Employers can manage risks by following the risk management process.
Ways employers can manage work health and safety (WHS) risks to migrant and multicultural workers:
Communication: find out how workers prefer to communicate (e.g. preferred languages, ability to understand written and spoken English, and considering cultural differences such as whether making eye contact signals attention or is disrespectful).
Consultation: communicate and consult in multiple ways (e.g. face-to-face, anonymous options if workers may be unwilling to speak out, use translators or ask bilingual workers to assist).
Cultural and religious considerations: consider asking workers how their cultural or religious practices may impact workers’ safety and manage the WHS risks (e.g. whether beards or headdress may impact some work tasks, providing more breaks or reallocating physically demanding tasks if workers are fasting).
Manage exposure to risks: identify whether some workers may be more likely to be exposed to particular hazards and how you could manage the WHS risks (e.g. migrant and multicultural workers are more likely to be exposed to harmful behaviours such as racist comments, or workers on the night shift may be exposed to different risks to those on the day shift).
Encourage reporting of WHS issues: ensure workers know how to raise WHS concerns and where to go for help with safety issues at work (e.g. their health and safety representative or a supervisor). Encourage workers to raise issues as this will contribute to a culture of talking about safety. Be aware some workers may come from cultures where a fear of speaking up may discourage reporting. Be clear to workers that there will be no punishment for speaking up about safety.
Tailored instructions: ensure WHS policies, procedures, training and instructions are accessible to all workers (e.g. provide diagrams of how to safely carry out common tasks or consider using translated materials).
Ensure workers understand the instructions and training provided (e.g. correct unsafe practices, ask workers questions and have them demonstrate tasks to check they can competently follow safety procedures).
Ensure training is specific to the tasks workers will do (e.g. show workers how to use equipment safely rather than telling them to “use the equipment safely”) and actively supervise workers who are new to a task.
Review control measures: regularly review control measures to ensure they are effective so far as reasonably practicable, and that they do not introduce new WHS risks (e.g. if a bilingual worker is helping to support other workers, their workload may need to be modified to manage high job demands).