Site communications for deskless teams

Every notice,
every language,
with a record.

A notice reaches every worker on site in the language they read, and you get a timestamped, printable record of who confirmed it. Phone number to sign in. No work email, no app store, no IT ticket.

07:12
Barratt London · Plot 14PL
Do przeczytania
Rozmowa BHP: ręczne przenoszenie ładunków

Dwie osoby do każdego elementu powyżej 25 kg. Używaj wózka na poziomie 2. Zgłoś każdy uraz pleców tego samego dnia.

„Pokażę wam prawidłowy chwyt.”

Opublikowano po angielsku 07:15 · przetłumaczone automatycznie

Potwierdzam, że przeczytałem

Przycisk aktywny po wyświetleniu całej treści.

[Name][phone][email]team-comms.com
01
The problem

Sending it is easy. Being understood, and proving it, is the hard part.

“Half the site doesn't speak English and the toolbox talk goes in one ear.”

“I can't prove they were told.”

“Our lads don't have work email, and nobody will install another app.”

“The chase is the hard part. Who's still outstanding?”

“When someone leaves they still see everything on the WhatsApp group.”

“The sign-off sheet is in English. So is the talk.”

These are the recurring statements TeamTalk was built around. If two or three of them are not true on your sites, we are the wrong supplier and this is a short meeting.

02
The scale of it

Your workforce is multilingual. Your notices, and the evidence you keep, are not.

34% Average share of the workforce reported as non-English-speaking by construction and project managers, in a University of Reading pilot survey of 12. The highest single answer was 75%. Tagg & Phua, University of Reading, "Why language comprehension gaps are a safety risk in construction", RICS Built Environment Journal, 30 March 2026. Pilot survey, n=12.
40% of London's construction-of-buildings workforce are non-UK nationals: about 70,000 people. ONS, Migrant labour force within the construction industry, 23 August 2018.
1 in 4 Only one organisation in four reaches 75% or more of its people with a major update. 42% reach between half and three quarters. Simpplr, State of Internal Communications 2026. Survey of ~450 internal communications practitioners and 75 C-suite leaders.
63% of frontline workers say messages from leadership do not reach them. Microsoft, Work Trend Index Special Report: Technology Can Help Unlock a New Future for Frontline Workers, January 2022. 9,600 frontline workers, eight industries, eight countries.

Two of these describe your workforce. Two describe what happens to the message. The gap between them is what an HSE inspector, an insurer or a principal contractor's auditor asks you about after an incident.

03
The statutory duty

The duty is not to issue the information. It is to make it comprehensible, and to be able to prove you did.

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999Regulation 10(1)
comprehensible and relevant information on risks, protective measures and emergency procedures. Information issued in English to a worker who does not read English is arguably not comprehensible. Regulation 12 extends the same duty to employees of outside undertakings on your premises, which is the answer to "subcontractors are not our employees".
Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015Regulation 15(8), with 13(4)(a)
Every contractor must give workers appropriate supervision, instructions and information, including emergency procedures and risks arising from other contractors. It binds every contractor on site, not only the principal contractor. Regulation 15(9) reads like a list of post templates: induction, emergency procedure, risk briefing, contractor interface, statutory notice.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974Section 40
It shall be for the accused to prove … that it was not practicable or not reasonably practicable to do more than was in fact done. The burden of proof is reversed. You do not have to be proved to have failed. You have to prove you did enough. So the question is simply: what is your evidence, and what language was it in?

HSE, Employing migrant workers: help with language issues, updated 4 June 2024: "Employers have a duty to provide comprehensible information to workers. This does not have to be in writing or even necessarily in English, as long as work instructions, risks, safety measures and emergency procedures are clearly communicated to all workers." HSE's own list of acceptable means includes video and "use professional translation software or free online tools". hse.gov.uk/migrantworkers/employer/help-with-language-issues.htm  ·  This slide quotes the law. It is not legal advice; your HSEQ lead maps it to your obligations.

04
What TeamTalk does

Three screens. Join the site, read it in your language, prove it landed.

09:41
Barratt LondonJoin
Step 1 of 2
Your mobile number

We text you a six-digit code. No password, no email address.

+44 7700 900 812
4913  
Continue
Your language
EnglishPolskiRomânăLietuvių

Chosen once.

The join cardScan the QR on the cabin door, type a mobile number, pick a language. About 20 seconds, no app store.

10:06
Barratt LondonPL
Do przeczytania
Zmiana planu podnoszenia, działki 14–22

Od poniedziałku strefa wyłączona rozciąga się o 6 metrów na wschód. Nie wchodź pod podniesiony ładunek. Sygnalista stoi przy bramie 3.

„Pokażę wam, gdzie przebiega nowa bariera.”

Opublikowano po angielsku 10:04 · przetłumaczone automatycznie

Potwierdzam, że przeczytałem

Przycisk aktywny po wyświetleniu całej treści.

The translated noticePublished once in English. Delivered in each worker's language, captions included. Confirm only unlocks once the whole notice has been on screen.

barratt.team-comms.com/posts/1184/reach
Must-read · published 10:04, 3 Sep
Revised lifting plan, plots 14–22
68/74
confirmed in 4h 12m
WorkerTradeLanguageConfirmed
Andrzej KowalskiGroundworksPolski10:22
Marius IonescuScaffoldRomână10:31
Dave HollisSite staffEnglish10:09
Tomas PetrauskasSteel fixingLietuviųOutstanding
Joao FerreiraGroundworksPortuguêsOutstanding
Hide confirmed · show the chase list Print record Export CSV

The reach recordPer post and per worker, timestamped, printable, exportable. The same page is the chase list: hide everyone who has confirmed and you are left with the six people to find.

05
Onboarding

A site goes live in one break. The join card does the work.

Barratt London · Plot 14
Join the site notices
Dołącz · Alătură-te · Prisijunk
Scan it. Put in your mobile number.
Choose your language. That's it.
Before the break
Minute 1
Minute 2
Minute 3
Same day
Print the join card. It carries your logo, your colours and your site name.
A worker scans the QR on the welfare cabin door with their own phone.
They type their mobile number and the six-digit code they are texted.
They pick their language once, and add the app to their home screen.
The first must-read lands, with push notifications on the lock screen.

Nothing to install

It is an installable web app. No app store account, no download over site wi-fi, no storage on an old handset. On iPhone, add to home screen to get push (iOS 16.4 or later).

Nothing to remember

Phone number and a texted code. No email address is required to add anyone. A sign-in lasts 30 days, so most workers log in about once a month.

Nothing to unpick later

Set a leaving date and access is revoked, mid-session if need be. Their confirmation record stays with you as evidence. Bulk import if you already hold a list.

06
Proof of receipt

The toolbox-talk record, without the clipboard, and in the language they actually read.

barratt.team-comms.com/workers/kowalski-a/record
Briefing record · printed 3 Sep 2026
Andrzej Kowalski
Groundworks · Plot 14 · reads Polish · enrolled 6 Jan 2026
Barratt London
Plot 14, SE16
NoticeDelivered inPublishedConfirmed
Revised lifting plan, plots 14–22Polski3 Sep 10:043 Sep 10:22
Hot works permit suspended, block CPolski28 Aug 07:3028 Aug 07:41
Toolbox talk: manual handlingPolski + video captions21 Aug 07:1521 Aug 07:52
Emergency procedure, revised muster pointPolski14 Aug 12:0014 Aug 12:36
Site rules, revision 4Polski2 Aug 08:002 Aug 08:14
5 of 5 must-reads confirmed · median 22 minutes from publication · full history exportable as CSV
  • Per worker, not per group. A named person, a named notice, a date and a time. Not a blue tick, not a signature on a sheet.
  • In the language it was delivered in. The record shows which language each person received. A sign-in sheet cannot.
  • Confirmation is gated. The button only unlocks once the whole notice has been on screen, so it is an act, not a reflex.
  • The chase is automatic. Hide everyone who has confirmed and the page becomes your outstanding list.
  • Print it or export it. A per-person record, or a CSV for the whole post. Nothing sits behind a paid reporting add-on.

Said honestly: a confirmation proves an affirmative act, not comprehension. We do not sell it as legal cover. We sell it as materially better evidence than anything else you can produce today, because it is per person, timestamped, and in a language the worker reads.

07
Reporting from site

The same channel runs the other way. A photo, a sentence, a location, under a minute.

14:07
Zgłoś zagrożeniePL
Barierka przy szybie windy poluzowana, poziom 3.
Lokalizacja · Blok C, poziom 3
Wyślij zgłoszenie

Kierownik otrzyma to po angielsku.

barratt.team-comms.com/reports
New report · 14:07 today
“Handrail beside the lift shaft is loose, level 3.”
Reported by Andrzej Kowalski, Groundworks · submitted in Polish, translated on arrival · Block C, level 3
AcknowledgePublish as a must-readExport

It works in their language too

A worker writes in Polish, Romanian or Portuguese. It arrives translated. The barrier to reporting a near miss is usually not willingness, it is having to compose it in English in front of a supervisor.

On or off, per company

Reporting is a switch your administrator controls. If you already run a near-miss system, leave it off and use TeamTalk for notices only. If you don't, this is the cheapest way to start.

08
Where this fits

Keep WhatsApp for the banter. Move anything you would have to defend.

Stays on WhatsApp

Fast, informal, nobody will ever ask you to produce it.

  • The gate code has changed
  • Who is bringing the bacon rolls
  • The lift is out, use the stairs
  • Running ten minutes late
  • Photos of the finished pour, for the group's own satisfaction

Moves to TeamTalk

Anything you might have to evidence to an inspector, an insurer, a principal contractor or a tribunal.

  • Toolbox talks and site inductions
  • Method or lifting plan changes
  • Site rules and revisions
  • Emergency procedures and muster points
  • Permit suspensions and area closures
  • Recalls, allergen and hygiene notices

Blue ticks are not a record

They can be switched off and cannot be exported. A tick means displayed on a device, not read.

Broadcasts fail silently

Only people who have saved your number receive a broadcast, and a list holds 256 contacts.

The group leaves with the foreman

The group, the history and every mobile number leave with him. No offboarding, and no system of record.

WhatsApp's message translation, shipped September 2025, is a reader action set per chat: "translations occur on your device where WhatsApp cannot see them", so nothing is reported back to a sender, and its help page adds the feature "is currently not available on the WhatsApp Business App". Sources: blog.whatsapp.com/introducing-message-translations; faq.whatsapp.com/2338676069842964, /653415899610349, /861663048350950. Checked 28 August 2026.

09
Against the alternatives

Not the only way to broadcast. The only one that translates on publish and includes the export.

CapabilityWhatsApp
group or broadcast
Microsoft Teams
F1 + Viva, £3.84 pupm
Blink
£2.95–£3.75 pupm
Paper sign-off sheets
the incumbent record
TeamTalk
from £180 per site
Translated by the sender on publishReader-initiatedReader-initiatedYes, advanced tierNoYes, on every plan
Per-worker confirmation you can exportNoCapped at 20, not in eDiscoveryYes, export is an add-onYes, on paperYes, included
Video with captions in their languageNoNoNo captionsNoYes
Works with no work email and no app storeYesNeeds a licensed identity eachPhone or group codeYesPhone number and a QR card
Access ends when the worker leavesNoYes, via ITYesn/aLeaving date, revoked mid-session
UK data residencyNoAvailableRegion unstated, transfers outside UK/EEAThe filing cabinetUK or EU AWS region
Priced so every operative is coveredFree~£23,000/yr for 500 workersPer seat, every seatCost is the supervisor's timePer site or per band, never per seat

Blink is a good product: it does mandatory reads with CSV export and phone or group-code activation. On its published pricing, "reporting and exporting data" is a paid add-on on all three tiers and advanced multi-language publishing sits in Pro (joinblink.com/pricing, /features/critical-communications). Microsoft 365 F1 £2.30 + Viva Employee Communications and Communities £1.54 = £3.84 per user per month, annual (microsoft.com/en-gb). Teams read receipts work in "1:1 and group chats 20 people or fewer" and "aren't captured in eDiscovery reporting" (learn.microsoft.com/microsoftteams/messaging-policies-in-teams). All checked 28 August 2026.

10
Being straight with you

What TeamTalk is not, so you do not find out in month three.

  • Not a rota, a timesheet or a payroll tool.
  • Not an induction, competence or RAMS system. If you run HandsHQ, HammerTech or Procore, keep them: we are the comms layer, not the system of record.
  • Not document control.
  • No native App Store or Google Play listing. The installable web app is the product. On iPhone, push works once the worker adds it to the home screen.
  • No single sign-on and no SCIM today. Users are added by join card, bulk import or by hand.
  • No offline posting. Reading works offline where the browser has already cached the notice.
  • Machine translation, reviewable before you publish. Excellent for short, plain notices. Not a certified translation, and not something to lean on for contract wording.
  • A confirmation proves an affirmative act, not comprehension. We will not tell you otherwise.
  • Web push is best effort. For anything genuinely critical, add SMS delivery as a fallback: it is 8p a message and it is the only metered item on the price list.
  • No customers to name yet. You would be early, which is why the pilot is priced and structured the way it is.

If any of these is a blocker rather than a caveat, tell us now and we will say so rather than sell round it.

11
Security and data

You hold names and phone numbers of people you do not employ. Here is exactly where they go.

What we hold

Name, mobile number, optional email, chosen language, group membership, and the content people post. Photographs attached to hazard reports may show people. Nothing else: no location tracking, no contacts, no device inventory.

Where it lives

AWS, in the UK or Ireland region you choose, on servers managed through Laravel Forge. Tenant isolation at the database layer. TLS in transit, encryption at rest on AWS volumes and S3. Daily backups, retention agreed in the contract. Admin impersonation for support is logged.

Who else processes it

AWS (hosting and storage), Twilio (SMS verification), OpenAI (post text only, for translation), Mux (video and captions), Pusher (real-time), Mailgun (email). The list is published and you get notice of changes.

Transfers out of the UK

Twilio and Mux are certified under the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework. The translation transfer to OpenAI runs under an International Data Transfer Agreement with a documented transfer risk assessment. Post text only is sent, never a worker's personal record.

Leavers and deletion

Access ends on the leaving date, revoked mid-session. Their confirmation record stays with you as evidence, which is more than the WhatsApp group manages in either direction. Tenant deletion on request within 30 days; backups age out.

What we send you today

Data processing agreement, privacy notice, sub-processor list, one-page security summary, insurance certificates and our answers to your standard supplier questionnaire. Cyber Essentials: [status, confirm before sending].

Bracketed values must be confirmed against the live deployment and current certification before this deck goes to a customer. A wrong answer here is worse than a slow one.

12
Pricing

Priced on the unit you already budget in: a site, or a band of workers. Never per seat.

Site £180 per site per month Up to 100 enrolled workers on the site. Overage £1.60 per worker per month. For a typical site of 50 to 75 workers that is £2.40 to £3.60 a head.
Company £550+ per month, unlimited sites Banded by enrolled workers: £550 up to 250 · £950 251–500 · £1,600 501–1,000 · £2,600 1,001–2,000. Re-banded at renewal only, never mid-term, so a busy month never produces a surprise invoice.
Enterprise £3,600+ per month, quoted per estate Over 2,000 workers, or anyone needing single sign-on, a formal security review or a bespoke service level agreement.

Included on every tier, with no add-ons

Translation into any language · video with translated captions · confirmed receipt and chase lists · printable records and CSV export · hazard reporting · join cards and bulk import · scheduled posts and drafts · user groups · leaver lockout · your branding on your own subdomain · unlimited managers · implementation, always £0.

The only things that change the number

  • Monthly rather than annual billing: +15%.
  • SMS delivery of a post: 8p a message. Push is the default, so most customers never pay it.
  • Ex VAT, 12-month term, invoiced by Bacs.

For context, the cheapest credible Microsoft stack for tracked frontline comms is Microsoft 365 F1 at £2.30 plus Viva Employee Communications and Communities at £1.54, so £3.84 per user per month on an annual commitment, and it still caps read receipts at 20 people. Published UK prices, checked 28 August 2026.

13
The offer

A 60-day proof of reach. £2,500 fixed. Miss the first two criteria and we refund it.

Price
£2,500 + VAT, fixed, invoiced on signature. Below almost every plc division's procurement threshold, so it can go on a purchase order without a supplier-onboarding cycle.
Scope
One region or division: up to 3 sites and 250 enrolled workers, in every language they need.
Duration
60 days from launch day, not signature. Checkpoint at day 14, formal review at day 30, decision meeting at day 60.
Credit
100% creditable against year one of an annual contract signed within 30 days of the pilot ending. The year-one price is printed on the pilot agreement.
Paper
A three-page agreement with the DPA attached. No portal, no implementation fee.
The four success criteria, agreed in writing before we start
1

At least 70% of enrolled workers logged in within 14 days.

2

At least 85% confirmed receipt on mandatory posts within 72 hours.

3

At least 2 posts per site per week, sustained across the 60 days.

4

A compliance export accepted by your HSEQ lead as an evidential briefing record.

If criteria 1 and 2 are missed, the £2,500 is refunded. We would rather find out in 60 days than argue about it in year two.

Why paid rather than free: a free pilot has no internal owner, no budget line and no deadline, so it drifts until the first site manager's holiday. The price is set to be signable locally, not to make money.

14
Next steps

Four things, and the first one takes half an hour.

1

Thirty minutes on a real phone

With your site manager in the room. We publish a notice from your world, it lands in Polish, someone confirms it, and we print the record. If it does not convince him, it will not convince the site.

2

Your tenant, your colours

We set up a space on your own subdomain with your logo and the languages actually spoken on your sites, before the pilot starts. No cost, no commitment.

3

Choose three sites and a date

Ideally sites at or near mobilisation rather than mid-project, and one named owner per site. We agree the four success criteria in writing before day one.

4

Three pages and a purchase order

The pilot agreement with the year-one price on it, the DPA attached, and the supplier pack for your procurement team. Launch day is the day the join cards go up.

“Which of your sites has the most languages on it right now? Let’s start there.”
[Name]
[phone] · [email]
team-comms.com
15