OSHA memo to employers reiterates training requirements
OSHA boss Dr. David Michaels issued a memorandum to reiterate OSHA's policy that employee training required by OSHA standards must be presented in a manner that employees can understand, and to provide enforcement guidance to the area and regional offices relative to the agency's training standards. This position applies to all of the agency's agriculture, construction, general industry, and maritime training requirements.
Employer's tTraining obligation
Many OSHA standards require that employees receive training so that work will be performed in a safe and healthful manner. Some of these standards require "training" or "instruction," others require "adequate" or "effective" training or instruction, and still others require training "in a manner" or "in language" that is understandable to employees.
It is OSHA’s position that, regardless of the precise regulatory language, the terms "train" and "instruct," as well as other synonyms, mean to present information in a manner that employees receiving it are capable of understanding. This follows from both the purpose of the standards -- providing employees with information that will allow work to be performed in a safe and healthful manner that complies with OSHA requirements -- and the basic definition that implies the information is presented in a manner the recipient is capable of understanding.
OSHA has a long and consistent history of interpreting its standards and other requirements to require employers to present information in a manner that their employees can understand. See, e.g., CPL 2-238(D)(1998) ("[i]f the employees receive job instructions in a language other than English, then training and information to be conveyed under the [hazard communication standard] will also need to be conducted in a foreign language"); letter from Russell B. Swanson to Chip MacDonald (1999) ("instruction that employers must provide under §1926.21 must be tailored to the employees' language and education....").