January 23, 2012 -- Housekeepers’ union UNITE HERE has asked the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board to consider a new proposal to prevent disabling injuries in hotel room cleaners and save hotels money on workers compensation claims.

The proposed safety standard complements Senate Bill 432, a two-year bill that when introduced last year stirred considerable debate over why hotels too often fail to provide housekeepers with mops to clean floors and fitted sheets to make beds – basic tools nearly all Americans use in their homes.

It’s widely acknowledged by hotel companies and academic researchers that housekeeping can be dangerous work. Lifting mattresses that can weigh more than 100 pounds, pushing heavy carts across carpeted hallways, bending up and down to clean floors and make beds, and climbing to clean high surfaces all take a physical toll. Research has shown housekeepers suffer the highest injury rate among all classifications of hotel employees, and housekeepers are more likely to suffer musculoskeletal disorders than all other hotel employees.

Yet unlike other hazardous industries, there are no standards to address safety problems in the hotel industry. The proposed guideline lays out a simple plan for employers to follow using solutions already recommended by OSHA agencies in California and elsewhere.

“As the hotel industry has modernized, the job has gotten more and more physically demanding for housekeepers,” said Pamela Vossenas, workplace safety and health expert for UNITE HERE. “In hotels where OSHA has investigated housekeeper injuries, inspectors have recommended simple solutions such as the use of fitted sheets and motorized linen carts to prevent injuries. Cal-OSHA cannot inspect every California hotel, so this Standard creates a systematic safety blueprint for hotels to follow to prevent housekeeping-specific injuries.”

In November 2011, Cal-OSHA cited the Hyatt Fisherman’s Wharf hotel in San Francisco alleging that managers failed to control the hazards that cause injuries from housekeeping tasks. After inspections that took place earlier in 2011, Cal-OSHA recommended to the Hyatt Andaz and Hyatt Century Plaza hotels, both in Los Angeles, the use of fitted sheets and tools to prevent housekeeper injuries.

The proposed standard asks employers to conduct housekeeping hazard assessments, outlaws practices that require housekeepers to clean on their knees or in a “stooped” body position or to stand on sinks or tubs to clean up high. Proposed safe practices include the use of fitted sheets in lieu of flat sheets to minimize mattress lifting and long-handled tools to clean hard to reach areas. Implementation of the plan will reduce the likelihood of housekeepers suffering from disabling injuries to the back and other areas such as shoulders and arms, and as a result, reduces employers’ costs due to insurance and lost work time.

“I injured my hand lifting mattresses to change the sheets,” said Martha Pacheco, a Hyatt Century Plaza housekeeper. “I have been diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and I have had two surgeries to repair damaged nerves. I take medication everyday to ease the pain in my hands so I can keep working.”

In a peer-reviewed study, results found that 95% of housekeepers suffered from bodily pain, 47% suffered from severe or very severe pain, and 84% took medication for pain suffered at work.

Cal-OSHA Standards Board is expected to decide within 30 days whether it will proceed with hearings on the new proposal.

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