In this article
OSHA requires employers to give safety and health training in a language and vocabulary their workers can understand. The requirement comes from OSHA's Training Standards Policy Statement of April 28, 2010, which applies to every OSHA training requirement in agriculture, construction, general industry and maritime work. If a worker does not understand English, the training must be given in a language the worker does understand.
The stakes show up in fatality data. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) counted 5,070 fatal work injuries in 2024. Hispanic or Latino workers died at a rate of 4.3 per 100,000 full-time workers, against 3.3 for all workers, and accounted for 1,229 deaths, about one in four. Of those 1,229, 842 (68.5%) were born outside the United States. BLS does not record whether a worker spoke English, so these figures describe who died, not why.
Key figures
1,229
Hispanic or Latino workers died from work injuries in 2024, 24.2% of all such deaths
4.3 vs 3.3
deaths per 100,000 full-time workers: Hispanic or Latino workers vs. all workers
68.5%
of those Hispanic or Latino workers were born outside the United States
What the 2010 OSHA policy says
The memo, signed by then Assistant Secretary David Michaels, says that whatever the exact wording of a standard, the words "train" and "instruct" mean presenting information in a way the employees receiving it are capable of understanding. In OSHA's words:
An employer must instruct its employees using both a language and vocabulary that the employees can understand.
- If an employee does not speak or understand English, instruction must be given in a language the employee understands.
- If an employee's vocabulary is limited, the training must account for that.
- If employees cannot read, telling them to read training materials does not meet the training requirement.
- An employer that normally gives work instructions in a language other than English is expected to give safety and health training the same way.
- OSHA compliance officers check both that training happened and that it was given in a format the workers could understand. If a reasonable person would conclude it was not, the violation may be cited as serious when it falls within the guidelines of OSHA's Field Operations Manual.
OSHA standards that mention language
A few standards put the language requirement in their own text. For most others, including lockout/tagout, forklifts, fall protection, HAZWOPER and the general construction training rule (29 CFR 1926.21), the text does not mention language and the duty rests on the 2010 policy.
| Standard | Citation | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Bloodborne pathogens | 29 CFR 1910.1030(g)(2)(vi) | Training material must be appropriate in content and vocabulary to the educational level, literacy and language of employees. |
| Cranes and derricks in construction | 29 CFR 1926.1427(h)(2) | Operator tests may be given in any language the candidate understands, and the certification must note that language. Operators may run only equipment whose manuals and load charts are in the language of their certification. |
| Asbestos | 29 CFR 1910.1001(j)(4)(iii) and 1926.1101(k)(7)(iii) | Employers must make sure workers in and next to regulated areas understand the warning signs, for example by using foreign languages, pictographs and graphics. |
| Hazard communication labels | 29 CFR 1910.1200(f)(10) | Workplace labels must be in English. Employers with workers who speak other languages may add their languages, as long as the English stays. |
| Hazard communication training | 29 CFR 1910.1200(h)(1) | Requires "effective" training. The text does not mention language, but OSHA interprets effective training to mean training in a language workers understand. |
Hispanic and immigrant worker deaths, 2015 to 2024
| Year | All fatal work injuries | Hispanic or Latino workers | Hispanic or Latino share | Foreign-born Hispanic or Latino |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 4,836 | 903 | 18.7% | Not reported |
| 2016 | 5,190 | 879 | 16.9% | Not reported |
| 2017 | 5,147 | 903 | 17.5% | Not reported |
| 2018 | 5,250 | 961 | 18.3% | Not reported |
| 2019 | 5,333 | 1,088 | 20.4% | Not reported |
| 2020 | 4,764 | 1,072 | 22.5% | 692 |
| 2021 | 5,190 | 1,130 | 21.8% | 727 |
| 2022 | 5,486 | 1,248 | 22.7% | 792 |
| 2023 | 5,283 | 1,250 | 23.7% | 839 |
| 2024 | 5,070 | 1,229 | 24.2% | 842 |
BLS data show that deaths of Hispanic or Latino workers rose 36.1% from 2015 to 2024, while all work deaths rose 4.8%. Their share of work deaths grew from 18.7% to 24.2%; in 1992, the first year of the series, it was 9%, according to BLS. The fatal injury rate for Hispanic or Latino workers has been higher than the rate for all workers in every year since at least 2019: 4.2 against 3.5 in 2019, 4.6 against 3.7 in 2022, and 4.3 against 3.3 in 2024.
Foreign-born workers account for about two-thirds of these deaths, a larger share than in 2020: 64.6% of Hispanic or Latino work deaths in 2020 and 68.5% in 2024. Construction accounts for a large share. In 2023, private construction accounted for 315 of the 839 deaths of foreign-born Hispanic or Latino workers (37.5%), according to BLS.
How the deaths happened in 2024
| Event | All workers | Hispanic or Latino workers | Hispanic or Latino share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transportation incidents | 1,937 | 407 | 21.0% |
| Falls, slips and trips | 844 | 298 | 35.3% |
| Contact with objects and equipment | 756 | 217 | 28.7% |
| Violent acts | 733 | 111 | 15.1% |
| Exposure to harmful substances or environments | 687 | 175 | 25.5% |
| Fires and explosions | 93 | 21 | 22.6% |
| Total | 5,070 | 1,229 | 24.2% |
Hispanic or Latino workers accounted for more than a third of deaths from falls, slips and trips, and more than a quarter of deaths from contact with objects and equipment and from exposure to harmful substances. These are the hazards that fall protection, equipment and hazard communication training are meant to prevent.
What the data do and do not show
- The Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries does not record a worker's language or English ability. No BLS figure links a death to a language barrier, and these numbers should not be read as proof that one caused any death.
- Hispanic or Latino workers include many people born in the United States who speak English fluently. Birthplace is a closer, but still rough, proxy for limited English.
- BLS counts workers whose ethnicity is unknown as non-Hispanic, and in 2024 the birthplace of 17 Hispanic or Latino workers who died was unknown.
- Higher death rates also reflect the jobs people hold. BLS reported that private construction alone accounted for 37.5% of deaths of foreign-born Hispanic or Latino workers in 2023.
Practical steps for employers
- Find out which languages your workers use day to day. For a quick view of the languages spoken where you operate, see the language access map and Spanish speakers by state.
- Train in the language you already use to give work instructions, as the 2010 policy expects, and check understanding by asking workers to explain or demonstrate what they learned.
- Translate written safety programs, procedures and training handouts, and keep English on container labels. A professional document translation avoids errors in technical terms.
- Use a qualified interpreter, not a bilingual coworker pulled off the line, for training sessions, incident investigations and return-to-work meetings. See bilingual staff vs. a certified interpreter.
- Note the language of each training session in your training records. Apart from crane operator certification, no standard asks for this, but it helps show a compliance officer that training was given in a form workers understood.