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Safety and security
Hotels must exercise reasonable care for guest and employee safety, though they are not required to ensure absolute safety. If a hotel fails to exercise reasonable care and a guest is injured, the hotel may be held liable. Various threats exist to a hotel's assets, including internal threats like employee theft of cash, time, property, or services, and external threats such as robbery, guest theft, or fraudulent room sales. Hotels implement measures like bonding employees, security cameras, emergency plans, and staff training to improve safety and mitigate threats to assets.
Safety and security
- 1. Chapter 9: Safety andProperty Security
- 2. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Hotels are not required to ensure guest safety. However, must exercise reasonable care for guest and employee safety. Hotel may be held wholly or partially liable for resulting loss or injury if it is found that a hotel has exhibited an absence of reasonable care for guest safety. Personal Safety: Legal Liability & Guest Safety Protection of an individual’s physical well-being and healthSafety Protection of an individual or of business’ property or assetsSecurity Hotels are not required to ensure guest safety.
- 3. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Facility Engineering & Maintenance Local law enforcement officials can provide no-cost safety and security training for employees. Training employees to 1) ensure guest safety, 2) work safely, and 3) assist hotel’s security efforts. Employee safety training is an ongoing process Reinforces that: Guest safety and hotel security is the responsibility of every manager, supervisor, & employee of the hotel. Personal Safety: Staffing for Security Operation of Safety & Security Committee Employee safety training Local law enforcement
- 4. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Reduce chance for guests to be victimized in their rooms by someone who had rented the same room on a prior night Help reduce the incident of employee theft from rooms Personal Safety: Safety Resources Recodable locks Surveillance systems Use of VCR - Recording activity at front desk, in parking areas, and near cashiers Use of CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television) -In a multiple-entry property where management desires to monitor activity outside each entrance
- 5. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Internal alarms Alarm systems Notify (contact) an external entity such as fire or police departments if alarm is activated Contact alarms Personal Safety: Safety Resources Serve to deter criminal or mischief activity Notify an area within the hotel if alarm is activated Protect storage areas, hotel facilities (pools, spa, and exercise areas), and hotel and perimeter Both federal law and local building codes mandate hotel fire alarms
- 6. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Fire / power outages / severely inclement weather / robbery / death or injury to a guest or employee / bomb threat / intense negative publicity by the media Personal Safety: Safety Resources Emergency Plans: the identification of a threat to the safety and security of the hotel & hotel’s planned response to the threat Response to events in most hotels’ emergency plans An emergency plan must be a written document, including: Type of crisis Who should be told when the crisis occurs What should be done and who should do it in the crisis Who should be informed of the results or impact of the crisis when it is over Where practical, hotels should practice implementation of their plan !
- 7. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Figure 9.3 lists ten key practices for parking lot safety Figure 9.2 lists ten key practices for spa safety Figure 9.1 lists ten key practices for swimming pool safety Swimming pools Personal Safety: Special Safety Issues Spas Parking lots Always remember how to improve guest safety and minimize the legal liability of the hotel!
- 8. Hotel Operations Management,1/e All hotels should document their safety and security related efforts! Personal Safety: Documenting Safety Efforts Prepare & complete MOD checklists for each critical area of hotel - Appropriate frequency, content and number of checklist should be determined Incident reports listing the “who, what, where, and how” should be filed and maintained Document minutes from safety and security committee meetings, general staff meeting’s notes relevant to safety issues, records of employee training related to safety and security, and safety seminars attended by employees
- 9. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Provide a safe workplace for employees by complying with OSHA safety and health standards Personal Safety: Occupational Safety & Health Administration OSHA regulations ensure businesses: Provide workers with only tools and equipment that meet OSHA specifications for health and safety Establish training programs for employees who operate dangerous equipment Report to OSHA within 48 hrs of any worksite accident that results in fatality or requires hospitalization of five or more employees Maintain the “OSHA Log 200” (an on-site record of work- related injuries or illness) and submit it to OSHA once per year
- 10. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Display OSHA notices regarding employee rights and safety in prominent places within the hotel OSHA regulations ensure businesses (continued…) Provide all employees access to the Material Safety Data Sheets that provide information about the dangerous chemicals they may be handling during work Personal Safety: The Occupational Safety & Health Administration Offer no-cost hepatitis B vaccinations for employees who may have come into contact with blood or body fluids Compliance with OSHA standards Results in Fewer accidents lower insurance costs healthier workforce
- 11. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Hotels bond those employees in a position to embezzle funds Property Security: Threats to Asset Security - Internal Threats Methods of fraud related to cashiering Charging guests for items not purchased, then keeping the overcharge Changing totals on credit card charges after the guest has left or imprinting additional credit card charges and pocketing the cash difference Misadding legitimate charges to create a higher-than-appropriate total with the intent of keeping the overcharge Voiding legitimate sales as “mistakes” and keeping the cash amount of the legitimate sale Facility Engineering & Maintenance 9 Charging higher-than-appropriate prices for hotel goods or services, recording the proper price, then keeping the overcharge
- 12. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Property Security: Threats to Asset Security - Internal Threats (continued….) Time Should have strong controls in place regarding time cards. Three noncash assets most subject to employee theft: Company property Carefully screen employees prior to hiring Reduce theft opportunities by using effective security Treat all proven cases of similar theft in a similar manner Services Monitor long-distance telephone bills generated by each administrative telephone extension number
- 13. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Property Security: Threats to Asset Security - External Threats Cash Robbery is not the occasion to attempt the protection of cash assets. Robbery is the time to protect staff ! During a robbery, complying with robber’s demands and observing the robber should be the employee’s sole concern. If no contact alarm is installed in the cashier’s cash drawer, an employee who is robbed should, at the earliest safe opportunity, contact local law enforcement officials as well as others indicated in the robbery section of the hotel’s emergency plan.
- 14. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Other assets: security-conscious manager: Property Security: Threats to Asset Security External Threats (continued….) Hang all artwork in lobbies & guest rooms with lock-down style hangers Avoid placing valuable decorations & décor pieces in areas where they can be easily taken by guests Train room attendants to alert management if excessive amounts of in-room items go missing from stay-over rooms Bolt televisions securely to guestroom furniture Train all employees to be alert regarding loss of hotel property & to report any suspicious activity
- 15. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Guest-theft of housekeeping supplies Theft from guest rooms by room attendants or other employees - best policy is to report the incident to local law enforcement Largest area of security concern is fraudulent selling of rooms Use housekeeping discrepancy report to detect room revenue fraud Front Office Property Security: Threats to Asset Security Department-Specific Threats to Asset Security Housekeeping
- 16. Hotel Operations Management,1/e Employee theft of hand tools and supplies Implementing a sign-in/sign-out program for tools Misstating mileage traveled, clients entertained, or sales trips taken Hotel suppliers such as silverware and glassware taken by guests Employees accepting kickbacks from vendors or by purchasing, then stealing, food and beverage items intended for the hotel Food & Beverage Property Security: Threats to Asset Security Department-Specific Threats to Asset Security Sales & Marketing Maintenance & Engineering
Editor's Notes
- #3 Differentiate the meaning between safety and security. Emphasize that laws do not hold hotels responsible for everything that happens to guests during their stay as long as the hotel has exhibited a legal standard of “reasonable care” for guest safety. Explain the meaning of “reasonable care” (a legal concept identifying the amount of care a reasonably prudent person would exercise in a specific situation) and liability (being legally bound to compensate for loss or injury)
- #4 Safety and Security Committee is an interdepartmental task force comprising hotel managers, supervisors, and hourly employees charged with monitoring and refining a hotel’s safety and security efforts. Question 2 in “Issues at Work” (Chapter 9) reinforces that all of the hotel’s employees should share concern for guest safety. This question further asks who should be responsible to ensure whether activities for guest safety are implemented successfully or not, depending on the size of hotel.
- #5 * Quality recodable locks consist of electronic door locks that “stand-alone”, meaning that there is no need to wire the locks back to a central computer.
- #6 When the E&M department implements a “replace as needed” program, it means a parts or equipment replacement plan that delays installing a new, substitute part until the original part fails or is in near failure; on the other hand, a “total replacement” program involves a parts or equipment replacement plan that involves installing new or substitute parts based on a predetermined schedule. Question 1 in “Issues at Work” (Chapter 11) asks students to discuss factors influencing the decision between “replace as need” approach and systematic “total replacement”.
- #7 When safety and security emergencies occur in the hotel, hotel management and employees must deal with those emergent situations quickly and appropriately. To do so, the G.M. together with appropriate managers need to plan ahead for foreseeable crises such as severe weather storms. The emergency plan can be used to prepare the hotel for a crisis. Emergency plan is a document describing a hotel’s predetermined, intended response to a safety/security threat. Question 3 in “Issues at Work” (Chapter 9) asks a student’ opinion on whether he or she would include “fire drill” that involve clearing the hotel of all guests as a way of practicing the final plan’s implementation, if he or she were a G.M.?
- #8 * Discuss the first case study at “Managers at Work” relating to the safety issues in swimming pools.
- #9 MOD (Manager on Duty) is the individual on the hotel property responsible for making any management decisions required during the period he or she is MOD. Refer to Figure 9.4 to view the sample of the MOD checklist for parking areas. If wished, extend the discussion by creating one more MOD checklist example in the area of swimming pools and/or spas. Incident report documents details of an accident, injury, or disturbance, and the hotel’s response to it. Emphasize that the hotel’s documenting efforts relating to the safety and security of guests can be useful to prove that hotel has exercised reasonable care toward protecting guest safety/security.
- #10 Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) is a written statement describing the potential hazards of, and best ways to handle, a chemical or toxic substance. An MSDS is provided by the manufacturer of the chemical or toxic substance to the buyer of the product and must be posted and made available where it is easily accessible to those who will actually use the product.
- #12 Revisit the terms of safety and security here again. Safety-related hotel programs are designed to keep people safe from harm, whereas security-related efforts are directed toward protecting property from theft or damage. Embezzlement is the theft of a company’s financial assets by an employee. Bond(ing) means purchasing an insurance policy against the possibility that an employee will steal.
- #13 Current technology is available to assist a chief engineer determine what must be maintained and how frequently to schedule preventative maintenance program
- #16 * Discrepancy report is a daily comparison between the status of rooms as listed by the PMS at the front office, and the status of rooms as listed by the housekeeping department. The second case study at “Managers at work” provides a scenario of a guest complaint about theft of her necklace from her room while she was away, and she claims her loss against the hotel. The text presents four possibilities: 1) the guest is mistaken, and the necklace reported stolen has been misplaced, 2) the guest is attempting to defraud the hotel, 3) the theft was committed but by another guest, 4) a hotel employee, in fact, committed the theft. What sort of tools can help to determine such a scenario?