Contractors are now being urged to use more safety training photos by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health.

Research carried out for the institution by Glasgow Caledonian University showed that migrant workers’ understanding of building site health and safety improves when images are used in training.

Migrant construction workers are currently more likely to be fatally injured than UK builders.

Around 6% of Britain’s 2.3m construction workers are migrants but they account for 17% of work-related deaths in that sector.

Between April 2005 and March 2008, 25 foreign workers were killed in the UK construction industry.

IOSH executive director of policy Dr Luise Vassie said: “Despite the fact employers have a legal duty to make safety information understandable to all employees, these figures show that some construction companies can do more to make sure staff whose first language isn’t English know how to stay safe on-site.”

University researcher Billy Hare said: “There is currently a gap in migrant worker training, as crucial occupational safety and health information can be lost in translation.

“After all, the standards, work methods and equipment used on UK building sites can be different to those that migrant workers are familiar with, so they may need extra support with understanding the risks a completely new environment presents.”

Luise added: “Based on these results, we might assume the number of migrant worker injuries and deaths on building sites could be cut if images were used as standard in training.

“We’d urge construction companies to take this on and we’d also encourage management to consider this worker group more when looking at their health and safety systems.”

CITB Construction-Skills said a new version of its health and safety test comes into force next month which includes universal hazard symbols to overcome language difficulties.