EHJ January 2004, pages 16-18
Owners and employees in small hospitality businesses may often have a limited understanding of written English. Euan MacAuslan highlights key issues surrounding the literacy and language barriers to food safety and offers some suggestions for the future

A tourist went into a restaurant owned and run by a Spanish family. He wanted to order steak and mushrooms. He spoke American English, and the food handler (who was temporarily in the UK to help his relatives) spoke no English. The customer drew a picture of a mushroom and a cow. The waiter brought him an umbrella and a photograph of a bullfight. At first glance it is easy to laugh at this comical event, but as enforcers and educators do we not all have a lesson to learn from this?

Small establishments each with less than 10 employees represent some 76.4 per cent of total hospitality businesses in the UK. Restaurants, caterers and food retailers account for almost 94 per cent of food premises. Owners, managers and employees may not necessarily speak English as a first language. There may also be problems with literacy (basic reading and writing skills) among these groups, some of whom do have English as a first language.

Within the hospitality sector (which includes restaurants, hotels, cafes and wine bars) there is a high turnover of employees. These may be visitors to the UK who want to learn some English, students, or immigrants seeking a first job. A recent Hospitality Training Foundation (HtF) survey suggests that 21 per cent of hospitality employees hold no qualifications. Furthermore, 24.7 per cent of restaurant employees compared to 17 per cent of pub employees hold no qualifications.1

Nationally, there are no accurate figures regarding the extent of literacy skills and English as second other language (ESOL) among proprietors, managers and food handlers who own or work in hospitality businesses in the UK. The goal of educators and enforcers is to help employers and employees in hospitality businesses, whatever their language, receive appropriate accessible training, and information that can be turned in to good practice which in turn leads to improved food safety.

LANUAGE BARRIERS

The London Training and Enterprise Council has noted that, "Perhaps the most striking feature of Greater London's ethnic minority businesses is the strong concentration in the hotels, wholesale and retail sectors. More than half of all minority businesses are in these sectors, compared to only 29 per cent of white businesses."2 Seven per cent of all businesses in the UK are ethnic minority owned. In London, 20 per cent of all businesses are ethnic minority owned. Forty two per cent of Londoners speak English as a second or additional language.3

The extent to which ESOL is spoken in all types of hospitality business is still under researched. In the 2003 Labour Force Survey, the HtF acknowledged that chefs and waiting staff show wide ethnic variations, but gives no indication of languages spoken by these employees. A percentage of these may have literacy difficulties when reading their own languages. To expect them to read notices, leaflets or attend courses in English can only make the situation worse. Individuals may feel inhibited by their culture, lack of basic skills, or fear of enforcement authorities, and therefore may not admit there is a problem. Some local authorities are still sending out letters and schedules with attached translations that read something along the lines, "If you do not read English please get help from someone who does." It can be no wonder if the written information supplied by an officer is not followed. Why? Because the written English used in the covering letter and schedules may put off the owner, who may be from an ethnic minority and/or have a literacy difficulty. In addition, they may have a low reading age in their own language.

LITERACY BARRIERS

The learning disabled population in England is about 1.2 million. Good basic skills (literacy and numeracy) are essential if an individual is to perform a wide range of specific activities safely and effectively within the workplace. To produce materials and carefully worded sentences for people with variable learning skills is a skill in itself. Approximately 20 per cent of the adult population in the UK is not functionally literate. The problem in food safety will only come to light, for example, if a food handler cannot read storage instructions or interpret temperature readings.4 A survey carried out by the Health and Safety Executive in five groups of non-food businesses identified that 23 per cent of managers had a reading age of 11 years.5 The figure for small independently run hospitality businesses could be even higher. The number of food handlers who are dyslexic may be well above 45 per cent. This means that the culture of communication is largely oral. Written information may only rarely, if at all, be referred to.

FOOD HYGIENE COURSES

The largest proportion of the hospitality workforce does not possess a qualification higher than one or more GCSEs at grades A to C. This typically equates to a Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene. There is still limited provision of trainers who are registered to run food hygiene courses for candidates with special educational needs. It is accepted that examination bodies do have Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene papers in other languages, but these are of limited value while a shortage of registered trainers who can run courses in other languages apart from English still exists.6 There is a college in London that provides free ESOL with food preparation and hygiene courses. Unfortunately, the promotional material is all in English! In terms of food safety, is it more important to teach an employee to speak English (as the Home Secretary would like), or to teach them in a language in which this is understood? It is known that immigrants who are viewed as highly qualified in their country of origin, often have difficulty in obtaining recognition in the UK. Many of these end up working in low-paid unskilled or semi-skilled posts within the hospitality industry. They need to be encouraged to help their colleagues and asked if they would consider becoming potential trainers.

ENFORCEMENT RESPONSIBILITIES

Enforcement agencies, trainers and authorities will have to think about changing the way education, training and enforcement activities and information (such as standard phrases, leaflets, etc) are conveyed to small hospitality businesses if improvements in food safety are to be made.7 In order to overcome these barriers, at a local level, many local authorities have developed their own partnerships with educators, training skills agencies, hospitality businesses, etc. However, a proper national strategy is still required. It will require the Food Standards Agency to work closely with the Department for Education and Skills, Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services, local authorities, colleges, basic and training skills agencies, and industry bodies, etc.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 places a requirement upon employers to take into account their actions, verbal or written, when addressing their employees. Necessary reasonable adjustments (such as providing instructions in picture format) will be required if employees have learning difficulties. The Information for Employees (Health & Safety) Regulations 1989 impose requirements on employers to communicate with their employees and provide health and safety information which is understood by all employees. Future Food Safety Act codes of practice for enforcement officers would do well to give guidance to officers on how to get information across in a range of formats (especially where literacy and languages present barriers to improvements). The HSE have a specialist language unit to help with the translation of information. The FSA would do well to consider developing a similar unit to help enforcement officers and businesses.

SOMETHING FOR THE FUTURE

Fairman and Yapp noted in EHJ last year, "Unless small and medium-sized enterprises understand the nature of hazards they pose and the fact that they are able to cause real problems, eg food poisoning, they will not be motivated to improve conditions."8 The authors omitted to mention ESOL and literacy as two key barriers. Until more research is carried out to establish what needs to be done about the extent of food handlers who speak ESOL and the literacy issue in the industry, then owners of food businesses will not be equipped to properly understand what is being thrown at them by enforcement agencies. The Trade Union Congress Learning Services is currently working with key social and economic partners to try to address this issue.

The FSA and the Learning and Skills Council are exploring "possible sources of funding for training, and mechanisms to improve access to appropriate training where there are literacy or language issues."9 With new regulations for Haccp on the not too distant horizon, a key question still needs to be answered. If the first language in a business is not English, then what language will any documented system have to be written in? Perhaps consideration could be given to taped audio records and information for both owners and employees. Revised industry guides need to be clearer with bullet points and pictures, and subjected to the scrutiny of the Plain English Campaign.

Highfield Publications and Eaton Publications are just two examples of companies who produce information for food handlers in a range of other languages, and diagrammatical forms. Some of the examination bodies produce course books in other languages. To have any real effect in the future, these organisations would do well to think about producing more materials with pictures, and translating the messages they want to get across on to audio tapes and CDs. Many local authorities are already finding that photographs to back up notices and letters are far more effective than long winded standard clauses.

In the United States food safety signs with symbols are available for businesses. In the UK, the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 could be amended to require symbols to be displayed informing the employees about allergens, suitability for vegetarians, and good food hygiene practice.

The FSA's website makes very pitiful reading concerning any information, help to offer advice on, or how to address language and literacy barriers. Some of its very worded publications for caterers are only available in 10 languages. Are the FSA aware of the wider range of languages spoken and read by food business employees? There is no information on their website about how to get food safety messages across to those who have literacy difficulties. Compare this to the considerable and informative detail provided by the Food Standards Authority of Ireland10 or the Food Safety Training Education Alliance in the USA.11

Until literacy and language issues are resolved formal letters and other written information may need to be subjected to a gobbledygook test. This test is based on the Frequency of Gobbledygook formula and was adapted by the Plain English Campaign.12

It is not only literacy and language issues that enforcers and educators have to take into account when considering the best and most effective means of communicating with employers and employees in the hospitality industry. Ethnicity, religious beliefs, social backgrounds, economic values, and interests also need to be considered, in addition to communicating the required changes to develop a food safety culture.

Further work is needed to identify and resolve literacy ESOL skills among the small business hospitality workforce. Only when materials and information are produced in a form that will be readily understood and implemented can a real change in food safety be expected. Addressing gaps in language and literacy will require a multi-faceted approach to help those most in need in the hospitality industry. Government agencies need to take a positive lead for this to happen. Until then, it is suggested that educators and enforcers act on the advice given by the mathematician Frederick R Barnard when he recalled a Chinese proverb: "One picture is worth ten thousand words."13

References

1. Hospitality Training Foundation, Labour Market Review 2003 for the hospitality industry, HtF.
2. London TEC Council (1999), Strength through diversity: ethnic minorities in London's economy, London TEC Council, London Skills Forecasting Unit.
3. London Skills Commission (2002), A summary of London's framework for regional employment and skills action, October 2002.
4. Evans M and Molloy S (2000). End stage review: stages 1-3, HSE three- year programme, 1-17, PD/13/Oct 2000.
5. MacAuslan, EMR (2003), Effective food hygiene training. Doncaster: Highfield Publications, 2003, 70-82.
6. MacAuslan, EMR (2001), Food hygiene training in the UK: time for a radical re-think. Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. December 2001, Vol 121, No 4. 213-219.
7. MacAuslan, EMR (2003), the boss, the owner, the proprietor...the food hygiene manager? Journal of Royal Society for the Promotion of Health. November 2003, Volume 123, issue 4.
8. Fairman, R and Yapp, C, 2003, Education or enforcement?, Environmental Health Journal, January 2003, 17-19.
9. Food Standards Agency, Strategy for wider implementation of Haccp, FSA paper 01/07/02, agenda item 4, 14 November 2001.
10. Food Safety Authority of Ireland, visit: www.fsai.ie.
11. Food Safety Training Education Alliance, visit: www.fstea.org.
12. Plain English Campaign, visit: www.plainenglish.co.uk.
13. Barnard, Frederick R, Printer's Ink, 1921.

Euan MacAuslan FITOL, FRIPH, FRSH, Chartered MCIPD, may be contacted by e-mail at:euan.macauslan@rbkc.gov.uk. The views in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of his employer, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.