The current trend is of using the term safety in discussing matters such as disaster prevention, protection devices and conditions that provide for freedom from injury and damage to property. Security, however, is used more as a means to describe the need for freedom from fear, anxiety and doubt, as well as the protection and defence against the loss or theft of property. Both terms are, however, more generally recognised as parts of a greater whole.
The two most important aspects of emergencies are that they are unforeseeable and un-controllable. Both of these factors produce unwanted and unanticipated side effects. It is therefore imperative that there be advance planning and that training and drills be held in combating all types of emergencies.
The executive housekeeper in any hotel has long been involved in security procedures directly or indirectly. It has now become imperative for all the housekeeping staff to have adequate knowledge and to be involved in the analysis of risks being taken daily by the company, and in the management of such risks in such a way as to reduce the threat to the comapany’s assets. It is, therefore, necessary to understand what might be recognised as the assets of a hospitality business. The assets fall into three broad categories:
Human – Guests and employees
Physical – Land, equipment, inventory & facility
Intrinsic – Goodwill and reputation
What the housekeeping department can do
No other hotel employee has as much access to hotel assets and guest property as the members of the housekeeping department. No one is more sensitive to the problems of theft from hotel guestrooms than the honest attendant who is known to possess a floor master key to a guestroom that has just been robbed. There is this assumption that, because housekeeping has a key to the room, if anything is missing, the department is by default the culprit, but there are instances when thefts have been triggered from within the housekeeping employees. Housekeeping personnel have reach to all the areas of the hotel and have maximum knowledge of guest areas and public areas. Any terror activity can easily be planned in a hotel if one has help from the housekeeping department. To avoid this, organisation should ensure the following:
Professional hiring practices:
- Use of proper screening methods during hiring operations. Complete applications, including follow-up of questionable information and reference checks, are vital to good hiring practices.
- Gaps in employment history on applications may hide significant information.
- Every employee should understand that references will be checked before any hiring decision will be made. When making reference checks, phone calls are often better than requests in writing.
Positive identification techniques
Large properties require identification of all employees, usually by a badge system that contains a photograph, signature and a colour code indicating the department or work area of the employee. Such identification systems discourage people bent on stealing by trying to pass off as employees. Uniform also identifies staff and helps expose employees who are out of their work areas without good explanations.
With the renewed awareness, security is no longer the job of just the security department. Today, security is the responsibility of all who work for the organisation.They should have concerns regarding the volatility and fragility of our hospitality industry with regard to foreseeable security and safety matters.
Theft orientation and attitude training
During employee training, it is important to remind trainees that even though the vast majority of employees are completely honest, one dishonest staff with a passkey can be devastating to an operation. One such person in the midst of other honest employees could cast mistrust over the entire organisation. Employees should understand that it is each one’s duty not only to encourage honesty among fellow workers but also to confront and bring forth those who would cause any employee to fall under suspicion of dishonesty.
Close supervision on key control programme
Regular locker inspections
Although regular and routine locker inspections (even though unannounced) are conducted primarily to ensure that items such as company property and soiled uniforms are not being allowed to accumulate in lockers, the knowledge that a locker inspection could occur at any time tacitly disqualifies the locker as a place for temporarily storing contraband items.
Inventory control programmes
Inventory of guest supplies, cleaning supplies, linens and other capital items should be taken regularly. Employees who have been counselled to be careful with supplies need to be appreciated when their efforts have brought about cost reductions.
Records of missing items
When items are reported or found to be missing, make cross-reference files of the item by the type and of the employee who could have been involved. Sometimes patterns develop that are valuable in uncovering causes for the loss.
Employee parking
Employee parking areas should be sufficiently far away from buildings and structures so as to make it difficult to slip in and out of an entrance several times a day and into a parked car. Areas to and from employee parking should be well lit.
Trash handling
The handling and disposal of trash is a significant part of housekeeping. This job should be monitored by supervisors on a rotating basis. Because of the possibility that trash might be used to hide contraband, it should not be allowed to accumulate near incoming supplies and equipment.
When it comes to guests…
Guests bent on stealing linen can bring as much havoc to inventory cost as employees or outsiders who have targeted the hotel as a source for contraband. All rooms should be checked on departure before the guest settles the bill. Checking of mini bar is a very good reason for the same. Housekeeping staff should be security conscious and immediately report about missing items or unusual items left behind by guests to the lobby manager or supervisors.
Housekeeping staff must be trained never to open a door of a guestroom with their keys for anyone claiming to be a guest unless they have personally observed the person to be the guest of the same room.
The new check in procedures in hotels after 26/11 have been a very positive move towards securing the establishment from unknown people, like taking a photo identification proof from the guest prior to check in. The introduction of baggage X-ray machines and metal detectors for guest entrances has become imperative for security issues.
Hotel Rooms
Hotels have a legal responsibility to provide secure premises within which guests may abide. The protection of guests within their rooms must be paramount.
Reasonable security for guestrooms includes the following:
- Latching devices that require a key to open or unlock the door from the outside.
- Double locks that are an integral part of latch bolts set from inside the room; must be capable of being opened from outside the room with an emergency passkey only.
- A peephole installed in the room door whereby the guestroom occupant may see who is on the outside of the door before opening it.
- A door chain that may be set from inside the room and let the guest speak to the caller before opening the room.
- Drapes that fully close and are capable of blacking out the room in bright sunlight.
- Locking latches and chain locks on all sliding glass doors.
- Card entry systems:. The card operates the assigned room door with a combination that has been set just for the new occupant. Housekeeping and other master cards may be set or reset as per the needs.
- Safe deposit boxes with personal code to be kept in rooms to store valuables.
- Rooms with privacy signs or double locked for more than a day should be of concern to the management. Housekeeping should ensure that this information reaches superiors.
Each day, the management or its representative should check a room to ensure that the room has not been vandalised or furniture and fixtures not destroyed and there is no guest in distress in the room. Without specific information, it is considered reasonable to enter the guest’s room between the hours of 8am and 4pm daily to service the room unless otherwise the guest leaves a specific request for late service.
Training
Because property is replaceable but life is not, it is obvious where most concern must rest. The burden is first to prevent any occurrence that may bring about any emergencies. Because housekeeping employees are usually in the vicinity of the guests during daytime, it is important that they are well trained in procedures that create confidence in the guests.
Fire
Contrary to common belief, fire does not chase people down and burn them to death. It is almost always the by-products of fire that kill. Smoke and panic will more likely be the causes of death long before a fire arrives, if it ever does. All employees, especially housekeeping staff, should be explained on the effects of smoke and be taught to avoid smoke and panic.
Bomb threats
The hotel personnel involved during a bomb threat will probably be the operator, telephone department and hotel management, along with the fire or police department. Whether a hotel should be evacuated is the decision of the on-scene commander, who is usually a member of the local police or fire department. In most cases, selected personnel who thoroughly know the hotel will be part of search teams; the executive housekeeper, chief engineer, resident manager and other such management personnel might become involved with property searches. The hotel facility must always be kept clean and free of debris and unnecessary equipment and supplies. If everything is neatly stored in its proper place, suspicious looking articles are much easier to spot. Housekeeping should be trained to notice strange things and also not to touch them when a property search for a possible explosive device is in progress.
Natural disasters
Floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and sometimes freezing temperatures and snowstorms are natural disasters. When such events happen, some hotels tend to get empty, whereas others get filled up, depending on the location and type of the problem. At the event of a natural disaster or extreme weather, provision should be made for employees to stay in the hotel.
Riots and civil disturbances
Civil disturbances may originate in the hotel or may start miles away and drift into the hotel. People in an unruly crowd at a football game may return to their accommodations and continue their unruliness. Housekeeping personnel should be exposed to the possibilities that such events could take place and should be trained in techniques that will calm unruly people. This is another reason for close observation of the temperament and attitude of employees during probationary periods of employment.
Although it is the duty of all hotels to provide a secure area within for guests to have a relaxing, comfortable and safe stay, guests must be prudent and cautious. Hotel personnel should therefore never imply that there is nothing to worry about when staying in the hotel. To the contrary, they should gently and appropriately remind guests to be cautious about leaving doors unlocked and about reasonable rules of security.
