A Guide to Hotel Safety
Your hotel safety begins with you. Your hotel can have many safety hazards. In-fact if something can go wrong, it most definitely will.
As a hotel manager you will have to worry about keeping the guest, team members and property safe from many perils.
With the recent ruling by Supreme Court on the liability of cars parked in your property, you now have an additional piece of area to worry about.
In this post we will look at some of the Key areas that deserve your attention daily.
Local laws impacting your hotel
As a hotel manager, you need to be aware of the local laws impacting your hotel. While most laws are central in nature, there may be some local laws framed by the municipality or corporation.
It is in your best interest to have an understanding of the various laws.
Some of the laws impacting your operation will be:
- Fire safety
- Food inspection
- Environment health and safety
- Licensing
- Foreigners registration
- Copyright
- GDPR
- Information protection
Emergency situation management
In order to manage your emergencies well, you need to be prepared for it.
While we all would like to avoid any situation that will put ourselves in danger, it is handled best when everyone know what is to be done.
The first process is to prepare a Crisis management document. This is like a guide book and should cover all aspects of safety.
It must address common threats like :
- Fire safety
- Foodborne illness procedure
- Flooding
- Sudden death or suicide on the property
- Theft at property
- Bomb threat
- Civil unrest
- Kidnapping / Hostage situation
- Natural calamities like earthquake, floods, forest fires, etc
What is your role in preventing calamities at your hotel?
You are responsible for all areas in the hotel. As part of your daily routine, make sure you walk all areas of the hotel.
If you see something wrong, fix it immediately.
The most common cause of death in fire accident are blocked fire exits. It can be avoided by just clearing things lying in the fire staircase.
Make a checklist and walk the areas everyday. Or make a calendar and walk it on a schedule. But walking around your hotel is the surest way to fix things that are broken
Maintain emergency equipment with scheduled repairs, AMC and testing.
In conclusion
As a manager, you are responsible for your hotel safety and that of your guest, employees and property.
You can do that by being prepared. Also safety need not be a job of a single person
Train your team to handle critical emergencies that can happen in your property