Hang around most warehouses and loading docks and you will be drowned in an alphabet soup of phrases, acronyms and jargon.

What is clear to longtime employees can play havoc with newer employees and customers.

Take as an example the term "plugging" – "John you need to plug the pallet truck if you expect to stop it".  Will john think that he has a brake line leak that needs fixing or will he know that the directional control should be moved to forward, natural, reverse and back to neutral in order to stop the electric motor?  Or, how about "John your shelving is racking".  Will John know that his shelving is out of alignment or will he say "Shelving, Racking it's all the same to me"?

We offer the following tips to help avoid the confusion jargon can create:

   Acronyms must be clearly explained to everyone involved before they start  the first day on the job.

   Write up a glossary of all the terms used in your operation.

   Encourage new employees to question jargon that's tired or no longer useful.  Amazing as it may seem, plain English might work best.

   Find out!  When in doubt, if you are unsure what someone is talking about  before starting a shared project  you might end up moving in opposite directions.

 Remember:  nothing is beyond explanation.  Self evident to one person is a confusing jumble to another..

Other Language Safety Issues

At one time managers and safety professionals could count on English being the common, predominate workplace language.  Not any more.  Before implementing safety or other training programs, survey workers to determine any language issues.  No matter how good the training, its no good if workers simply can’t understand the language.  (This includes Safety Signage).