Hotel housekeepers are getting hurt.
We all know the burden of housework. The mopping, scrubbing, and folding can seem endless. We also know the stress it puts on our bodies — a strained muscle from lifting a load of laundry or an aching back from tucking sheets under a heavy mattress.
Hotel housekeepers know the stress of this work all too well. Studies show that hotel workers have an injury rate 25% higher than all service workers, and among hotel workers—housekeepers
experience the highest injury rates. In a survey of over 600 housekeepers, 91% of housekeepers reported having suffered work-related pain. Nearly all housekeepers are women, and research shows that women are 50% more likely to be injured than men who work at hotels. Latina housekeepers are twice as likely as their white counterparts to get injured on the job.
Over time, cleaning hotel rooms can lead to debilitating injuries that in some instances require surgical intervention, physical therapy, or lead to permanent disability, like the loss of the full use of one’s arm.
Here’s why.
Hotel housekeepers face the risk of injury due to heavy workloads. Lifting mattresses that can weigh over 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.
In a study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine examining a total of 50 hotel properties from 5 different hotel companies, Hyatt housekeepers had the highest injury rate of all housekeepers studied when compared by hotel company.
At some Hyatt hotels, room attendants clean as many as 30 rooms a day, nearly double what is commonly required in the industry. This workload leaves room attendants as little as 15 minutes to clean a room—that’s 15 minutes to make beds, scrub clean the toilet bowl, bathtub and all bathroom surfaces, dust, vacuum, empty the trash, change linens—among other things.
Rushing to complete the work takes a dangerous toll on workers’ bodies, in some cases leading to permanent injuries. Injured workers must often choose between continuing to work in pain or not working at all. A tough decision in today’s economy.
Simple solutions can make the difference.
Hotels can take simple steps to reduce the health risks associated with housekeeping work. Things as common sense as fitted sheets, like we use at home, save women from lifting heavy mattresses repeatedly over a day. Long handled mops and dusters, rather than rags, mean that room attendants don’t have to get down on their hands and knees to clean the floors or climb on bathtubs to reach high surfaces. A reasonable room quota means room attendants aren’t forced to rush around, risking slips and falls. These changes can mean the difference between healthy bodies or hurt housekeepers.
Hyatt hotel housekeepers in eight cities across the U.S. are filing injury complaints and recommending common sense solutions
with the governmental agencies responsible for safeguarding the American workplace. The landmark multi-city filing involving 12 Hyatt properties that employ over 3,500 workers is the first of its kind in the private sector. It is an important step in making hotel work safe.
We all know the burden of housework. The mopping, scrubbing, and folding can seem endless. We also know the stress it puts on our bodies — a strained muscle from lifting a load of laundry or an aching back from tucking sheets under a heavy mattress.
Hotel housekeepers know the stress of this work all too well. Studies show that hotel workers have an injury rate 25% higher than all service workers, and among hotel workers—housekeepers
experience the highest injury rates. In a survey of over 600 housekeepers, 91% of housekeepers reported having suffered work-related pain. Nearly all housekeepers are women, and research shows that women are 50% more likely to be injured than men who work at hotels. Latina housekeepers are twice as likely as their white counterparts to get injured on the job.
Over time, cleaning hotel rooms can lead to debilitating injuries that in some instances require surgical intervention, physical therapy, or lead to permanent disability, like the loss of the full use of one’s arm.
Here’s why.
Hotel housekeepers face the risk of injury due to heavy workloads. Lifting mattresses that can weigh over 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.
In a study published in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine examining a total of 50 hotel properties from 5 different hotel companies, Hyatt housekeepers had the highest injury rate of all housekeepers studied when compared by hotel company.
At some Hyatt hotels, room attendants clean as many as 30 rooms a day, nearly double what is commonly required in the industry. This workload leaves room attendants as little as 15 minutes to clean a room—that’s 15 minutes to make beds, scrub clean the toilet bowl, bathtub and all bathroom surfaces, dust, vacuum, empty the trash, change linens—among other things.
Rushing to complete the work takes a dangerous toll on workers’ bodies, in some cases leading to permanent injuries. Injured workers must often choose between continuing to work in pain or not working at all. A tough decision in today’s economy.
Simple solutions can make the difference.
Hotels can take simple steps to reduce the health risks associated with housekeeping work. Things as common sense as fitted sheets, like we use at home, save women from lifting heavy mattresses repeatedly over a day. Long handled mops and dusters, rather than rags, mean that room attendants don’t have to get down on their hands and knees to clean the floors or climb on bathtubs to reach high surfaces. A reasonable room quota means room attendants aren’t forced to rush around, risking slips and falls. These changes can mean the difference between healthy bodies or hurt housekeepers.
Hyatt hotel housekeepers in eight cities across the U.S. are filing injury complaints and recommending common sense solutions
with the governmental agencies responsible for safeguarding the American workplace. The landmark multi-city filing involving 12 Hyatt properties that employ over 3,500 workers is the first of its kind in the private sector. It is an important step in making hotel work safe.
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