Failure to understand instructions, especially because of a language barrier, is a recipe for disaster. For a Taiwanese food production worker, it proved fatal. As a supervisor, you may assume that a worker from another country has a pretty good grasp of English. The following story shows why pretty good isn’t good enough.

What Happened

A 54-year-old food production worker who was employed by a New York State pizza dough manufacturer died of severe neck lacerations and blood loss after he was struck by an energized cutting blade while cleaning a dough machine. The victim had turned off and locked power switches controlling the […]