A Safe and Welcoming Workplace for Newcomers

Ashley: Hello and welcome to Health and Safety to Go, a podcast from the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. Immigrants help drive every sector of Canada’s economy, and when entering the workforce here, they face a number of unique challenges. Here to discuss how workplaces can create safer, more welcoming environments for newcomers is Bill Chen, a dedicated workplace health and safety professional with Workplace Safety & Prevention Services. Understanding firsthand the challenges and vulnerabilities many face when entering the Canadian workforce for the first time, Bill has collaborated extensively with settlement agencies and local community groups, leading innovative “train the trainer” programs that empower staff to deliver accessible, multilingual health and safety training. His expertise has helped hundreds of new Canadians understand their rights as workers, recognize workplace hazards, and gain the confidence to participate in creating safer, more inclusive environments. Bill, thanks for being here.

Bill: It’s great to be here.

Ashley: Tell us a little about the work you do at Workplace Safety and Prevention Services.

Bill: WSPS is a not-for-profit organization offering health and safety expertise and resources to protect Ontario workers and businesses. We support the agricultural, manufacturing, and service sectors, and they employ more than 4.2 million people throughout the province. My job is to reach out and provide free resources to small businesses, business groups, settlement agencies and social services organizations. I also take the lead on our Settlement Agency Train-The-Trainer program, which has us working with settlement agencies across Ontario and providing free health and safety training to their newcomer clients. For newcomers, they are equipped with basic health and safety awareness and knowledge and understand they duties and rights as workers and how to protect themselves and their coworkers in the workplace. Also, on completion they receive a training certificate which can help them find a job. For their future employers, our program helps them save money, manpower and time on this mandatory training; for partners, this training is a perfect fit for their employment, language and settlement programs. It is also a great opportunity to improve their internal health and safety managment.

Ashley: That’s great, Bill. It sounds like there are benefits for all the stakeholders involved.

Bill: Absolutely. As you know, many newcomers have language barriers, and that is why we are working with settlement agencies because their staff can speak different languages to serve their newcomer clients. To support the training delivered by those staff, we provide PPT in 11 languages, and they are English, French, Spanish, Ukrainian, Chinese, Panjabi, Farsi, Arabic, Thai, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.

Ashley: That’s great – it’s wonderful that you’re able to meet newcomers where they’re at and get them ready for the workforce here. We’ve talked a bit about language barriers – what are some other challenges faced by workers who are new to Canada?

Bill: One of the challenges that many newcomer workers face is integrating into a new workplace. They will find our health and safety culture quite different from that in their home countries. For example, in Ontario, employer and supervisor must take every precaution reasonable to protect workers, and workers have the right to know about hazards in the workplace, the right to participate in health and safety management, and the right to refuse unsafe work. Especially the right to refuse unsafe work, in many countries workers don’t have this important right. As workers, they also have their duties and responsibilities in health and safety, such as work safely, and report any hazards and risks.

Ashley: Absolutely, it’s so, so important that workers all across Canada be made aware of their three basic rights.

Bill: I also want to talk about the cultural difference and its impact on H&S. Cultural Differences are those variations in cultural traits between cultures. They include languages, religions, codes, customs, cultural mores, and so forth. In the workplace, examples of culture difference can be eye contact, physical space or the way to greet. For example, workers from some cultures don’t kiss or hug their coworkers; some cultures require workers to keep standing when talking with their supervisors. Many newcomer workers have economic pressures. They must support their families here or in their home countries. To keep the job, they may accept less safe work or want to prove themselves and may not ask for help.

Ashley: That makes sense. How can employers and supervisors make workplaces safer and more welcoming for new Canadians?

Bill: First, employer and supervisor should keep in mind their duties and responsibilities in H&S, for example, general duty requirement. Training is very important. According to Workplace Safety & Insurance Board of Ontario, new and young workers are 3 times more likely to be injured in the first month, and a key reason behind the fact is the employer and supervisor fail to provide appropriate training.

Ashley: That’s right. Thorough training is so important, especially for new workers.

Bill: To make newcomer workers feel safe and welcome, our customers have a lot of creative and effective practices, and I am happy to share some: First try to break the ice: talk to the newcomer workers, understand their needs, build up some personal connections and get to know something about their countries and cultures. It helps set communication expectations from the early days of employment, and build trust among employer, supervisors and workers.

Ashley: I love that. A little acknowledgment and consideration goes a long way, regardless of culture.

Bill: Next, try to create a welcoming workplace for newcomers: it’s essential for fostering worker satisfaction, productivity, and retention. Employers should build up a positive and inclusive work environment where every worker feels comfortable, valued, and respected. Educate workers that diversity is a strength in our country and our workplace, and newcomer workers are assets instead of liabilities. Actually, many of them are highly educated or experienced professionals in their home countries. If possible, celebrate some foreign cultural festivals or share holiday blessings in your workplace.

Ashley: And I bet a ripple effect of that is better engagement and morale among even more established workers.

Bill: That’s right. Employers should encourage newcomers to speak up: For those from a culture with strict hierarchy, they might equate ‘speaking up’ with “making trouble” and the consequence can be punishment or even layoff. Sometimes they are afraid of asking “stupid questions”. Employers should tell newcomer workers they are welcome to speak out; they can ask any questions and there are no “stupid questions” in the workplace; talk to them from time to time to see if they are OK or have any issues, especially in the first few months. It’s important to offer reassurance to newcomer workers. Tell them how workers’ rights, violence and harassment policies and reprisal laws are designed to protect them. Make sure this messaging is reiterated frequently at safety meetings, trainings, safety talks, or one-on-one discussions.

Ashley: That makes sense. Even the most experienced workers and supervisors make mistakes or miss important details from time to time.

Bill: Exactly. Another thing employers can do is try to provide training in language of newcomer workers: It’s not easy for newcomer workers to grasp H&S training if it’s not in their native tongue. So, the best solution would be to provide training directly in their native tongue. If you have budget, try to hire a professional to translate the training materials. If not, you can encourage supervisor or experienced workers with foreign language capacity to deliver the training in target languages. Use clear and simple language in health and safety communication: Don’t use jargon, slang or idioms; Avoid using acronyms. I know in health and safety, we have a lot of them, such as WHMIS or IRS. But they may not be familiar to newcomer workers. Use short sentences and active voice. Speak slowly, softly and clearly; smile and ensure you have relaxed body language. Repeat and summarize key points and check for comprehension. We also find CCOHS’ plain language toolkit very helpful.

Ashley: Thank you for that! We talk a lot here at CCOHS (which I realize is also an acronym!) about the importance of using plain, clear language and this is a perfect example of that.

Bill: That’s right. It’s also a good idea to use visuals. We always say a picture is worth a thousand words. Infographics, photos, videos, and diagrams can make your communication easier and more engaging. They can help you attract attention, simplify complex information, illustrate relationships, and evoke emotions. Visual aids can also support your verbal communication by reinforcing, clarifying, or emphasizing key points.

Ashley: All great ideas, Bill. Let’s talk about workers. What are some ways they can make their new-to-Canada colleagues feel welcome?

Bill: Make them feel comfortable and inclusive: break the ice, start friendly conversations by introducing yourselves and introducing them to coworkers; walk them through the workplace; tell them where the lunchroom, washroom, first aid kit, eye wash station, emergency exist are; ask them if they need any help; offer encouragement when they do something great; share their achievement with supervisors and coworkers; celebrate progress together. Be a health and safety model: show them how to work safely by safe practice; tell them the most common hazards in the workplace; tell them how to use PPEs; go through the health and safety checklist before shift; check in regularly to make sure they are OK; share health and safety videos and infographics. Respect cultural differences: show some interests on their countries and cultures; try to learn some basic foreign languages such as “good morning”, “goodbye”, “good job”; spread wishes on their cultural festivals.

Ashley: I love that. Is there anything else you’d like our audience to know?

Bill: I’d love to just offer up our free resources for anyone who’d like to learn more. Worker Safety and Protection Services also has a lot of free resources in foreign languages. On our homepage, we have resources in 6 languages (English, French, Tagalog, Mandarin, Spanish, and Panjabi) for manufacturing sector, we have resources in 4 languages (English, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese) for agriculture sectors. And now we are working on translation of worker and supervisor’s mandatory training into 2 foreign languages (Spanish and Mandarin). If you are employers or supervisors, we also have a lot of training courses for you to understand your duties and responsibilities and build up a safer workplace. We also find that many employers of newcomers are small businesses, and they are struggling with health and safety too. So we developed a resource centre called Small Business Centre. It has a lot of free resources and small business can use them to be legally compliant.

Ashley: Well, thank you very much for being here and sharing your expertise with us, Bill. For more information on workplace health and safety, be sure to visit our website, CCOHS.ca. Thanks for listening and stay safe out there.