Trainings provided by employers may actually present hurdles instead of crutches. Blame the many technical terms found in training materials. This is a fact presented by recent U.S. studies conducted by two professors in Purdue University.

Associate Professor James McGlothlin and Assistant Professor Bryan Hubbard said new construction workers and Hispanic workers are put in danger when they don’t understand training materials.

Hubbard and McGlothlin came up with this conclusion after looking into the 10-hour safety training mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In one study, they found that many interns, mostly construction engineering management students in Purdue University, did not understand a large number of the terminology and acronyms used in the training.

Another study involved Hispanic construction workers as respondents. Findings show that less than 20 percent of them understood any of the terms used in OSHA training. Only 3 percent of them understood some terms.

Hubbard and McGlothlin gave suggestions on how employers and trainers can help workers better understand training materials. One of them is using visuals in training materials, particularly books where nearly every construction-specific word comes with a picture.

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