INVESTIGATION into HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN OVERCOME LANGUAGE BARRIERS EXPERIENCED by CONSTRUCTION WORKERS from EASTERN Europe on SITES in LONDON

Construction sites are dynamic, complex work environments where safety, quality of work and productivity are all key metrics for the success of a project. In a complex environment the ability to communicate and for the communication to be translated in to effective and efficient actions is critical, therefore on construction sites in London, the ability to speak and understand English is of paramount importance. With the number of foreign workers in the construction industry on the rise in the United Kingdom (UK) a significant proportion of the construction workforce have very little or no English. These non-English speaking workers face many issues daily, for example the ability to communicate effectively on site and also have problems in the longer term regarding integrating into the workplace. From a Health and Safety (H&S) perspective, of the 16 migrant/foreign workers that suffered fatal injuries in construction in 2016, four died on the first day and 50% died within the first 10 days on site. The research presented in this paper is a pilot study to investigate the impact of poor language skills on site and focuses on a subgroup of foreign workers, namely those from Romania, and looks at the use of a simple assistive technology to help reduce the problem. The researcher, fluent in both Romanian and English conducted interviews with site managers and Romanian workers on 3 London construction sites to establish the level of English-speaking ability and how foreign workers viewed the Site Induction Process (SIP). The responses showed that SIP is seen by the workers as something that has to be done, a tick-box exercise that adds no value since they cannot understand the content. Due to the poor English-speaking ability of workers, instructions are primarily conveyed through demonstrations so a significant amount of time is wasted on site as instructions, comments and signage must be translated constantly, with cultural gatekeepers regularly called upon to translate and interpret. This was shown when workers were instructed to complete simple tasks by an English-speaking manager with and without the use of assistive technology to translate, and workers performance gauged in terms of health and safety, the time taken, the involvement of other people and whether the task was completed. The results from this pilot study indicated the value of Google Translate as an assistive technology on site for workers with a low ability to speak English, potentially adding value to both the SIP and the ability to follow instructions and complete tasks.