CLEANING & HYGIENE NO BARRIERS


The British Institute of Cleaning Science provides expert advice on how to deliver effective training that can be understood by speakers of other languages.


To ensure best practice is followed throughout all cleaning and hygiene processes, The British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc) has highlighted the importance of delivering professional training that is accessible to all.


The Institute is calling for care sector organisations to invest in staff by ensuring expert-led training is a key focus and training is tailored to an ever-diverse cleaning community.


In the UK alone there are more than 1.47 million people working within the professional cleaning industry. This number continues to increase with cleaning operatives at the forefront of ensuring workplaces and every-day environments are kept clean, hygienic, fit for purpose, and most importantly, safe.


Within the cleaning industry there are a significant number of individuals working whose first language isn’t English, if they are able to speak it at all. This can create barriers for these cleaning operatives to be able to learn effectively in an industry within which their safety depends on them being trained correctly, where knowledge and competent understanding are paramount.


Cleaning and hygiene sectors are always in need of more staff, and recruiting rarely stops, however until we find alternative routes to training people to keep them safe, this will be a reoccurring issue for all new or untrained staff.


To ensure industry standards remain robust, it is crucial for organisations to make sure that all cleaning operatives responsible for cleaning and hygiene standards, within any premises, have been trained to effectively clean different area types correctly, utilising the latest methods, and that language barriers do not prevent professional cleaning methods being delivered and demonstrated.


At BICSc, we have reviewed what our trainers do to counteract these particular concerns, including specific steps to ensure everyone is trained to a high level no matter the barriers in their way.


BE MINDFUL OF THE WORDS YOU USE AND


HOW YOU SPEAK Each trainer has their own individual style of training, and it is very easy once you start a training session to get caught up in your own way of speaking and communicating. Remember to keep your words simple, slow down your speech and speak clearly.


VISUAL LEARNING


A lot of industry training can be delivered using visual aids, more specifically demonstrating something. Demonstration videos or in-person demonstrations help convey what is being trained. If a candidate is watching you do something, nothing can get lost in translation, and there also isn’t anything to overcomplicate. Encouraging the person to show


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it back to you gives the trainer the opportunity to see if they have understood or if it needs to be repeated.


TRAIN IN A GROUP


If English isn’t an operative’s first language, there can be different levels of understanding. While some speak the language fluently, others may only know the basics. If you train in a group, then the individuals in the session can help each other, someone may offer to translate so everyone understands. This approach also helps relax trainees, taking away the pressure of intense one-to-one training.


CREATE A SAFE SPACE


It’s important to create a safe space where candidates are comfortable to ask trainers to repeat instructions without feeling embarrassed. To avoid the risk of anyone feeling uncomfortable to ask for something to be repeated in a session, trainers should ask at regular intervals if everyone understands, and if they need to go over anything again.


USE TOOLS THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU


Translation tools can also assist and a translation app can translate an appropriate greeting that universally works for the group being trained. Trainers who make an effort to speak the same language of operatives being trained will also help candidates relax which is more conducive to learning.


www.bics.org.uk


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