OFF OUR KNEES:

Hotel Housekeepers Win CalOSHA Citation and Sen.

Appropriations Support to End “On Your Knees” Bathroom

Cleaning and Backbreaking Bed-Making Practices

CalOSHA citation, committee approval Boost De León Bill to End

“Modern Short-Handled Hoe”

SACRAMENTO, CA - The California Applicants' Attorneys Association (CAAA) and UNITE

HERE today said that an OSHA citation and Senate Appropriations Committee approval of SB

432 (De León) will help propel their efforts to outlaw housekeeping practices that result in

housekeepers cleaning bathroom floors on their knees and lifting heavy mattresses for lack of

fitted sheets. The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (CalOSHA) has

issued citations alleging that the Hyatt Andaz Hotel in West Hollywood has failed to comply

with multiple state safety regulations. The State Senate Appropriations Committee approved the

measure Thursday on a 6 to 3 vote. The bill will be heard on the State Senate Floor next week.

Hotel housekeepers frequently clean bathroom floors on their hands and knees, an unsafe and

degrading practice that is tolerated by too many hotel employers. This practice, combined with

the failure to provide fitted sheets like those used in homes, has led to an unacceptable rate of

back and other work-related injuries. A landmark study reported in the American Journal of

Industrial Medicine (2009) by a team of researchers from four universities and UNITE HERE

found that hotel housekeepers, particularly females, had the highest injury rates of any hotel

service workers in the study. Female housekeepers, especially Hispanic women, had the highest

risk of injury. Hispanic women were almost twice as likely to be injured as white housekeepers.

The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration (CalOSHA) has issued citations

alleging that the Hyatt Andaz Hotel in West Hollywood has failed to comply with multiple state

safety regulations. CalOSHA also highlighted concerns about repetitive motion injuries to

housekeepers owing to potential hazards arising from the tasks of bed making and floor cleaning.

CAAA news release, Hotel Housekeepers Seek to End “On Your Knees”, May 27, 2011; page 2

In an information memo issued to the Hyatt Andaz on May 20, CalOSHA identified instances of

housekeepers who suffered medically diagnosed repetitive motion injuries while making beds

and cleaning bathroom floors on hands and knees.

The agency said the hotel should consider using fitted sheets and tools, among other measures, to

prevent repetitive motion injuries to housekeepers.

CalOSHA put the Hyatt Andaz on notice, warning that if it fails to remedy these potentially

hazardous conditions and workers become injured in the future, CalOSHA may issue citations.

The agency advised that such citations could be classified as ‘willful,’ which is a more severe

type of citation with potentially stiffer penalties.

The hazard memo – the first of its kind for hotels in California and nationwide – comes as state

legislators weigh a proposed bill requiring hotels to provide long-handled tools and fitted sheets

to prevent housekeeper injuries. The full Senate will vote on the legislation, SB 432 (D-De

Leon), next week.

“Working as a housekeeper for 14 years has taken a toll on my body. When I injured my back

making a bed, I was on medication for months,” said Morena Hernandez, a Hyatt Andaz

housekeeper. “I hope CalOSHA’s recommendation for fitted sheets and tools can help the hotel

industry see that SB 432 can be a simple, positive way to make our jobs safer.”

CalOSHA’s citations are a result of investigations following injury complaints lodged by Hyatt

housekeepers in November 2010. In total, CalOSHA proposed $7,000 in fines against the Hyatt

Andaz for various alleged safety violations found in the hotel.

SB 432 is designed to eliminate the very hazards that are the subject of CalOSHA’s information

memo – injuries housekeepers endure from cleaning bathroom floors on their knees and lifting

heavy mattresses repeatedly for lack of fitted sheets. The bill’s sponsor, the California

Applicants Attorneys Association, intends to amend the bill in the Assembly to clarify that the

law will be enforced with existing OSHA staff, meaning no additional costs to the state. Another

amendment will make clear that if a hotel can introduce a better ergonomic remedy to reduce

housekeeper injury, it will be allowed to apply for a variance from the bill’s requirements.

The Hyatt has 15 working days to pay the $7,000 in proposed penalties or file an appeal.

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