Category Archives: Health

by | March 25, 2010 · 5:21 am

Hospitality Industry Workplace Safety: Assistant Secretary Of Labor Stresses Need To Increase OSHA Penalties Against Employers Who Do Not Comply With OSHA Standards

Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, who emphasized that current OSHA penalties must be increased in order to motivate employers to increase their compliance with the OSHA standards. Michaels stated that environmental laws currently carry much heavier penalties than penalties under the OSH Act, especially where loss of human life is involved.

(From and Hr.cch.com article)    The Workforce Protections Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing Tuesday on the “Protecting America’s Workers Act (PAWA) (H.R. 2067).” The bill, introduced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), chair of the subcommittee, addresses three major weaknesses in the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act:

  • It would expand OSHA coverage to more than 8.5 million state and local public employees who currently have limited or no protection from safety and health hazards at work.
  • It also would amend OSHA’s whistleblower provisions to expedite the process because the current delays in decision-making deprives workers of due process.
  • Finally, the bill would update civil and criminal penalties.

http://hr.cch.com/news/safety/032410a.asp

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by | March 24, 2010 · 6:17 am

Restaurant Industry Food Safety: Foodservice Employees’ Illnesses Are A Source Of Contamination At Restaurants And Can Be Traced To A Lack Of Insurance And Paid Sick Days

“…Affordable health insurance and paid sick days for all foodservice employees…would achieve significant and measurable improvements in food safety, especially as it relates to the thousands upon millions of non-outbreak, or sporadic, illnesses caused by contaminated restaurant food each year….”

(From a ChainLeader.com article)   First, many servers and food workers are responsible for covering their own shifts, which, in these times of lean staffing, can be next to impossible. Second, if they stay home, they make no money. Third, if they appear to “flake out” by not coming to work, they may lose premium shifts. They might even lose their jobs.

And so the food-safety precaution that the restaurant industry relies on to protect customers from much of foodborne illness is the expectation that these employees will decide on their own to stay home.

http://www.chainleader.com/article/452255-Food_Safety_Solutions_Execution_and_Advocacy.php

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by | March 23, 2010 · 5:35 am

Hotel Health And Safety Issues: Education On The “Risks For Infestation” Of Bed Bugs May Help Keep Treatment And Legal Costs Down

“Based on the traveling behavior of bed bugs, any industry or travel destination with a high visitor turn over is particularly at-risk for infestation,” said White. “It will be especially important for the hospitality industry to be educated on this matter so they can respond competently to a situation where treatment and legal costs can spike quickly.”

(From a PCTOnline.com article)   Pennsylvania’s hospitality sector has recognized the risks bed bugs pose to their industry and will gather March 25 to attend a bed bug seminar hosted by the Greater Philadelphia Hotel Association (GPHA) to learn how to combat this emerging issue.

GPHA is an association that represents the interests of the hospitality industry throughout Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. Their activities include civic representation, community partnerships and industry education.

The association’s statewide seminar titled, “Bed Bugs and the Hospitality Industry: Little Bugs, Big Problem” will be held at the downtown Marriott Hotel in Philadelphia, PA, March 25 at 8:30 a.m. The event will address the latest information on bed bugs and the most recent treatment breakthroughs to minimize cost. The seminar will also tackle the problems this pest represents that are unique to the hospitality industry.

Suzanne Geyer, an associate director with GPHA acknowledged that the bed bug seminar would present important information to industry management regarding the correct procedures needed to effectively approach dealing with bed bugs.

“This seminar will be especially important for practitioners because the information provided here is specific to hospitality and will provide a deeper understanding of bed bugs and some of the strategies needed to minimize the operational impact these pests can inflict,” said Geyer.

http://www.pctonline.com/Philadelphia-bed-bug-seminar.aspx

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by | March 6, 2010 · 4:26 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Issues: Medical Marijuana and Non-Smoking Hotels

 I recently had one of my hotels call me about a guest who was burning incense in his guestroom, while he was staying at the hotel. After the guest checked out, he was charged the Hotel’s “no smoking fee” of $250, as the Hotel was a non smoking hotel.

The guest immediately challenged the no smoking fee, and claimed he was burning the incense for “medical” reasons, it was “aroma therapy”. The Hotel asked the guest for a note from his Doctor prescribing the “aroma therapy” and guess what…the guest produced a Doctor’s note. It was a real prescription, from a real Doctor. So, that begs the question….does the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) apply? Do you as an Innkeeper have to allow aroma therapy or medical marijuana use in your non smoking hotel?

The answer is: We’re not sure yet…..

I took this question to the Hospitality Law Conference, which is held in Houston every February. The Hospitality Law Conference is attended by 400 hospitality Attorneys. These Attorneys come from all the major hotel brands, major hotel management companies and includes hospitality educators from all of the major hospitality Universities nationally. I searched out the best hospitality legal minds from our industry to discuss this issue with them.

I was surprised to learn there was no general consensus on how to handle medical marijuana /aroma therapy and the ADA, at hotels. There is no known “case law” on this issue yet, and I received a wide variety of legal opinions on how to handle the medical marijuana dilemma. I have summarized below, the “best practices” for handling medical marijuana / aroma therapy at your Hotel, based on discussions I had with the hospitality industry legal experts:

  1. Place marijuana smokers in “smoking rooms” when available. If you receive a guest complaint of marijuana use in the hotel, you should investigate. If you find the marijuana smoker, ask them for their medical prescription, or State ID card, for legal medical marijuana use. If they have the proper paperwork, allow them to continue in the smoking room (if you allow smoking). If they don’t have proof of the legal use of marijuana, ask them to stop, call the Police, or handle it according to your management guidelines.
  2. If you are an all “No Smoking” hotel, then guests using medical marijuana should be handled the same as cigarette smokers. They must leave the building to smoke. They are no different than cigarette smokers. If they smoke in their guestroom and you have the proper “no smoking” notifications and signage, then charge them your normal smoking fee. Again, you treat them the same as a cigarette smoker. I would recommend if you have “no smoking” signage in the rooms, that you add the words “this includes medical marijuana” on the signs at your next convenience.

 *****Note****, number 2 above applies to guests who are “mobile” and who can easily walk around, use the stairs and elevators, and have no physical restrictions. Most of the legal experts I spoke to agreed, that if a guest has limited mobility, due to a disability etc, then we should handle this guest differently. If the guest cannot easily exit and enter the hotel to smoke their medical marijuana, and they insist that the marijuana is part of their treatment for their disability, then you should allow them to smoke in their non-smoking room. Under these circumstances, the legal experts felt the disabled guest could fall under the ADA laws, due to their limited mobility etc. You should not charge them a “smoking fee”.

These suggestions are based on the opinions of the “best of the best” hospitality legal experts. As you know, the medical marijuana issue is being debated, legalized and defended all over the United States. Call your local Police or Sheriff departments and find out what your local and State laws are regarding medical marijuana. You should manage the guests at your hotels according to your specific laws.

Remember, you also have the right to ask a guest who is smoking marijuana to stop, unless they have a legal prescription, from a real Doctor, to be using the medical marijuana. If the guest does not have the legal paperwork to smoke marijuana, you can make them stop. Call the Police or Sheriff for assistance if necessary. You can use the internet to “google” a Doctor’s name or clinic, if you want to independently verify the validity of a guest’s medical marijuana use.

I’m sure somewhere in the United States in the near future, we will see some “case law” on the use of medical marijuana, the ADA, no smoking businesses and related issues. Until then, I hope these “best practices” help.

(Todd Seiders, CLSD, is director of risk management for Petra Risk Solutions, which provides a full-range of risk management and insurance services for hospitality owners and operators. Their website is: www.petrarisksolutions.com. Todd can be reached at 800-466-8951 or via e-mail at: todds@petrarisksolutions.com.)  

Feb 2010

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by | March 5, 2010 · 10:30 am

Hotel Pool Safety: Near Drowning Highlights Need For Hospitality Industry To Increase Pool Safety, Including Flotation Suits And Fencing

“…the hotel plans some additional safety measures, including mandatory life jackets on everyone up to 42 inches tall.”

“…One thing the general manager has already done is to introduce a swimsuit guests can buy that has flotation properties incorporated right in the suit, which cannot be taken out.”

Lori and Chad Granger’s family gathering at the Holiday Inn water park in Otsego was supposed to be a time of celebration. Instead, the couple nearly lost their three-year-old daughter after she almost drowned Jan. 16.

Family members’ children were in the pool under the watch of four lifeguards who rotated stations every half hour. Guest Paul Peikert of Rogers says his own children had been disciplined twice while in the water by watchful lifeguards.

//

But the day began unraveling for the Grangers when Lori left her daughter under an uncle’s care so she could greet her sister who was just arriving, according to what she wrote on a blog.

The mom continues writing that she had her three-year-old in the kiddie pool and had taken her flotation devices off so the girl could go down a kiddie water slide. Then the uncle was asked to watch her as she played.

However, after just a moment, the uncle became distracted and wandered off, leaving the little girl unattended, according to Lori‘s blog.

In that instant, accounts from family members and the Wright County Sheriff’s deputies state that the three-year-old apparently got out of the kiddie pool and jumped into a 3-foot deep adult pool to play with older cousins.

 http://erstarnews.com/content/view/11539/26/

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by | March 3, 2010 · 4:52 am

Hotel Food-Safety: Inspectors Found Dozens Of Violations At Super Bowl Headquarters Hotel For NFL Employees Who Got Sick During Super Bowl Week

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which oversees food sellers, inspected the hotel Wednesday and found violations such as open food stored in unclean places, employees handling food with bare hands, lack of handwashing and dirty conditions, the inspection report showed.

Inspectors found a dozen critical food-safety violations this week in the restaurant of the NFL’s headquarters hotel, where 25 league employees here for Super Bowl XLIV got sick from a stomach bug.

The oceanfront Westin Beach Resort in Fort Lauderdale also had failed a restaurant inspection in September, and let its license expire in December by not paying a $457 renewal fee, state officials said Friday.

Health officials were quick to say they did not yet know what caused the outbreak, how the guests got it or whether the hotel bore any blame. Samples were still being tested.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2010-02-05/business/fl-super-bowl-food-illnesses-20100205_1_starwood-hotels-hotel-attorney-stomach-bug

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by | March 2, 2010 · 6:33 am

Hospitality Risk Management: OSHA Proposes New Rules To Track Workplace Muscluloskeletal Disorders

“It will increase the number of recordable incidents by broadening what might qualify as an MSD,” he says. “So after collecting the data for a while, I wouldn’t be surprised to see OSHA announce that there is a major MSD problem and decide to do something about it.”

Ashley Brightwell, a partner in the Atlanta office of Alston & Bird, agrees the rules could lead to “future actions by OSHA to regulate MSDs … and increase the number of citations being issued against employers.”

On Jan. 29, OSHA proposed new rules that would require employers to track and report workplace-related musculoskeletal disorders. While the changes are ostensibly little more than additional record-keeping, experts warn the proposal could likely pave the way for further enforcement and rulemaking by the agency.  

OSHA wants to restore a column to the OSHA 300 log that would record work-related musculoskeletal disorders, such as carpal-tunnel syndrome and rotator cuff syndrome. The rules are identical to those contained in an OSHA record-keeping regulation that was issued in 2001 by the Clinton administration, but was removed in 2003 during the Bush presidency before ever going into effect.  

Critics argued at the time that the definition used to describe musculoskeletal disorders was far too broad to be useful and that the new column wouldn’t contain the type of detailed information that would be needed to address the problem of musculoskeletal disorders.

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by | February 28, 2010 · 6:08 am

Hospitality Industry Risk: Many Hotel Spa’s Are Underinsured With Spa Owners Liable For Injuries To Clients

(From a SmartMoney.com article)  With the growth of the spa industry, consistent standards have become an afterthought. Industry associations do exist, but membership is strictly voluntary. The biggest one, ISPA, represents about 3,200 spas worldwide, but its application process isn’t exactly grueling. Members must agree to abide by the association’s “standards and practices,” which include requirements such as clean treatment rooms and staffers trained in CPR.

They also have to adhere to a code of conduct, which is a list of spa-goers’ rights and responsibilities, says ISPA’s executive director, Lynne Walker McNees. But in the end, spa industry regulations vary from state to state, so there’s no uniform set of guidelines.

As a result, many spas carry inadequate insurance, says Mary Lynne Blaesser, a certified insurance counselor at the Marine Agency, which has provided coverage for about 15,000 spas. “In most states, the only insurance spas are required to carry by law is workers’ comp,” Blaesser says.Without professional or general liability in effect, an injured customer would have to seek recourse or reimbursement directly from the spa owner rather than an insurance company. However, most leases require that lessees carry general liability coverage for such things as trip and fall claims.

The combination of spotty insurance and almost nonexistent refund policies means one thing for dissatisfied customers: Good luck collecting if something goes wrong. And that applies even for the most egregious mishaps. Leandros Vrionedes, a personal-injury lawyer in New York City, had a client whose day-spa facial turned into a horror show. “The esthetician oversteamed the client and applied the wax immediately after,” Vrionedes says. “She wound up taking part of this person’s face off — several layers of skin were removed. The spa argued that it was the fault of the product and we didn’t have a case. We argued that it was the procedure.” After five years of legal wrangling, including trial to verdict and an appeal, the woman received an undisclosed settlement — which her lawyer describes as “not enough.”

Even when a spa does carry insurance, consumers may have a tough time obtaining compensation for injury.

“Some insurance companies will fight you tooth and nail,” Vrionedes says. Don’t assume, though, that you have no case just because of some lengthy waiver you signed when you arrived at the facility. According to Vrionedes, some of these documents will hold up in court, but others won’t — especially those that are all-encompassing. If the release “absolves the spa of absolutely everything in the world,” he says, courts will sometimes void the agreement.

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/deals/10-things-your-spa-wont-tell-you-10378/?page=3

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by | February 27, 2010 · 6:48 am

Hospitality Industry Health Hazards: Hotels Must Maintain Health And Safety Plans To Protect Against Bed Bug Infestation, Mold, And Other Health Hazards

State inspectors have the authority to shut down an establishment that poses an "imminent health hazard" involving fire, flood, sewage backup, rodent infestation, bed bug infestation or "any other condition that could endanger the health and safety of guests, employees and the general public."

Becky Andrews checked into the Super 8 hotel in Bonner Springs last fall as she prepared to watch her son act in a play at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

For Andrews, a retired high school chemistry teacher from Colorado, the night turned into an ordeal.

“I had this sensation of things crawling on me, but I never saw anything,” she said. “It took a long time for me to realize what was going on.”

After several “itchy-twitchy” hours, she said, she captured a live bug in a plastic cup and took it to the front desk the next morning to complain.

She said that when the hotel didn’t appear to take her seriously, she filed a complaint with the state.

A Kansas Department of Agriculture inspector visited the hotel on Nov. 3 and confirmed that Room 406 was infested with bed bugs.

The hotel was ordered to fix the problem, and a follow-up inspection was scheduled for Dec. 3. But the follow-up never occurred.

The state announced that day it was suspending its lodging inspection program because of budget cuts.

Hotel law

In Kansas, hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfasts are governed by the Lodging Establishment Regulations, a 54-page document that regulates the water temperature in hot tubs, the liners used in ice buckets, and the markings that delineate the deep and shallow ends of hotel swimming pools, among other things.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture licenses more than 800 lodging facilities, and until last year each of those was required to submit to an annual inspection focusing on safety and sanitation issues.

Under the system, each violation was noted in an inspection report, and follow-up inspections were scheduled when problems couldn’t be corrected immediately. About 11 percent of last year’s inspections required follow-up visits.

In addition to the routine inspections, the Department of Agriculture last year investigated 132 lodging complaints, 35 of which involved bed bugs. Inspectors said 11 of the bed bug complaints — including the one submitted by Andrews — were valid.

State inspectors have the authority to shut down an establishment that poses an “imminent health hazard” involving fire, flood, sewage backup, rodent infestation, bed bug infestation or “any other condition that could endanger the health and safety of guests, employees and the general public.”

Last year, imminent health hazard violations were issued 24 times. Six of the violations involved bed bugs.

Constantine Cotsoradis, deputy agriculture secretary, said that discontinue-operations orders, particularly in bed bug cases, usually apply only to areas of a hotel affected by the problem.

“We want to protect the public but do as little economic harm as possible to the business,” he said.

State law gives regulators the authority to impose civil penalties on establishments that experience repeated violations. Last year such a penalty was imposed only once — a $1,350 penalty assessed to the Knights Inn and Suites in Leavenworth.

During its final 12 months of operation — December 2008 through November 2009 — the state’s lodging inspection program sent inspectors to nearly 800 businesses, and most inspections uncovered at least some violations.

The businesses collectively were cited for 3,251 violations including soiled linens, moldy showers, and unsafe levels of chlorine in swimming pools.

The most common violations — those dealing with smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers — accounted for nearly 20 percent of the total.

http://www.kansas.com/2010/02/21/1191720/no-state-money-for-hotel-inspections.html

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