Occupational Safety and Health of Laundry Employees in Hotel Industry

Abstract

Employee safety and health is considered to be one of the major important human resource functions for any hotel organization. The current paper focuses on the application of occupational safety and health of laundry employees looking at the nature of the tasks performed in day to day operations. OSH is one of the significant factors responsible for employees inspiration and moreover retention in a hotel organization. Health, safety and performance of the employees are dependent on understanding and application of ergonomic practices followed during laundry operations. The paper explores laundry employee protection against various critical factors such as injuries, accidents, work postures, chemical exposure, heat, fire, noise, etc. A questionnaire was used to perpetuate perception of laundry employees in regard to protection from factors concerning safety and health issues from hotels of India. The results reveal that some of the OSH practices are been followed in hotels, while some were missing from hotels such as training, periodical audit and protection against chemical hazards. The present study suggests need for adopting OSH practices and enforcing periodical check for the same in every hotel besides of its categorization.

Health and Safety Practices in Hotels in Central Region, Ghana: Does Being a TVET-Trained Housekeeper Matter?

“…The target population was all the housekeepers working at hotels in Cape Coast and Elmina at the time of this study. In total, 51 hotels were involved in the study -46 in Cape Coast and five (5) in Elmina (Ghana Hotels Association, 2022). This number comprised only hotels registered with and recognised by the Ghana Hotels Association, as at 10 th September, 2022.…”

“…Furthermore, it saves management of firms from being prosecuted, as health and safety practices are legal requirements in some jurisdictions (Shapoval et al, 2022). It further shows how committed a firm is to sustainability and corporate social responsibility which involves how workers are protected, and this draws investors to the firm (Ambardar & Raheja, 2017). Again, a good health and safety record serves as a source of competitive advantage, and contributes to building trusted reputation and brand, since poor health and safety practices may directly affect trade and profitability of a firm (Ambardar et al, 2017;Al-Akash et al, 2022).…”

The impact of ergonomic practices on housekeeping employee retention and efficiency in hotels during COVID-19 in India

“…The questionnaire for this research was designed with measures from several published studies (see Table 1) while some for working conditions were also guided by Ambardar and Raheja (2017) who have contributed towards their examination in the hotel industry. To operationalize the construct of risk assessment and control, some relevant items were drawn from Hsieh, Apostolopoulos and Sönmez (2013), Health and Safety Executive (2021), while Stensholt (2007) has highlighted similar significant points.…”

A wearable technology solution and research agenda for housekeeper safety and health

“…Hotel housekeepers endure a higher rate of musculoskeletal disorders than any other type of hotel worker Wearable technology solution and research agenda (Buchanan et al, 2010), resulting in lost work of up to 6 days per year on average (Premji and Krause, 2010). Housekeepers who work in exterior-corridor hotels, clean rooms without consistent air-conditioning, complete laundry-related tasks, or work for hotels in particularly hot or humid regions may also be at risk for heat stress and heat exhaustion after being exposed to extreme heat or working in these hot environments (Ambardar, 2015;Kjellstrom et al, 2013).…”