35 Safety and security

A. Rajkala

1.  Introduction

Safeguarding of assets is a fundamental requirement for all businesses. The job becomes all the more demanding in the hospitality industry as all residential establishments, be it a 20 room company guest house or a 200 room business hotel or a sea side luxury resort spread over a hundred acres of land need to provide people, guest and staff a sense of security i.e. a relaxed state of mind, and absence of fear.

Creating such a secure environment is a major concern for all managements as it is directly related to the increase or decrease of customers. The hotel has to ensure that the guest, employees and the hotel itself is safe.

2. OBJECTIVES:

After successful completion of the module the student should be able to

• Identify the assets of the hotel
• Assess threats to the identified property
• Identify underlying problems regarding safety and security of the hotel
• List the steps to be taken to prevent theft of the property
•  State the safety hazards in housekeeping operations
•  List the steps to prevent occupational hazards
• State the purpose of OSHA and legal aspects about safety in housekeeping department.
• To be able to analyse how safe a job is and understanding of various signs and tags used in safety instructions

3.  POTENTIAL SAFETY HAZARDS IN HOUSEKEEPING

Due to the nature of the work performed by housekeeping staff, they may be exposed to many dangerous and unsafe conditions, or hazards, if they are not careful. To reduce safety risks, all employees should be aware of potential safety hazards. These hazards may include

• Faulty equipment;
• Damaged flooring or chipped tiles.
• Slippery floors and spills not mopped up
•  Slippery guest bathrooms;
• Cracked or broken glass;
• Cleaning agents left uncapped;
• Non-adherence to instructions outlined in the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for the use of cleaning chemicals;
• Handling corrosive cleaning agents with bare hands;
• Worn-out electrical insulation or fittings;
• Overloaded electrical sockets;
• Trailing equipment flexes;
• Worn carpets and rugs;
• Cleaning equipment left lying around;
• Unsafe used of ladders;
• Inadequate lighting;
•  Loose stair treads;
• Mixing certain chemical cleaners, causing undesirable/dangerous reactions;
• Cleaning agents kept in unmarked or wrongly marked containers;
• Incorrect use of trolleys;
• Incorrect methods of bending and lifting;
• Unsatisfactory hygiene and sanitation standards; and
• Incorrect posture.

4.  OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD

The personnel working in housekeeping department will have a very physically demanding job. They are supposed to be on their feet for the entire shift of 8 hours in a day during which they have to perform various tasks that are demanding for the body. The most important tasks such as too much bodily motions, awkward positions and physical workload creates strain on the neck, shoulders, limbs and back. Let us look into some of the motions/ positions which bring about strain during the day’s work:

• Walking: the public area personnel have to cover miles when sweeping and mopping all through the hotel. The gardeners have to walk long distances to care for the gardens and landscapes.
•  Standing: The workers in the housekeeping department have to be on their feet for the entire day of their work.
• Stooping: the room attendants have to stoop down to pick garbage from floors, to clean bathtubs and water closets, and to get linen from bottom shelves of maid carts, and to tuck in corners of bed sheets in a guest rooms.
• Squatting: While preparing flower beds and planting seeds gardeners need to squat for long hours.
• Kneeling: Room attendants have to kneel down while cleaning bedroom and bathroom floors. Public area staff would do the same to clean stubborn stains from floors and staircases.
• Stretching: Linen keepers will have to stretch to get linen and uniforms from higher shelves. Room attendants need to stretch to clean the upper parts of bathroom tiles and mirrors.
• Reaching: All personnel working in the housekeeping department while performing the taskshave to reach for something or the other. For example: reaching for cleaning supplies, linen and uniform items in exchange; the florist has to reach for flowers and equipments while doing the flower arrangements.
• Twisting: twisting and cleaning around the areas by the room attendants and public cleaners helps to achieve greater cleanliness and increased productivity.
• Lifting: Room attendants have to lift heavy linen off beds and maid carts; housemen have to lift heavy furniture and carpets to clean or rearrange them; gardeners have to lift potted plants; and the list goes on.
• Pushing: pushing becomes the major task of the personnel cleaning the rooms. For example: pushing the maids cart, vacuum cleaner, trolleys to the different rooms for cleaning.

The above examples are only just few situations when the body is under pressure. There are so many other situations which are truly challenging for these workers. Statistics show that a housekeeper changes body position every three seconds while preparing a room. If we assume that the average cleaning time for a room is 40 minutes and she does 16 rooms in a shift she would end up doing 8000 different postures every shift. It can be classified as “heavy” to “very heavy” work because the energy required is approximately 4 kilo calories per minute.

4.1 Reducing the Physical Stress

How do we reduce the physical stress on housekeeping personnel? Let us now see what can be done by the management to reduce the physical stress:

4.1.1. Lighter equipment- One of the criteria should be considered while purchasing equipment would be their lightness. All heavy equipment and rack in linen or uniform rooms must have wheels, which cannot be moved daily. Portability helps to great extent in the daily work.

4.1.2 Motorised equipment- Modular light weight (portable) bathroom scrubbers , vacuum cleaners or window cleaners can help in easier cleaning saving time. Stooping, crouching and kneeling can be reduced by using mops and brooms having long handles. This helps to prevent musculoskeletal injuries immediately and in later years.

4.1.3 Modern detergents- These help to clean stains and spots with just a swipe that helps to eliminate or minimize tedious scrubbing.

4.1.4 Job Rotation- job rotation in a day helps to prevent permanent injuries. It requires workers to move to different tasks to allow muscles already stressed to rest. Room attendants could perform linen exchange duties or procure supplies from the stores. Supervisors can be rotated from floors to desk control operations or night supervisors to day shifts.

4.1.5 Job enlargement is a credible alternative where the tasks is broadened to give balanced exposure to jobs and prevent stress. For example the room attendant can be made to do some administrative duties like cleaning equipment; issue of equipment from stores; etc.

4.1.6    Teamwork- it is a wonderful idea to have team work where teams can plan their work and help each other in a coordinated way.

4.1.7     Education and training must be an ongoing agenda to get updated in all the issues.

Training has to target on developing good and improved working habits.

4.2 Housekeeper’s Responsibilities towards Safety

The housekeeper has the largest workforce in the hotel. It is, therefore, imperative for her to ensure safe conditions and practices in the department. Here are some guidelines towards safety.

•  Prepare a safety manual that is read and understood at the time of induction of new employees..
• Paste safety rules on walls at strategic points in the work areas.
• Reinforce safety rules in daily briefings.
• Ensure that all equipment bought have the ISI stamp of safety and reliability.
• Organise continuous safety training. Involve experts like the equipment manufacturers; occupational safety department of the government; fire safety official; and the municipal health department.
•  Build safety into all job descriptions.
• Have a preventive maintenance programme for all equipment.
• Include safety inspection in the supervisor’s daily cleaning checklists.
• Declare rooms and public areas unsafe for use till safety faults are rectified.
• Make sure that safety equipment and accessories are always in stock.
• Ensure that toxic chemicals are stored in closed cupboards and properly labelled.
•  Ensure that all waste disposal containers are leak proof and maintained in sanitary conditions. Waste disposal external to the building must be in designated municipal areas and with concern fro public health. Also oversee that cleaners put recycled items in their appropriate containers.
• Make sure that locker rooms have proper washing and shower facilities, with adequate supply of soap and towels. Locker rooms must be kept clean and dry at all times. Water closets must be sanitized frequently.
• Ensure that housekeeping employees consume food and beverage in the staff canteens and not the public area.
• Keep a timetable that ensures rest breaks for employees during their shift vigil.
• Keep appropriate signs at hand to caution guests and employees towards safety. Signs include caution signs like “Wet Floor”; labels for detergents and toxic material; safety instructions on equipment.

5. ACCIDENTS

First let us examine the areas in a housekeeping operation when accidents take place:

•  Injuries because of improper working habits
•  Improper maintenance and use of equipments leading to electric shocks from live electrical wires
•  Use of hazardous detergents and chemicals causing burns on hands and breathing problems
•  Falls due to slippery polished floors
• Improperly planned and crowded work areas
•  Improper laying of carpets on the floor.
• Cuts from broken glass in linen bundies and garbage.
• Improper working postures leading to back pains and strains.
• Muscle cramps from improper lifting.
• Breathing problems and burns from the use of hazardous  chemicals and detergents.
• Electrocution from live electric wires and improper maintenance and use of equipment.
• Injuries due to improper work habits.

Accidents may result from a number of causes- physical, psychological or environmental leading to falls, cuts, shocks, burns, collision at work and many more. These can be classified into four main categories:

5.1 Accidents from structural inadequacies

5.2 Improper placement and installation of equipment in space

5.3 Improper working habits

5.4 Nature and behavior of people at work

6.1 Accidents from structural inadequacies-

•  Blind corners/ cross traffic aisles- collision
•  Uneven floors- tripping and falling
• Floor coverings not properly fixed- tripping; too smooth/ shiny floors- slippery
• Too small space for the activity to be performed- overcrowding, noise, confusion, leading to physical and mental stress
• Swinging doors/ doors opening into passage ways/ glass panels which are not visible-collision
• Cracked, chipped or broken window panes- safety hazard
• Positioning of switches (high/ low)- unnecessary stretching/ bending- muscular/ spinal injury.
• Inadequate lighting- glare causing injuries during work
• Improper ventilation- exhaustion and fatigue
• Thus it is very important to plan structures with safety in mind.

6.2 Accidents from improper placement of equipment in space

Positioning the equipment in a manner that will optimize its use as well as increase the safety of the used is the responsibility of the management. Very often attention to placement is neglected and is installed where it fits best. The following examples will throw some light on placements that can become hazards at work:

•  Mobile equipment like trolleys placed in traffic lanes will cause congestion and collision.
•  Furniture with exposed sharp edges increases chances of accidents.
• Inadequate provision of improperly placed fire fighting and safety equipments can delay in reacting to emergency situation.
•  Electric switches placed near sinks are dangerous arrangements. It can lead to people touch switches with wet hands and suffer shocks.

6.3 Accidents from improper working habits

Proper work habits are established when a sense of identity is established with the work place. Some common work habits which can be identified in catering establishments as safety hazards are:

• Keeping electrical switches on when cleaning electrical equipments can lead to shock.
• Not wiping spillages immediately will result in dangerous slips and falls.
• Handling hot bulbs to change them because they have just got fused while working can burn the hand.

6.4 Accidents due to nature and behavior of people at work

Certain people are more prone to accidents than others because their nature and behavior makes them so. The behavious which increase the potential for accidents at work are:

• Carelessness
• Excitability
•  Fear
• Axiety
• Ill-health
• Lack of interest in work
• Haste
• Lack of concentration
•  Forgetfulness

Technical Committee of Bureau of Indian Standarsd (BIS) have formulated a number of safety standards in the field of electrotechnology. Today standards of safety concerns not only equipment but safety of persons and surroundings too. This includes protection against electric shock, effects of excessively high or low temperatures, radiations, explosions and fire. The standards aim at total safety through protective measures in equipment itself as well as its safe installation.

While the safety procedure looks complicated or tedious task to put safety into practice, lack of a procedure built into the establishment can lead to heavy losses. Apart from the cost of repairing damaged property or replacing equipment, there are the costs of medical expenses of employees hurt in accidents, man hours in production lost, plus excessive wages paid to staff. In addition, in serious cases, legal costs can ruin an establishment. The most damaging of all is the loss in reputation of an establishment which can never recover its image because lack of safety is always associated with inefficiency.

7. SAFETY AWARENESS AND ACCIDENT PREVENTION

The occupational health and safety Act (OSHA) makes it mandatory for the employer to keep his place of work free from the hazards that are likely to cause death or serious harm to the employees working.

Ninety eight per cent of accidents are preventable i.e. through

• Proper training
• Supervision
• Employee vigilance
• Seventy eight per cent of all accidents are caused by individuals failing to notice or heed to obvious indication of accident possibility in other words, carelessness.

8.    SIGNS AND TAGS

Safety Signs and tags

• All devices, structures and areas where hazards material are used or where hazards are possible should be identified with appropriate signs and hazard warnings.
• Sign and tags are not intended to substitute safety measures that the hotel has to take such as insulation or safe work practices.
• They are additional safety guidance and increase the employee’s awareness of potential dangers.
• Tags are temporary means of warning all concerned of the hazardous condition, defective equipment, etc.

9.  WORK – ENVIRONMENT SAFETY AND JOB-SAFETY ANALYSIS

The management of any place of work is legally bound to provide a hazard free environment to their employees. The nature of work that the housekeeping staff are involved is such that employees may early become accident prone if they are careless with equipment, chemicals, or procedures.

9.1 SAFETY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMMES

The overall objective of a safety management programme is to eliminate hazards before they cause any serious accidents.

There are 10 steps in the establishment of an effective safety management programme.

1.      Review work procedures and inspect work areas for safety hazards.

2.      Make departmental heads aware of the nature and variety of hazards.

3.      Establish a safety committee.

4.      Maintain accurate safety records.

5.      Conduct periodic in-house safety inspections.

6.      Train staff members to implement safety consciousness.

7.      Motivate staff members to be safety conscious

8.      Investigate and analyse all accidents and injuries.

9.      Practice safety management and monitor follow-ups.

10. Review the effectiveness of your own safety management programme.

9.2 THREE Es OF SAFETY

The safety of employees can be ensured by following the three Es of safety: safety education, safety engineering, and safety rules enforcement.

9.2.1 Safety education: Safety programmes and policies can only be effective if staffs are trained to think and act safely at work. The best tune to start educating employees on safety is during the induction into the establishment, so that they are well versed in safety rules and policies of the establishment before they start their job. Employees should be encouraged to come up with ideas for inculcating safety into the hotels methods too, and the best ideas should be put into practice and praised or awarded. The following should be ensured during training.

• Teaching safe methods, with particular emphasis on areas of potential danger and how these can be guarded against.
• Demonstrating the use of safety equipment installed in the establishment, and the location and use of first aid materials.
• Including in people the ability to recognize the signs of hazards around them
• Teaching staff the legal implications of non- adherence to safety procedures.

9.2.2 Safety Engineering This involves the building in of safety features into the structure of the establishment-in the equipment, furniture and fittings and in their proper arrangement within the space. Equipment used by the housekeeping employees should be selected to ensure safety in design.

9.2.3  Safety Rules Enforcement Rules, when not implemented or enforced are not effective. It is not enough to know about safety themes and procedures, but more important to motivate people to put the knowledge gained into practice. This does not come easily to all employees and therefore needs to be enforced by rule and practice.

10. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HAZARDS STANDARDS

Standard, universal laws on occupational safety and health (OSH) do not exist because of differences in local values and cultures. Therefore, different countries have developed their own standards on occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) according to their needs. India has published and follows the IS 15001:2000 Indian Standards on Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems-Specifications and Guidance for Use, which is adapted to Indian needs.

The main emphasis of the system is on classifying work activities, identifying hazards, determining risks, deciding if a given level of risk is tolerable, preparing risk control action plans, and reviewing the adequacy of action plans.

10.1 Job Safety Analysis

The executive housekeeper needs to develop a’ housekeeping safety manual’ for the use of all housekeeping employees. This manual should explain in comprehensive terms the safest methods of performing each task to accomplish a particular job. This has to be done for all the jobs carried out by housekeeping staff. For this purpose, the housekeeper, with the help of the supervisors, needs to carry out a job safety analysis. A job safety analysis is a detailed report that lists every job function performed in the housekeeping department and lists potential hazards, safe methods, tips and ‘how-to’s for each task involved in the jobs.

Some useful safety devices

Some latest devices available in the market are the ‘SUBKA’ gas leakage warning instrument with a sensor and audible alarm to warn of gas leaks, and the ‘clap switch’- an electronic sound operated switch which switches any electrical appliances ‘on and off’ and is effective from 10 feet and remote controlled by clapping.

11. SECURITY

Security is not the prerogative of any one person in an establishment; all staffs should be security minded and report anything of a suspicious ature. Staff should realize the necessity of not giving information regarding internal matters to such persons as enquiryagents, newspaper, reporters, etc. most large establishments have one or more security officers on their staff to prevent crime and to protect the guests and their staff from dangers such as theft, bomb threat, fire or assault. In smaller hotels the responsibility for security will be the managers, and in other establishments will be that of managers equivalent.

The main purpose of security management is to identify and define assets, must be able to foresee the threats and asses the security requirements, and then make recommendations to the ownership regarding the most appropriate action to be taken.

11.1 Security as a management tool

Risk analysis and risk management are the managerial aspects of security. Most hotels have a security manager, who generally is an ex-service man and is capable in chalking out a plan specifically for that property. Once the management is convinced they should enable him with all the requirements for executing it.

11.1.1 Assets of a hotel– An asset is that which brings in profit or increases the value of the business. The revenue of the hotel is generated from the various services that have to be render by the employees and experienced by the guest. Therefore personal safety has to be ensured. Like all businesses physical assets need to be safeguarded.

11.1.2 Assets can be classified as:

•  Human that includes Customers / guests and employees.
• Physical assets include land, building, infrastructure, facility Equipment, inventory and cash.
•  Intangible asset includes good will and hotel reputation.

11.2 LOST AND FOUND ARTICLES:

• All unclaimed articles found in the hotel premises should be handed over to the housekeeping control desk. Notice should be put up regarding the handing over of any personal property found so that all staff members are aware of where such property should be handed over.
• Receive the found article at the control desk Fill in the details in the lost and found log book (in triplicate- original copy: kept along with the article in the cupboard, duplicate: front office, triplicate: retained in the log book)
• Store the article in opaque plastic bag- date of finding, serial number in the log book)
• Receive any enquiry of the article
• Ascertain enquiry with the register
• If satisfied issue the article. Obtain the signature in the original form from the person collecting the article.
• File the original slip, recording the date and time of delivery in the register.
• Efforts should be made to find the rightful owner of the article. If the owner of the article is known, that guests address can be acquired from the front office or the travel agent and a letter informing the guest about the property may be written.

    11.3 SCANTY BAGGAGE

A guest room with a guest checking in with very light luggage is coded as “scanty baggage”. This guest can easily move out of the hotel without settling his or her accounts. Due to such circumstances many of the hotels follow a policy of obtaining an advance in the form of deposits from the guests to safeguard from skipping out of the hotel. When such a guest with scanty baggage enter inside the hotel, the front office assistants stamps as “ scanty baggage” on the scanty baggage register and guests registration card. Housekeeping employees must report of any suspicious movements of such guests to the manager.

11.4 THEFT

Theft is not an emergency it is a security lap. Thefts are always preventable with proper security.

•  Key control if the first step towards controlling theft. All the valuables of the hotel or the guest should be put under lock. Access to rooms should be restricted to authorized persons only.
•  Management attitude- attitude towards employee’s honesty is important. It has been found that on an average 30 % of staff are honest, 30% are dishonest and would steal if they get an opportunity to do so. And the remaining 40% go with the tide. That is if the management tends to be soft on dishonesty they would start stealing too.
• Employee contamination refers to a situation when one employee is able to influence other employees of the same hotel to steal, organize theft or protect the culprit. This is a real and present danger. This happens when the employees are not motivated, underpaid or feel the hotel deserves the loss. Employee contamination can creep up from time to time therefore the management and HOD’s should be alert to early signs such as absenteeism, low morale, loss and breakage in the department.
• Theft by guests is a common problem which can be controlled by having hotel logos on all the movable items, such as pen, stationery, etc. this reduces the guest to pack up more expensive things. The reception should inform the housekeeping before the final settlement of the bill so that any items missing from the room can be charged to the guest.

To ensure safety and health of workers in a business enterprise, manager should establish a focus on safety that can include elements such as:

• Management leadership and commitment
• Employee engagement
• Accountability
• Safety programs, policies and plans
• Safety processes, procedures and practices
• Safety goals and objectives

11.5 KEYS AND THEIR CONTROL

Individual heads of department are responsible for all their keys in their areas. The housekeeper is usually more responsible for more keys than any other departmental heads.

Grand master key- used in case of emergency (death, illness, etc), guest leaves the belongings and goes away for a night or two, other special reasons. Keys are usually held by the security officer, duty manager and sometimes by the housekeeper.

Master key- assistant housekeeper and floor service waiters.

Individual room keys- usually held by the guest with the room number and name of the hotel on tag.

Key thefts- the locks in hotels are generally spring operated mortice locks, but to overcome the problem of key thefts, keyless lock systems have been devised. They are expensive and computerized, with an infra red device which reads the guests card. A disposable plastic card about the size of a conventional credit card replaces the normal metal room key. The card is code by perforations at random from apool of more than 4 billion potential codes available from a master computer console at the front desk. The random code is then transmitted electronically to the specific guest room locks and only this particular card can open that room door. When the guest checks out the code on the room is changed and the new guest will receive a new code on his new check-in card; the old card automatically becomes useless.

SUMMARY

Training the personnel for safety and security measures is important to the hospitality industry in order to keep themselves and the guests and property safe and secure. This is because for everyone, life and their property is very precious. Training should be ongoing programme in all establishments to raise awareness on safety and security among the employees. All heads of departments must ensure that employees follow safe job procedures, correct unsafe conditions immediately, and take adequate time to do the job so that accidents are not caused due to haste. The housekeeping ‘safety manual’ with the list of rules has to be provided to all the employees.

This type of systematic organization will help in providing guests and as well as the employees satisfaction and will give a feeling of safety like staying in their own house. Thus it will help to bring more benefits to the hotel in minimizing the labour turn over, increased customer turn over, thereby increasing the economy and status of the hotel.