Communicating Hazards and Risks to a Multinational Workforce

One of the biggest challenges faced by multinational corporations is to manage a multicultural workforce strategically. A multicultural workforce introduces potential problems related to language barriers and cultural differences on perceptions of safety-related phenomena. Challenges arise due to language barriers and cultural influences on perceptions of workplace issues such as risks, hazards, personal and process safety, etc. The amalgamation of national cultures results in a wide variety of views about tolerance of risk and risky behavior, perceptions of hazards, and the importance of following safety-related or life-saving rules.

This study assumes that cultural values are a leading indicator of workplace safety incidents and that it can be managed through education and sensitive communication. However, little data is currently available in the literature on culture-related differences and its effect on safety communication. For this project, a data set was gathered in Qatar based on nationality and safety-related psychological constructs. This information along with the broader literature on diversity, cross-cultural training, and workplace safety were utilized to develop a workshop on intercultural workplace safety communication. The workshop was administered to a random sample (approximately 50%) of the employees with a company in Qatar to evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop by comparing workplace safety outcomes before and after the training, as well as to a control group. This paper will present the results of the study regarding improvement in safety-related behaviors and a reduction in the number of injuries and incidents.