Fishhackathon 2018 submission
- Translation Services for Labor Inspections Organization: Environmental Justice Foundation Name: Dominic Thomson Email: dominic.thomson@ejfoundation.org
Challenge Statement: Translation during labour inspections is an essential service to ensure that workers can communicate effectively with authorities, and that authorities can relay important information back to workers and ask accurate questions about living and working conditions.
The status quo relies heavily on employing translators in ports, factories, and patrol vessels. This can be very costly, stretching resources to their limit, especially in host countries with a wide range of migrant labourer populations. For example, a Thai fishing vessel might employ migrant labourers from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, requiring three separate translators for an inspection.
Language translation apps exist, but due to limited demand for languages such as Burmese, Khmer, and Lao, the translation quality is not sufficient to be useful during inspections. Some workers may also have difficulty reading, meaning written surveys that they fill in themselves are unsuitable. An innovative solution is needed to address the translation capacity gaps that linger in many fishing industries around the world.
Possible Solution: A versatile, intuitive, and secure service that can aid labour inspectors during vessel inspections, that could be loaded onto existing smartphone/tablet devices. Possible elements could include: Tablet or smartphone based application that could be downloaded to inspectors’ devices to be used during inspections. Mainly visual/pictorial interface that workers could fill in themselves negating the need for the survey to be translated into different languages, and be accessible to workers who have difficulty reading. Solution that would allow workers to fill in the survey themselves so that they have a feeling of privacy without the need for interaction from inspectors. This could also allow multiple workers to fill out the survey at the same time on several devices, speeding up inspections and freeing up resources. Integration of video and audio elements that can quickly explain elements to workers. Incorporation of simple slider scales that workers could use to indicate their experiences. Real-time data analysis so that serious issues could be automatically flagged for further investigation without alerting the employer or vessel owner/operator. Alert system to notify inspectors about serious issues, and reminders to flag up previously identified issues at later inspections.
Data should be uploaded seamlessly to an online database which would store the data securely and could be analysed by labour inspectors at a later date. This would also digitize a predominantly paper-based inspection regime, allowing for better transparency and ability to analyse data.
Resources: Thai Ministry of Labour sample questionnaire (http://hckrn.st/2Bxwed7) EJF sample survey to determine living/working conditions for workers on-board fishing vessels (http://hckrn.st/2rMWArz) Inspiration for visual logos/symbols (http://hckrn.st/2kicKG2) Training package on workplace risk assessment and management for small and medium-sized enterprises (http://hckrn.st/2kjbJgQ) Safety and health training manual for the commercial fishing industry in Thailand (http://hckrn.st/2zIJlHU)