Talking to our customers
| Written this? | Try this |
|---|---|
| You are more likely to die in a fire at home if you don’t have a smoke alarm. | Remember to test your smoke alarm every week. |
| We attend multiple road crashes involving bikers, many of them resulting in fatalities. | Many of the road crashes we attend involve bikers who may have been trapped, seriously injured or killed. |
| Pursuant to the Fire Safety Order you are required to appoint a responsible person whose role is to undertake a sufficient assessment of the risks and implement appropriate and controlling measures. | You are legally required to appoint a ‘responsible person’ to carry out a fire risk assessment of your premises and ensure you have the right fire safety measures in place. Note: for topics such as this, if your content is in an official communication you may be legally required to use prescribed wording. |
| Smoking is dangerous in so many ways. Not only can it compromise your health but more people die in fires caused by smoking than anything else. Give up now. | Did you know more people die in fires started by smoking than any other cause? If you smoke, remember to follow some simple safety advice to help you stay safe. |
Talking to each other
| Written this? | Try this |
|---|---|
| This is due to a requirement to. | This is because we need to. |
| Individuals wishing to purchase additional leave should ensure their completed application is sent to their line manager. | If you wish to buy additional leave, please send your completed application to your line manager. |
| Staff who are interested in contributing to discussions should contact Phil Jones. | Please contact Phil Jones if you are interested in contributing to discussions. |
| Kent Fire and Rescue is committed to ensuring a positive working environment. | We are committed to ensuring a positive working environment. |
| The training exercise will commence... | The training exercise begins at... |
Disability
How we talk to each other matters. People can be affected by unkind words, even if it wasn’t intentional. For disabled people however, this can be an everyday event.
Next time you’re chatting with someone who has a disability, do it in positive terms, using a normal tone of voice. Avoid ‘talking down’ or being too ‘politically correct’ – simply talk to someone with a disability in the same way you talk to everyone.
Using the right words can make a big difference. The .Gov website sets out helpful guidance regarding words and phrases which can be offensive or upsetting for people with a disability, along with suggested alternatives, as follows:
| Avoid | Use |
|---|---|
| (the) handicapped, (the) disabled | disabled (people) |
| afflicted by, suffers from, victim of | has [name of condition or impairment] |
| confined to a wheelchair, wheelchair-bound | wheelchair user |
| mentally handicapped, mentally defective, retarded, subnormal | with a learning disability (singular) with learning disabilities (plural) |
| cripple, invalid | disabled person |
| spastic | person with cerebral palsy |
| able-bodied | non-disabled |
| mental patient, insane, mad | person with a mental health condition |
| deaf and dumb; deaf mute | deaf, user of British Sign Language (BSL), person with a hearing impairment |
| the blind | people with visual impairments; blind people; blind and partially sighted people |
| an epileptic, diabetic, depressive, and so on | person with epilepsy, diabetes, depression or someone who has epilepsy, diabetes, depression |
| dwarf; midget | *short person |
| fits, spells, attacks | seizures |
Reproduced from .Gov under the terms of the Open Government Licence, save for entry marked *