He argues that illiteracy is an underestimated problem for safety in industry in both the Netherlands and abroad.
To sum up, concern for the safety and wellbeing of migrant workers seems warranted, a notion that was also expressed at a European symposium on the subject held in Brussels in January.
This symposium was chaired by Professor Sonja McKay, who some years previously had led a fairly extensive study for the UK HSE (Health and Safety Executive) amongst 200 migrants .
This study summarises the conclusions of sevral other studies succinctly .
Migrant workers usually are for a relatively short period of time present in the country where they work.
They also have little or no knowledge of the safety and health provisions in this country.
Their experiences with these provisions may vary (greatly).
The motivation of migrant workers is usually to earn in a short time as much money as possible.
Their ability to interact with other employees and/or supervisors to communicate risk and safety effectively are quite limited.
Migrant workers are often not given the opportunity to follow a safety training course.
When the possibility for training exists, they have great difficulty in understanding the training when it is not supplied in their native language.
There is often much negligence on the part of employers to verify the job skills of migrant workers and their language skills.
The working relationship and responsibilities for Health & Safety between the migrant worker and his employer are unclear, particularly where migrants work through an employment agency or labour brokers or are selfemployed.
Finally, workers have insufficient knowledge about their rights in the area of H & S, how they could make their concerns known and through which channels this should take place.