In what may be the first action of its kind, California workplace safety regulators have charged that the duties performed by housekeepers at a hotel -- scrubbing, bed making, vacuuming -- violate the state's repetitive-motion rules.
A citation issued late last month by the Division of Occupational Safety and Health identified eight infractions at the Hilton Los Angeles Airport hotel.
The Hilton is one of several hotels near the airport whose employees the Unite Here union wants to organize, and the citation was issued after a complaint was filed with the agency by two Hilton housekeepers and a labor health advocacy group that supports the union.
The hotel plans to appeal the citation, a spokesman said.
California is the only state that explicitly requires employers to minimize the risk of repetitive-motion injuries through training and, if necessary, by redesigning job tasks. The rules were adopted in 1997.
A short-lived federal standard adopted in 2000 was replaced with voluntary guidelines in 2002 by the Bush administration. Federal officials can cite employers for failing to prevent ergonomic injuries under a "general duty" provision of federal workplace safety laws, but the burden of proof is high, said Len Welsh, head of the state agency, which is known as Cal/OSHA.
The LAX Hilton "did not follow policies that other Hilton hotels followed," Welsh said. He added that other chains had adopted a number of approaches to training housekeepers that could alleviate repetitive-motion stress and had given workers leeway to break up tasks with rest time to prevent injuries.
"I believe hotels are aware of repetitive-motion injuries, and some are better than others at dealing with them, Welsh said.
Several studies in recent years have documented growing injury rates among housekeepers, particularly at upscale hotels that have added heavier mattresses and filled rooms with more furniture to dust, mirrors to polish and coffeepots and hair dryers to clean.
Housekeeper Adela Barrientos, one of the two named in the complaint, said her work had become harder in the nine years she'd been with the LAX Hilton. "They keep putting more things in the room," she said, and haven't reduced her assignment to clean 16 rooms each day.
Four years ago, the South Los Angeles resident developed tendinitis in her right arm.
"It's better now," she said, "but it was alarming. The work is too much."
