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WorkSafeBC updates Nelly Wong, a room attendant for Vancouver’s Coast Coal Harbour Hotel, strives to maintain the correct, upright posture while replacing pillows on a bed. Room attendants take centre stage By Heather Allen Cleaning hotel rooms is a tough job, and when it’s not done properly, there are countless ways to get hurt. This year, members of the tourism industry went straight back to the source — the room attendants themselves — to enlist their help in demonstrating safe cleaning techniques to their co-workers, many of whom speak English as a second language. Their solution? Develop an injury-prevention video that relies largely on images, rather than words, and involve the room attendants directly in video content development and production. That way, workers are more likely to view the video and use it to develop safer work habits. The video, which was filmed at two downtown Vancouver hotels — the Sylvia and Coast Coal Harbour — features real room attendants. “That was an important decision,” says Ross Dyck, manager of the Sylvia Hotel and a member of the hotel industry’s technical advisory committee. Sylvia Hotel workers helped with video production. “During the filming, you could see that the room attendants were interested in getting every detail just right. You can tell the difference between an actor and someone who takes pride in, and really knows how to do the job.” Nelly Wong has been a room attendant with Coast Coal Harbour Hotel since it opened in January 2010, and has recently been promoted to room checker after her employer cited her “high standards for cleanliness and guest service.” She sees the video as a useful resource. “It definitely helps all of us, especially people who speak different languages to be able to see and understand the proper movements, and prevent us from getting hurt while doing the job,” she says. “It’s a great way to encourage us to always be thinking about safety.” A made-to-order safety message Members of the technical advisory committee came together to design, plan, script, and film the video in question, with the goal of trying to reflect the specific causes and types of injuries they were seeing at their own hotels. “This really was the industry’s brainchild,” says Trina Pollard, industry health and safety manager at go2HR, B.C.’s tourism and hospitality human resource association, and overseer of the committee. 16 September / October 2015 | WorkSafe Magazine
“It was pretty inspiring to see competing hotels work together like this.” —Trina Pollard, industry health and safety manager for go2HR The committee included their findings in the video, which features six distinct how-to cleaning demonstrations designed to prevent strains and sprains: bed-making, bathroom cleaning, cloth-wringing, high-surface dusting, garbage-can emptying, and vacuuming. The video is also available in the Filipino language of Tagalog, a language shared by many room attendants. Viewers can watch the video from start to finish, or simply watch one of the 60-to-90-second demonstrations. Pollard says employers can choose to watch the video with their staff, and then try the activities together. At the Coast Coal Harbour, for example, room attendants currently watch a section of the video at the beginning of each morning shift. Goal to improve safety across B.C. Committee members say they designed the video with the hope of spreading the safety message beyond their own hotel employees. Within the hotel industry, housekeeping staff are at the greatest risk of injury. Between 2008 and 2012, 50 percent of all hotel injury claims were associated with housekeeping staff, mostly involving injuries from overexertion and falls. “We felt this was an important way to improve safety across the province,” says Sandra Stewart, committee member and people & culture advisor for Coast Hotels. While WorkSafeBC took part in video production, WorkSafeBC industry specialist Lorne Scarlett says industry really took the lead on this initiative. “I’ve been a part of resource development in the past, and this is the first time I’ve seen this much anticipation and excitement for a safety product; it’s kind of amazing.” Pollard, too, was pleased with the level of collaboration. “It was pretty inspiring to see competing hotels work together like this.” To view the video, visit the Tourism and Hospitality page on worksafebc.com and look in the Spotlight box. W September / October 2015 | WorkSafe Magazine 17
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