Tag Archives: Safety

by | May 18, 2015 · 10:00 am

Hospitality Industry Crime Update: “Hotels Work to Curb Harrowing Trend of Sex Trafficking in Metro”

“O’Meara, an attorney, is Nebraska’s new human trafficking coordinator. He wants people to be aware so victims can be rescued…”What happens is the victim is convinced byTrafficking-620x330 the trafficker (that) the only value the victim has as a human being is the ability to make money through commercial sex acts for the pimp,” O’Meara said…Omaha’s upscale Magnolia Hotel was the first to train hospitality workers to spot sex trafficking.”

Local law enforcement is trying to educate hotel workers to recognize signs of sex trafficking. The hope is to rescue women often caught in a cycle of abuse, violence and neglect.

“I was petrified to go outside,” Melissa said.

She said that for more than three years, she was forced to sell herself for money.

“The brain-washing, psychological games — it takes years,” Melissa said.

She wants Omaha to know that prostitution is slavery, with a pimp in charge of every move.

“I just wasn’t allowed out of his sight,” Melissa said.

Her message is the same one shared as part of a new pilot program in Omaha, which trains hotel workers to spot and report sex trafficking.

For more: http://bit.ly/1Jtnwg7

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by | January 6, 2015 · 9:49 am

Hospitality Industry Management Update: “How Hotels Can Prepare for a Spike in Business”

While emergencies may force some on-the-fly thinking, citywide festivals, high-profile conventions, and major sporting events offer the luxury of time to fully prepare. Hotels make good use of those months—years, in some cases—addressing the situation from multiple angles,surge in business says Javier Rosenberg, COO, Americas, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. If the event involves public figures, security is enhanced to keep celebrities separate from fans. If traffic will be heavy, alternate travel routes are identified and schedules adapted to reach destinations on time.

Talk to anyone who has worked in the hotel industry for any length of time, and chances are you can uncover a story or two involving a surprise guest surge. For Robert Holmes, one of his most poignant experiences occurred less than two hours into his first morning manning the front desk at the Park Hyatt Washington D.C. in Georgetown on Sept. 11, 2001.

“I was standing at my desk, and I saw all of these people coming in,” Holmes remembers. “I turned to my staff and said, ‘We’re going to get through this.’” Prompted by a bomb threat, the hotel across the street evacuated its guests to the lobby of the Park Hyatt. With flights suspended and the local community on high alert because of the attack on the Pentagon two miles away, visitors were seeking both rooms and solace. Guests who had anticipated checking out suddenly had nowhere to go, while newcomers needed a place to stay.

For more: http://bit.ly/1xBjigV

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by | December 3, 2014 · 8:57 am

Hospitality Industry Security Update: “The Case For Giving Hotels the Same Health Grades as Restaurants”

Many hotels fail to perform adequate background checks on job applicants before hiring them. In September 2011, a woman staying at a Best Western hotel in Arizona woke up in the middle of the nightWashington Post Security to find a man standing over her bed. She says the man raped her. He was a registered level-3 sex offender, according to news reports, but Best Western had hired him as a night clerk and given him a master key to guest rooms, allowing him unfettered access to turn any of its female guests into his next victims

The difference between a hotel room at $75 a night and $750 a night is the view, the extra shampoo, the cost of the pillows, the fluff of the towels. Price is a measure of comfort and service. What must always be the same — at every price — is your security, your safety and cleanliness. Unfortunately, it’s not. Across the country, hotels are skimping on key safety and security measures, and the consequences range from stolen laptops and Peeping Toms to sexual assaults and robbery at gunpoint. More than 125 property crimes are committed in hotels and motels every day, in addition to more than 21 violent crimes (excluding murders).

For more: http://wapo.st/1vnfYFb

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by | September 12, 2014 · 3:08 pm

Hospitality Industry Conference Update: “15th Annual California Tourism Safety & Security Conference”

Last years conference was a huge success and we could not be more excited to be back! Come see Petra’s own Director of Risk Management, Todd Seiders, along with other members of the Petra P3 team. We hope to see you there!

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For more information on our P3 team: http://bit.ly/WUWpWi

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by | December 29, 2013 · 9:47 am

“2014 Hospitality Law Conference” Sponsored By HospitalityLawyer.com On February 10-12 Features Industry Legal, Safety And Security Solutions

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by | December 9, 2013 · 6:53 am

Hospitality Industry Security Solutions: Hotels Increasingly Providing Dedicated “Women’s Floors”; Increased Security And Amenities For Female Travelers

“…The Crowne Plaza Bloomington in Minneapolis also has a Women’s Floor with additional security features and amenities…The hotel saw a Hotel Safety Concerns For Female Travelersneed, given that females now make up 47% of the guest population at Crowne Plaza Hotels and Resorts, says Gina LaBarre, vice president of brand management for Crowne Plaza…”

“…Hotels are responding by setting aside floors with special key access and amenities that women typically prefer…The Naumi Hotel in Singapore has dedicated the third floor, which has nine rooms, to female travelers. Guests have to use a special access card to get in. Amenities include hair straighteners, sanitary products and yoga mats…”

Book a room on the 11th floor of the Hamilton Crowne Plaza here,  and you’ll get special bath salts and body products, a magnifying mirror, nail polish, nail files and a curling iron. They’re not exactly the types of amenities that men would go for, but that’s the point.

The Hamilton Crowne Plaza is one of a small, but growing number of hotels offering floors dedicated to female travelers. These hotels are particularly trying to appeal to female business travelers, who are moving up the career ladder and hitting the road more often.

For more:  http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/hotels/2013/12/08/hotels-women-only-floors/3910931/

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by | November 12, 2013 · 9:35 am

Hospitality Industry Safety Solutions: Hotel And Restaurant Kitchen “Safe Work Practices” To Prevent “Slips, Trips And Falls” Of Young Employees

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https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/youth/restaurant/hazards_slips.html

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by | October 9, 2013 · 6:00 am

“2014 Hospitality Law Conference” Sponsored By HospitalityLawyer.com On February 10-12 Features Industry Legal, Safety And Security Solutions

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by | September 18, 2013 · 8:44 am

Hospitality Industry Safety Risks: Pennsylvania Restaurant Owner Faces “Wrongful Death Lawsuit”; Man Suffered Cuts, Cardiac Arrest After Falling Thru “Plate Glass Door”

“…The complaint claims that (the restaurant owner) knew the glass doors were unsafe, and, “despite owning and operating the restaurant and premises for decades … never even attempted to make the plate glass entrance door even marginally safer, such as Hospitality Industry Wrongful Death Lawsuitsthrough the application of widely available safety films that are applied to glass and cost only a few dollars per square foot of coverage…(the victim) allegedly suffered several cardiac arrests and was pronounced dead at 2:03 p.m. due to “penetrating injuries to the neck leading to acute hemorrhagic shock.””

A widow blames hazardous plate glass for the death of her retired college professor husband who badly cut his throat on the shattered door of a sandwich shop.

Plate glass, also known as annealed glass, “constitutes a well-known safety hazard when broken because such glass can break into large, sharp and unreasonably dangerous jagged shards if impacted,” according to the complaint in Butler County, Pa.

Laminated or tempered glass is safer because it “fractures into small relatively harmless cubes that are less likely to cause significant injury,” the complaint adds.  Cynthia Brunken sued Bob’s Sub and Sandwich Shop, located in Slippery Rock Commons, and its owner Cindy Marlowe for wrongful death.

A national standard was officially recognized in 1966 and an act was created in Pennsylvania “Requiring the Use of Safety Glazing Materials.”

“Despite the known and obvious risks involved with the use of plate glass or annealed glass entrance doors, the glass entrance door used at the Bob’s Sub and Sandwich Shop restaurant on June 3, 2013 contained dangerous plate glass or annealed glass, and did not incorporate adequate or safer glazing material, rendering the glass door unreasonably dangerous to customers, business invitees and specifically, Glen W. Brunken,” according to the complaint.

For more:  http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/09/18/61234.htm

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by | August 25, 2013 · 6:13 am

Hospitality Industry Health And Safety: Hotels And Restaurants Avoid Onsite “Automated External Defibrillator (AED)” Placement And Training Due To Concerns About Risks And Liability

“…the American Hotel and Lodging Association, singled out the patchwork of state laws as a major reason hotels in the U.S. “do not uniformly provide training and AEDs onsite,” in a 2009 report.

AED Defibrillator Sign“…across America, there is anything but agreement among states about rules for the use of automated external defibrillators (or AEDs): Where they must be located; if they should be registered so authorities know where they are; whether a business that installs one is fully protected from liability; or even if a company is obliged to use one if someone on the premises suffers sudden cardiac arrest…”

There is no dispute that portable defibrillators, simple-to-use device that supply jolts to shock a stilled heart to beat again, could save tens of thousands of lives a year in this country alone if they are accessible to willing bystanders.

And some experts say the uneven patchwork of laws and regulations is a worrisome barrier to more widespread distribution and use of the battery-powered devices, which, if employed within minutes of cardiac arrest, can bring a person back to life.

For instance, many AEDs still carry labels saying they should only be used by “medical professionals” even though there are laws in every state giving “good Samaritan” protection to anyone who tries to use one to save the life of someone in cardiac arrest.

“The concerns about risk and liability remain very high,” said Richard Lazar, president of Readiness Systems LLC, a Portland, Ore., firm that consults with businesses and governments on AED training and placement.

Mandates for where AEDs should be placed are a national checkerboard. Nineteen states impose no mandates. But, in New York state, AEDs are required in health clubs, while in Florida, they’re mandatory in public high schools. Yet recent court rulings in both states have held that, just because those facilities are required to have the devices, they are under no legal obligation to use them.

For more:  http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2013/aug/25/aed-laws-cause-confusion/

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