rely on colleagues to relay important health and
safety messages. These colleagues themselves may have
limited English language abilities which may make training
and communication difficult in the working environment.
Also of concern to employers is that if questioned by the
Health and Safety Executive they may find it difficult to
demonstrate that any training or instruction provided to
workers has been understood.
While much attention may be given to migrant workers it
is important to bear in mind that even the indigenous
population has differing literacy skills and their needs
should be borne in mind when complying with health and
safety legislation.
In addition, the law requires that employers should not
discriminate against workers (this would include employees,
agency workers and casual workers) on a variety of grounds
including race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origins
or religion. Accordingly, simply stating that workers should
have a certain standard of English, for example, GCSE
English, may expose an employer to a claim for
discrimination and potentially unlimited compensation
unless the employer can show that such a requirement was
justified in particular circumstances. It should be
remembered that a claim for discrimination can be brought
at any stage of the employment relationship including
recruitment.
Accordingly, if an employer makes assumptions about an
individual's language abilities and turns a migrant worker
down for employment it could be exposed to a claim.
Basic information checks
At the same time the immigration rules set out the
specific circumstances under which migrant workers may
undertake paid employment in the UK. This legislation
requires employers to carry out basic document checks of
all its workers to ensure that they have permission to work
in the UK. A failure to do could expose employers and
managers to fines of up to £5,000 if it subsequently
transpires that they have been employing illegal workers.
These rules are set to become more stringent in 2008.
Separate rules apply to the employment of workers from
some East European countries such as Poland, Hungary and
the Czech Republic. | 
