Are Your Documents Discriminatory?

We have seen some very good instances of document development, but sadly all too often what we see is not so good.

Documents are frequently developed in house by well-meaning subject matter experts. They may have experience in the field they are developing the documents for, they may be safety professionals or even trainers but generally have limited experience in creating high quality risk-based, operational documents.

What we see as a result, are poorly designed and inconsistent templates, and documentation that fails to consider the needs of their audience. In short, they could be described as discriminatory. Of course, the writers of these documents are not deliberately seeking to exclude people but in reality would be seeking to create documentation for all their employees to use. So let’s look at how documents can discriminate against people within a workplace.

Gendered language

It has been understood for a long time that gendered language within documentation is heavily skewed towards men. Steps often include he must, his responsibility is, and so on. In some instances we see he / she must or his / her responsibility is. Either way, this is a clunky and inefficient method of writing and in a modern society, unintentionally excludes gender diverse people.

Wherever possible material should be written to avoid pronouns of any sort. Instead of “He must open valve, XYZ”, replace with simply “Open valve, XYZ”. Where pronouns can’t be avoided, use generic terms such as them or they which are all encompassing. Remember we are writing steps or instructional information which can be completed by anyone, so there is no need to specify gender.

Literacy levels

English is the most common language spoken in Australia, but it is not everyone’s first language and not everyone can read it to the same level.

Consider your target audience and write at a level to achieve the greatest level of understanding. Writing a scientific paper demands a different level to writing instructional or operational documents. Write simply. Avoid the unnecessary use of complex words and long winding sentences. Be direct and to the point. Minimise the use of acronyms and abbreviations, and where they must be used explain them in full in the first instance.

Don’t overcapitalise. Proper nouns should start with a capital as would the first word of a sentence, but try to keep it to that. Too much capitalisation can make text difficult to read.

Consistency of language

Use consistent terms across your documents. Frequently when reviewing documents, I find myself asking if some tool, or equipment, or location, etc. is the same as a differently named tool, equipment or location. When understanding is required and safety is paramount, the last thing you need is to confuse your people by using different terms for the same thing.

Different learning styles

It is generally considered that there are four broad learning styles; visual, auditory, read / write and kinaesthetic (doing). When using documentation, we obviously can’t accommodate all of these, but we can easily target two – visual and reading.

Operators will often look at a document packed full of words, page after page and just turn off. This style of document is simply not engaging. Use relevant, clear images to support the text. You can write less and say more where you support the words with images.

When drawing attention to hazards, use consistent, colour iconography, such as danger, caution and hazard symbols which are instantly recognisable to personnel.

Visual considerations

The last point, I wish to cover in this article is visualisation of documentation. Too often we see operational documents expected to used out in the workplace written in font sizes too small to be easily read. We generally recommend a minimum font size of 11, using an easily read font such as Arial, Verdana or Helvetica.

Be consistent in the font size and colour within a document. While it is common to use a larger font for the document title, the remainder of the document should use a consistent font size and colour (generally black). Changing for every heading style, body text and tables can make the document less easy to read.

Colour blindness affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8 %) and 1 in 200 women. Consider colour combinations when adding text to graphs, images and table headings to accommodate those with colour blindness (particularly in posters and presentations).

This is The Language of Safety. Clear documentation. Safer workforce.

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