Training with Language Barrier

Hello!

We are working our way towards SQF Certification. I am having a hard time figuring out the best way to go about formally training our employees.

Our company has many employees that speak very little English.They have been with the company for a number of years and of course, set in their ways. We have two supervisors on the floor that we rely on to relay messages since they speak both languages.

I have been posting signs around the production area that are bilingual with pictures (for example, a sign about wearing protective clothing) to help get the message across, they can also be used as reminders and help implement some changes that are extremely needed!! :helpplease:

My question is, what is required to show that training was done? I have a training register and matrix but I am worried that the auditor would want to see something more. One person said to write up a quiz, but I am not sure if this is the best idea? Is it enough to have the employees be trained by the supervisors and then they sign off that they got the training?

I am wondering if anyone else has encountered a similar challenge? Any ideas or advice for going forward?

Thank you!
 

Jenna

Quizs are the easiest way to prove a training has been done and they employee understands the training. Do a simple sheet of the training and the second page has 3 questions with the employees signature and date. 

I agree with larissaj, a quiz is indeed a way to show understanding of the training.  You may also do a observation verification by a Supervisor or trainer but it should be documented pretty thoroughly.  

Hey Jenna,

At our facility (bilingual Spanish/English) we have an on-boarding food safety training (Spanish/English) that covers GMPs, Food Safety, Food Defense, HACCP, SQF and a few other company policies, we have a short quiz that they complete and sign sheets showing that they attended the training and understood the material. Every year we have renewal training where we cover all the same topics with all the employees and we have them sign the same sheets and take the same quizzes. We maintain hard copies of all the sign sheets and quizzes and enter all the data into our training matrix. 

I require that each department submit their training packets, SOPs, and guidelines for review (by the food safety team) prior to approval for training, and maintain records of the latest version of each of those training documents. The other key aspect that I have had auditors question are the sanitation practices for each piece of equipment, line, or work station. Again we train and re-train employees in the same manner as we do food safety, with a written sanitation training SOP and a sign sheet. Auditors have seemed pleased with what we have provided. Just ensure that you don't have employees working in areas or performing tasks where training documentation isn't present. That is to say, they may have been trained, they may know how to perform the duty splendidly, just make sure it's documented.

Hope this helps with your question

For SQF your trainings, training materials, etc. are required to be in the languages understood by your employees.

I had a development client and they had to have their materials, video's, etc in 13 difference languages - makes for a really big hand washing sink sign!

Hi Jenna,

Yes training should be conducted in the language understood by the employees and also training effectiveness must be verified either by simple questionnaire or on the job verification both need to be documented. 

In our factory, we do the following for verifying the training effectiveness.

1. Prepare a simple questionnaire in the language they (employees) understand.

2. Asking questions to each employee.

3. On the job verification. (only for process related training)

All verification are to be documented.

Regards

Mahantesh

Thank you all for your responses, it has been a great help!! :thumbup:

I will definitely use quizzes, I agree that is one of the best ways to show us and the auditor if employees understand the training along with observations to verify they are practising what was taught.

Would you guys recommend having a "Training Manual" that has translated topics related to GMPs, Food Defense etc. ?

Similar to what larissaj said about having them read a sheet and then do a quiz.

I do not want to bombard them with too much paper work/reading but I feel I should have some training materials on hand.

Jenna

Thank you all for your responses, it has been a great help!! :thumbup:

 

I will definitely use quizzes, I agree that is one of the best ways to show us and the auditor if employees understand the training along with observations to verify they are practising what was taught.

 

Would you guys recommend having a "Training Manual" that has translated topics related to GMPs, Food Defense etc. ?

Similar to what larissaj said about having them read a sheet and then do a quiz.

I do not want to bombard them with too much paper work/reading but I feel I should have some training materials on hand.

 

Jenna

A training manual would be nice for your employees to have for reference. Usually plants provide an SOP and/or work instruction manual to their employees, so you should create the same manual for all of your employees who speak various languages. There are computer based training systems which offer translations to various languages. They also can accommodate custom training exercises you create as well. Those are pretty time consuming to create, but worth it in the end.

If you don't have someone on site to translate your documents, you can use services like Fiverr to do written translations or voiceovers. You can translate your documents using Google Translate (but as I'm sure you are aware, you run the risk of oddly translated items). There are also free text-to-speech programs which will obviously provide audio to your translated documents (so you can create powerpoints).

We've also had some individuals from smaller countries that speak very regional languages, and had to bring in translators for them to go over training sessions.  

There's multiple ways to accomplish this goal, but none of them are particularly easy.

Also, you can offer language classes to your employees to help them speak the main language as well. This is usually a nice touch, because it helps with general communication.

We use an on-boarding manual as new employees need to come up to speed fairly quickly. For our on-boarding (and advanced training), we use training sheets that describe the training covered and require employee initials / signatures for each area of training. We don't distribute SOP's to employees (document control 101), but we do create information sheets on every system SOP for them to use as reference and study guides, these information sheets are reviewed annually for accuracy and relevance when the SOP is reviewed / Validated. We then schedule tests for 1 week after their training, each containing 5 - 10 questions over the trained materials. We have had both English and Spanish speaking employees that were unable to read or write their native languages. For those individuals we have a person read the questions to them with the choices for response and help them record their answers (circle the corresponding letter or write their response for them) and sign as the testing assistant. Historically, these people tend to do better than those that can read and write.

We use an on-boarding manual as new employees need to come up to speed fairly quickly. For our on-boarding (and advanced training), we use training sheets that describe the training covered and require employee initials / signatures for each area of training. We don't distribute SOP's to employees (document control 101), but we do create information sheets on every system SOP for them to use as reference and study guides, these information sheets are reviewed annually for accuracy and relevance when the SOP is reviewed / Validated. We then schedule tests for 1 week after their training, each containing 5 - 10 questions over the trained materials. We have had both English and Spanish speaking employees that were unable to read or write their native languages. For those individuals we have a person read the questions to them with the choices for response and help them record their answers (circle the corresponding letter or write their response for them) and sign as the testing assistant. Historically, these people tend to do better than those that can read and write.

That sounds great, I am hoping to follow a similar system.

So far, I have created information sheets based on SOP's and GMP's and I have created the quizzes; however, I have yet to have them translated but that will happen soon. We also have a couple supervisors that could help individuals read and record their answers on the quiz if needed, which is a good idea.

Thank you for your response!

The topics I have covered are: hand washing, protective clothing, Illness/injury, cleaning/sanitation, equipment, food defense, emergency response, shipping and receiving (storage/handling/allergens).