Hotel Housekeeping in California: How to Prevent Musculoskeletal Injuries

Course description

Housekeepers, room attendants, and cleaners in hotels and other lodging establishments perform many of the same tasks multiple times a day. Some of these repetitive tasks can cause musculoskeletal injuries, or MSIs. An MSI is either an acute onetime injury or cumulative trauma from wear and tear on bones, muscles, joints, nerves, and other soft-tissue parts of the body.
This course provides hotel housekeeping workers and their supervisors in California with the information they need to perform these repetitive or physically stressful tasks efficiently and without injury or discomfort. The course covers the use of cleaning tools and equipment, safe housekeeping practices, and how to report health and safety concerns, as well as describes the MSI prevention program, MIPP.

Compliance:
In addition to this training, employers are required to provide an opportunity for interactive questions and answers with a person knowledgeable about hotel housekeeping equipment and procedures. Employees are encouraged to write down any questions they have while taking the training. Employees can reach out to their supervisor, who will direct them to the designated person to ask their questions after they complete the training.
Employers are required to implement an injury prevention program, or IPP. A written copy of the IPP must be readily accessible during each work shift to employees. Electronic access and other alternatives are permitted as long as there are no barriers to employee access. Before starting this training, make sure you’ve reviewed the facility’s IPP.
To supplement this training, your employer must provide you with hands-on practice using the types and models of equipment and tools that you will be expected to use at work.
Supervisors will need site-specific training in addition to this course. Elements of this training include how to identify hazards, the employer’s hazard correction procedures, how defective equipment can be identified and replaced, how to obtain additional equipment,
how to evaluate the safety of housekeepers’ work practices, and how to effectively communicate with housekeepers regarding any problems needing correction.

Course Duration: 31 min