Editor’s note: The language challenges of the COVID-19 crisis have held much of our attention this year. Here on Language on the Move, we have been running a series devoted to language aspects of the COVID-19 crisis since February, and readers will also have seen the special issue of Multilingua devoted to “Linguistic Diversity in a Time of Crisis”.
Additionally, multilingual crisis communication has been the focus of the research projects conducted by Master of Applied Linguistics students at Macquarie University as part of their “Literacies” unit. We close the year by sharing some of their findings.
Here, Monica Neve explores the language requirements of registering a business as “COVID Safe” in New South Wales (NSW).
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(Image credit: NSW Government)
As restrictions rapidly increased during the beginning of Sydney’s lockdown in March 2020, the small yoga studio, which I had been attending for a number of years, closed its doors. Not just for the period of lockdown, but for good. Without students attending class and with no rent reduction in sight, the studio owner could no longer keep the business afloat. However, in June, with restrictions easing, a new yoga teacher took a leap of faith and reopened the studio.
When it reopened, the studio was identified as “COVID Safe” and sported the NSW “COVID Safe” logo that has by now become a ubiquitous sight in the business precincts of NSW.
For my research project, I wanted to discover how a business becomes “COVID Safe” and whether all businesses have an equal chance of being registered as COVID safe.
What is “COVID Safe”?
Under NSW Public Health Orders, COVID Safe registration is mandatory for hospitality venues (including cafes, bars and restaurants), gyms, and places of public worship. Penalties of up to $55,000 apply for businesses failing to comply.
Non-mandatory registration is encouraged for all other businesses.
The COVID-safe logo
COVID Safe registration requires the creation of a COVID safety plan in which businesses explain how hygiene and safety measures are being implemented on their premises. Once registered, businesses receive a digital COVID Safe logo for use on online platforms, as well as COVID Safe hygiene posters for display.
Language and literacy skills of NSW business owners
About a third of Australian small businesses are owned by migrants who speak a language other than English, according to the Migrant Small Business Report published by the insurer CGU.
While the English language proficiency of this cohort is unknown, it is reasonable to assume that some members of this group are among those 4% of the Australian population – or 800,000 to one million people – who do not speak English well or at all (Piller, 2020a).
It is also safe to assume that a number of business owners have low levels of literacy, as about 13.7% of the Australian adult population – or approximately 2.3 million people – possess literacy levels that equate to only elementary level schooling (OECD, 2012).
Seen against this background, COVID Safe registration for businesses in NSW is also a language and literacy hurdle, for some larger than others.
Registration as COVID safe business
To gain insight into the registration process, I followed all the steps on the website (stopping just short of the final step of application submission) and developed a COVID safety plan for an imaginary business, “Monica’s Café.” I also interviewed a small business owner who had undertaken registration.
Initially, registration seems relatively straight forward. It involves providing details of the business and developing a COVID safety plan related to wellbeing of staff and customers, physical distancing, hygiene and cleaning, and record keeping.
Sample COVID safety plans are available in English as well as Arabic, Simplified Mandarin, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese.
However, things get more complicated once you actually have to fill out the safety plan form.
Before you do, you need to work your way through the regulatory language surrounding registration, as in the following excerpt from the introductory COVID Safe registration statement:
“COVID-19 Safety Plans are comprehensive checklists designed by NSW Health and approved by the Chief Health Officer. The plans provide clear directions on how businesses and organisations should fulfil their obligations under Public Health Orders to minimise risk of transmission of COVID-19 on their premises.”
(Image credit: NSW Government)
Multisyllabic vocabulary such as comprehensive, obligations, transmission and premises, and long sentences demand a high level of English language proficiency. This is confirmed by the Flesch reading ease measure of 15, meaning this excerpt requires the reading skills of a university graduate.
The excerpt above is an example of regulatory language used in official health communication. This register – or type of language – is particularly difficult to understand for those with low levels of English language proficiency (Grey, 2020a; Grey, 2020b).
The difficulty of the overall guidelines and instructions renders the relative ease of the actual registration form void.
How can COVID safe registration be improved without compromising safety?
I suggest that the process of COVID-safe registration could be simplified and made more accessible to a readership with varying levels of English language proficiency and literacy through the implementation of the following improvements:
- Provision of simple, plain English and high-quality, comprehensive multilingual information
- Provision of English and multilingual safety plan blueprints that are easy to locate
More importantly, I suggest that communicating COVID safety online is not enough.
Providing alternative communication channels
In its current form, COVID Safe registration does not necessarily guarantee compliance. To achieve that, inspections of premises are needed.
Inspections would offer a good way of tailoring COVID safety to local needs, not only practically but also linguistically.
Inspections could be undertaken by multilingual officers. Inspections in language other than English (LOTE) would provide an opportunity to convey personalised LOTE advice relevant to a particular business. They would be a practical implementation of an approach that values NSW’s linguistic diversity as a resource.
References
Grey, A. (2020a, June 1). How to improve Australia’s public health messaging about Covid-19. Language on the Move.
Grey, A. (2020b). How do you find public health information in a language other than English. Submission to the Australian Senate’s Select Committee on COVID-19’s inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Piller, I. (2020a, October 13). More on crisis communication in multilingual Australia. Language on the Move.
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