In this day and age, health and safety is vital in pretty much all industries, no matter who you are working with, what services you provide or whatever products you offer. In every single industry, there will be precautions and practices that need to be followed for staff and customers to ensure safe functionality. When more people are involved, health and safety procedures and precautions become stricter as there are more people to ensure the safety of. In the hotel industry, health and safety is vital due to your property catering and providing hospitality for many people inside. Protecting your customers, their belongings, and your premises is all part of health and safety in the hotel industry. In this blog, we have provided you with a variety of health and safety tips for the hotel industry to ensure the safety of staff and customers throughout the year.
Health and Safety Tips For The Hotel Industry
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Check All Visitor Credentials
To ensure improved safety in hotels, it is vital that all visitor credentials are checked when entering. This includes staff, guests, and people who are coming to the hotel to work for example plumbers, builders, florists, temporary catering staff, and more. It is important to also ensure that all staff working inside of the hotel are aware of this protocol. By checking the credentials of everybody who enters your hotel, it will ensure that no trespassers have entered the property, which could lead to rooms being broken into or endanger guests. Checking credentials of all visitors will ensure that nobody without authorisation will enter the property.
Focus on Avoiding Slips and Trips
In hotels and other establishments, slips and trips are one of the most common accidents to arise. Many hotels across the world have multiple floors and steps, meaning the risk of slips and trips can be quite high. Falls from heights can also be dangerous, especially on surfaces such as stairs. In hotels, staff should do their absolute utmost to reduce the risk of guests slipping or tripping. This can be achieved by ensuring that guests are warned when surfaces are wet, ensuring that all floors are in good condition, there are no bumps in the carpet, ensuring that low ceilings or steps near doorways are signed, and there are no obstacles obstructing hallways or stairs. Additionally to this, it is important to ensure that cables are fixed into place across the hotel and are not trailing along the floor, which could easily lead to people falling.
Ensure All Doors Are Locked
Whenever you, your staff, or hotel guests are leaving the hotel property, ensure that all doors are locked and can only be reopened with a hotel passkey or that doors that are open are supervised. It is important to be aware at all times which doors have been opened and if they are now locked or not. Not locking doors could lead to unauthorised access in the hotel, which could potentially put guests, staff, or anybody else inside the hotel in danger. Cleaners must also ensure that all room doors are locked after cleaning. If cleaners were to accidentally leave somebody’s room door open and their belongings ended up being stolen, it could potentially leave the hotel liable.
Learn the Evacuation Plan
Evacuation plans are in place for emergencies such as fires and there are different evacuation plans for each floor and scenario so that everybody inside of the hotel can leave the hotel safely and escape danger. Although the chance of a fire or emergency is slim, it is still vital for all employees to be aware of each evacuation plan that is in place for all areas including stairways, elevators, escalators, and every other area within the hotel. This way, in the instance of an emergency, everybody would be able to leave the hotel safely no matter where in the hotel they are.
Keep All Bedrooms Safe
In your hotel, you must always consider the safety of your guests whilst in their rooms too, not just when they are in the communal areas. In each bedroom, you should always consider the maintenance of in-room electrical equipment such as kettles, hairdryers, televisions, and other potential hazards in the room. Without extra care being taken on electronics within the bedrooms, the electronics could potentially be dangerous. It is also important that the stability of the furniture in each room is also checked to avoid your guests becoming injured in your rooms. If beds, shelves, chairs, or any other furniture in your rooms is unstable, it could cause guests to fall in your rooms and become quickly injured. To prevent this, it is vital that all electronics and furniture are tested.
Besides electronics and furniture, it is also vital to pay close attention to windows in the room to ensure that there is no possibility that somebody could fall out of the window, causing serious injury or potentially death. A suggestion is to install safety brackets on higher rooms to ensure that nobody could potentially fall out of the windows. It is also important to ensure that there is neither a possibility that someone could break into the windows or climb into an open window.
Prioritise Security At All Times
Security should be a priority in every single hotel and every single staff member should be aware, from the front desk personnel to the kitchen chefs. In the hotel, there are four important practices that should always be followed when it comes to hotel security.
The first of these four is to report any suspicious behaviour. This will prevent any illegal activity or crime from occurring in the hotel and will keep everybody inside the hotel safe at all times. The second is to never hand keys to anybody that hasn’t provided ID to prove that they have booked the hotel and are staying in a room. This will increase the safety of people staying inside of the hotel and prevent occurrences such as theft. Thirdly, it is vital that all staff never give out any guest information. This is to ensure all guests are safe. People may be staying in a hotel to avoid somebody else for their safety, so it is vital that guest information is never handed out. Lastly, the last safety precaution to take is to make sure that prohibited areas are well monitored so that guests do not end up where they shouldn’t. By following these four procedures, it should ensure that your hotel is a safe environment for both your staff and visitors to your hotel. Not following these could alternatively have the complete opposite effect.
Make Sure Your Guests Stay is Perfect
A highly efficient way of ensuring guest safety is to provide each individual guest with unmatchable service. Although this should always be a priority, it can also make your guests feel much safer and welcome in your hotel. This could then lead to guests recommending your hotel to their friends and family, or even choosing to stay in your hotel again. From check-in to check-out, it is important to ensure that your guests feel safe and there is nothing in your hotel that may make them feel uncomfortable.
