Improved Health And Safety Through Workplace Literacy Training

By Author: Workbase
Total Articles: 17
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The cost of not complying with health and safety regulations and the cost of lost time due to injuries at work is an issue for most businesses.


Importantly, health and safety can be dramatically improved through incorporating literacy training into workplace practices as recent analysis of the effects of Workplace Literacy training shows.
Following a literacy training programme at Fletcher Aluminum and Selecon, carried out by Workbase, time lost through injury improved by 69% and 41% respectively.



Common to both businesses were gaps in employees’ communication skills to fully understand and implement their health and safety systems.


Fletcher Aluminium is a business unit of the Fletcher Building Group. Its site includes a 2000 metric tonne press where aluminium is extruded at 500ºC, and two surface finishing plants where corrosive chemicals are used. Fletcher Aluminium’s HR Manager reported “Lost time due to injuries has reduced to zero. We haven’t had a lost time injury ...
... in over three years. Three years after the literacy training programme started, there is a greater awareness of company values and an understanding of safety. As a result of the literacy training programme, we know our staff now understand safe job practices and can take responsibility for continuously working safely.”

Selecon is a manufacturer of lighting equipment primarily for the entertainment industry and is now part of Philips Lighting Entertainment division. Selecon recently embarked on a lean manufacturing programme, an integral part of which was health and safety.



Selecon’s literacy training programme has been running for just over a year. Selecon’s Production Manager says, “The literacy programme is tailored to the actual day-to-day requirements that are expected from the participants. This means that we are able to see the gains made directly through the support that the programme offers. Our lost time due to injury has dropped by 41% and absenteeism by 28%.”
Often, the reason why employees do not understand either the need to keep safe or how to keep themselves safe is because they have low literacy skills. They may be able to read their morning paper, but they can’t read a health and safety manual.


In these workplace literacy programmes, Workbase analysed what literacy skills were needed in each of the businesses and training was based on the literacy, numeracy and language skills of the employees involved. In the needs analyses it was evident that many staff did not understand the terminology around health and safety procedures, how to identify hazards or to describe what to do.

About The Author:


Workbase is New Zealand's most experienced service provider of adult literacy, numeracy and communication support. Find out more at www.workbase.org.nz