Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 38, September 20, 2024
(a) Scope and Application. This section is
intended to control the risk of musculoskeletal injuries and disorders to
housekeepers in hotels and other lodging establishments. It does not preclude
the application of other sections of Title 8.
(b) Definitions.
"Control measures" means effective tools, equipment,
devices, work practices, and administrative controls to correct or minimize
workplace hazards that may cause musculoskeletal injuries to
housekeepers.
"Housekeeper" means an employee who performs
housekeeping tasks and may include employees referred to as housekeepers, guest
room attendants, room cleaners, maids, and housepersons.
"Housekeeping tasks" means tasks related to cleaning
and maintaining sleeping room accommodations including bedrooms, bathrooms,
kitchens, living rooms, and balconies. Housekeeping tasks include, but are not
limited to, the following:
(1)
sweeping, dusting, scrubbing, mopping and polishing of floors, tubs, showers,
sinks, mirrors, walls, fixtures, and other surfaces;
(2) making beds;
(3) vacuuming;
(4) loading, unloading, pushing, and pulling
linen carts;
(5) removing and
supplying linen and other supplies in the rooms;
(6) collecting and disposing of trash;
and
(7) moving furniture.
"Lodging establishment" means an establishment that
contains sleeping room accommodations that are rented or otherwise provided to
the public, such as hotels, motels, resorts, and bed and breakfast inns. For
the purposes of this section, "lodging establishment" does not include
hospitals, nursing homes, residential retirement communities, prisons, jails,
homeless shelters, boarding schools, or worker housing.
"Musculoskeletal injury" means acute injury or
cumulative trauma of a muscle, tendon, ligament, bursa, peripheral nerve,
joint, bone, spinal disc or blood vessel.
"Union Representative" means a recognized or certified
collective bargaining agent representing the employer's housekeepers.
"Worksite evaluation" means the identification and
evaluation of workplace hazards including scheduled periodic inspections and
the procedures described in subsection (c)(4) to identify unsafe conditions and
work practices in each housekeeping task, process, or operation of work with
respect to potential causes of musculoskeletal injuries to
housekeepers.
(c)
Housekeeping musculoskeletal injury prevention program. As part of the Injury
and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) required by Section
3203, each employer covered by this
section shall establish, implement, and maintain an effective, written,
musculoskeletal injury prevention program (MIPP) that addresses hazards
specific to housekeeping. The written MIPP may be incorporated into the written
IIPP, or may be maintained as a separate program, and must be readily
accessible during each work shift to employees when they are in the lodging
establishment where they work. (Electronic access and other alternatives to
maintaining paper copies of the MIPP are permitted as long as no barriers to
employee access are created by such options.) The MIPP shall include:
(1) Names or job titles of the persons with
authority and responsibility for implementing the MIPP at each
worksite.
(2) A system for ensuring
that supervisors and housekeepers comply with the MIPP, follow the employer's
safe workplace housecleaning practices, and use the housekeeping tools or
equipment deemed appropriate for each housekeeping task. Substantial compliance
with this provision includes recognition of employees who follow the employer's
safe workplace housecleaning practices and use the appropriate tools and
equipment, training and retraining programs, disciplinary actions, or other
means that ensures employee compliance with the MIPP.
(3) A system for communicating with
housekeepers in a form readily understandable by all housekeepers on matters
relating to occupational safety and health, as required by Section
3203, including provisions designed
to encourage housekeepers to inform the employer of hazards at the worksite,
and injuries or symptoms that may be related to such hazards without fear of
reprisal.
(4) Procedures for
identifying and evaluating housekeeping hazards through a worksite evaluation.
(A) The initial worksite evaluation shall be
completed within three months after the effective date of this section or
within three months after the opening of a new lodging establishment.
(B) The procedures shall include an effective
means of involving housekeepers and their union representative in designing and
conducting the worksite evaluation.
(C) Housekeepers shall be notified of the
results of the worksite evaluation in writing or by posting it in a location
readily accessible to them. The results of the worksite evaluation shall be in
a language easily understood by housekeepers.
(D) The worksite evaluation shall be reviewed
and updated:
1. Whenever new processes,
practices, procedures, equipment or guest room renovations are introduced that
may change or increase housekeeping hazards;
2. Whenever the employer is made aware of a
new or previously unrecognized housekeeping hazard based on information such
as, but not limited to, the findings and recommendations of injury
investigations conducted in accordance with subsection (c)(5);
3. At least annually for each
worksite.
(E) The
worksite evaluation shall identify and address potential injury risks to
housekeepers including, but not limited to:
(1) slips, trips and falls;
(2) prolonged or awkward static
postures;
(3) extreme reaches and
repetitive reaches above shoulder height,
(4) lifting or forceful whole body or hand
exertions;
(5) torso bending,
twisting, kneeling, and squatting;
(6) pushing and pulling;
(7) falling and striking objects;
(8) pressure points where a part of the body
presses against an object or surface;
(9) excessive work-rate; and
(10) inadequate recovery time between
housekeeping tasks.
NOTE to (c)(4)(E): Additional information regarding
worksite evaluations can be found in the publications listed in Appendix
A.
(5)
Procedures to investigate musculoskeletal injuries to housekeepers. Injury
investigations shall include, at a minimum:
(A) The procedures or housekeeping tasks
being performed at the time of the injury and whether any identified control
measures were available and in use;
(B) If required tools or other control
measures were not used, or not used appropriately, a determination of why those
measures were not used or were not used appropriately; and
(C) Input from the injured housekeeper, the
housekeeper's union representative, and the housekeeper's supervisor as to
whether any other control measure, procedure, or tool would have prevented the
injury.
(6) Methods or
procedures for correcting, in a timely manner, hazards identified in the
worksite evaluation or in the investigation of musculoskeletal injuries to
housekeepers, including procedures for determining whether identified
corrective measures are implemented appropriately. These procedures shall
include:
(A) An effective means of involving
housekeepers and their union representative in identifying and evaluating
possible corrective measures;
(B) A
means by which appropriate equipment or other corrective measures will be
identified, assessed, implemented, and then reevaluated after introduction and
while used in the workplace; and
(C) A means of providing and making readily
available appropriate housecleaning equipment, protective equipment, and tools
to each housekeeper, including procedures for procuring, inspecting,
maintaining, repairing, and replacing appropriate housecleaning tools and
equipment.
(7) Procedures
for reviewing, at least annually, the MIPP at each worksite, to determine its
effectiveness and make any corrections when necessary, including an effective
procedure for obtaining the active involvement of housekeepers and their union
representative in reviewing and updating the MIPP. The procedures shall include
a review of the Cal/OSHA Form 300 log and Cal/OSHA Form 301 incident
reports.
(d) Training.
The employer shall provide training to housekeepers and their supervisors in a
language easily understood by these employees.
(1) Frequency of training. Training shall be
provided:
(A) To all housekeepers and
supervisors when the MIPP is first established;
(B) To all new housekeepers and
supervisors;
(C) To all
housekeepers given new job assignments for which training was not previously
provided;
(D) At least annually
thereafter; and
(E) When new
equipment or work practices are introduced or whenever the employer becomes
aware of a new or previously unrecognized hazard. The additional training may
be limited to addressing the new equipment or work
practices.
(2) Training
shall include at least the following elements as applicable to the
housekeeper's assignment:
(A) The signs,
symptoms, and risk factors commonly associated with musculoskeletal
injuries,
(B) The elements of the
employer's MIPP and how the written MIPP and all records in subsection (e)(1)
will be made available to housekeepers;
(C) The process for reporting safety and
health concerns without fear of reprisal;
(D) Body mechanics and safe practices
including: identification of hazards at the workplace, how those hazards are
controlled during each housekeeping task, the appropriate use of cleaning tools
and equipment, and the importance of following safe work practices and using
appropriate tools and equipment to prevent injuries;
(E) The importance of, and process for, early
reporting of symptoms and injuries to the employer;
(F) Practice using the types and models of
equipment and tools that the housekeeper will be expected to use;
(G) An opportunity for interactive questions
and answers with a person knowledgeable about hotel housekeeping equipment and
procedures; and
(H) Training of
supervisors on 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.
(e) Records.
(1) Records of the steps taken to implement
and maintain the MIPP, including any measurements taken or evaluations
conducted in the worksite evaluation process required by subsection (c) and the
training required by subsection (d), shall be created and maintained in
accordance with Section
3203(b).
(2) A copy of the MIPP and all worksite
evaluation records required by subsection (e)(1) shall be available at the
worksite for review in accordance with subsection (c) and copying by
housekeepers and their designated representative in accordance with Section
3204(e)(1).
(3) All records shall be made available to
the Chief of the Division or designee within 72 hours of request.
(4) Records of occupational injuries and
illnesses shall be created and maintained in accordance with Title 8, Division
1, Chapter 7, Subchapter 1 of the California Code of
Regulations.
1. New
section filed 3-9-2018; operative 7-1-2018 (Register 2018, No.
10).
Note: Authority cited: Section
142.3, Labor
Code. Reference: Section
142.3, Labor
Code.
