Between 10,000 and 20,000 accidents at work are related to language issues, according to the labour market foundation Stichting van de Arbeid in Friday’s edition of Metro.

The foundation, which represents unions and employers, says important safety instructions are often not fully understood because of language barriers and not put into practice properly.

The foundation estimates between 5% and 10% of all accidents at work are due to workers not speaking Dutch well enough. In addition, more languages are used on the shop floor, the foundation said.

In addition, safety instructions are often written in unnecessarily complicated language, the foundation said. It has now issued a special  handbook full of practical examples and help for companies with multilingual workforces.

it would also help if safety instructions were provided in other languages as well, the foundation is quoted as saying by Metro.