For many, Florida is a vacationer’s paradise, and the state’s high number of hotels and resorts proves it. Yet, Florida’s popularity as a tourist destination means the state’s hotel workers and hotel housekeepers have to work even harder, and many of them are suffering serious aches, pains and injuries as a result.
According to UNITE HERE, hotel housekeeping has become the most dangerous type of work in the service sector. While all hotel workers face a high injury rate that is 40% higher than that seen in other service-sector positions, hotel housekeepers have higher on-the-job injury rates than any other type of hotel worker.
How serious the problem is
All hotel housekeepers face high work-related injury risks. Yet, research shows that women, and particularly Hispanic women, suffer the most injuries relating to hotel housekeeping. A survey of more than 600 American hotel housekeepers showed that two-thirds of them had visited their doctors because of work-related pains. Another 66% said they took painkillers to help combat work-related pain. Another almost 80% said their work-related aches and pains interfered with their quality of life.
What causes hotel housekeeper injuries
Many hotels and resorts do not have enough people on staff to turn over hotel rooms on time. This places more of a demand on those who do show up. Hotel housekeeping is also hard physical work, with most hotel housekeepers having to perform heavy lifting or scrub floors on their hands and knees multiple times per day.
If hotels and resorts across the nation continue to experience staffing shortages, the injury rate among hotel housekeepers may continue to worsen as a result.
