Hospitality Providers Must View New Cal/OSHA Hotel Housekeeping Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention RegulationHospitality Providers Must View New Cal/OSHA Hotel Housekeeping Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention RegulationIn January the Cal/OSHA Standards Board approved a new regulation that requires hotels and other lodging establishments (such as resorts and bed and breakfast inns) to implement new rules to protect employees who performhousekeeping tasks from any “musculoskeletal injury.”A new General Industry Safety Order –”Hotel Housekeeping Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention” – is intended to address a workplace hazard confronted by housekeepers, namely, a “musculoskeletal injury,” which is defined as “acute injury or cumulative trauma of a muscle, tendon, ligament, bursa, peripheral nerve, joint, bone, spinal disc or blood vessel.” The regulation was petitioned for by the labor union UNITE HERE and contains several union-friendly provisions. Before it can take effect, the regulation must pass the review and approval of the Office of Administrative Law to assure compliance with certain procedural rules. Once approved, the regulation should take effect in the next few months.Currently, most California employers (including hotels) are required to have a written Injury and Illness Prevention Plan, which must include provisions related to health and safety training, identification and abatement of workplace hazards, and procedures for reporting unsafe working conditions. The new regulation imposes requirements for hotels above and beyond an IIPP:- Hotel employers must have a Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention Program (MIPP) in addition to the IIPP. The MIPP may be a standalone policy or incorporated into the IIPP.- The MIPP must be “readily accessible” to employees to review during their work shift. An electronic copy is sufficient if there are “no barriers to employee access” as a result. No such requirement exists for IIPPs.- Within three months of the effective date of the regulation, hotels must complete an initial worksite evaluation to identify and address potential injury risks to housekeepers. This worksite evaluation as well as subsequent evaluations (at least annually) “shall include an effective means of involving housekeepers and their union representative in designing and conducting the worksite evaluation.”- The MIPP’s procedures for investigating musculoskeletal injuries to a housekeeper must allow for input from the housekeeper’s union representative as to whether any measures, procedures, or tools would have prevented the injury.- Records of worksite evaluations and other records required by the MIPP must be made available to a Cal/OSHA inspector within 72 hours of a request. There is no 72-hour deadline under the IIPP regulation.Regulations just adopted by the Cal/OSHA Standards Board. As soon as these are approved by the Office of Administrative Law, which can take from 30 to 45 days, they will take effect.We all need to review and be prepared to assist our hospitality clients and this is a great marketing opportunity as we are one of the very few safety consulting firms with nurse consultants and experienced safety consultants who have worked with ergonomic issues and have Spanish and Chinese language capabilities.asure software offers Human Capital Management solutions that make it easy for employers to manage employees and keep up with state and federal regulations. Our solutions help maintain the service level and familiarity of a small, family-owned business. Let us handle your human capital management so you can focus on running your business.If you have any questions about these updates, please contact us: 800-442-4988 or email: info@asuresoftware.com