We’d all like to think that all guests and staff in a hotel are safe, but unfortunately, that’s not always the case. So one state is taking matters into its own hands and proactively making a law about a higher level of hotel safety.
In June 2019, Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey signed what is the first bill of its kind for any state within the U.S.
According to Safety & Health Magazine, Bill S.2986 will require hotel owners to provide “panic buttons” to employees who are assigned to work in a guest room without a co-worker present.
The law came about after an incident in early 2018, where a man beat his girlfriend in an Atlantic City casino-hotel garage and, following his release from charges for that, then pushed a female employee into a room at the same hotel and sexually assaulted her.
“We must protect the safety of workers in the hospitality industry,” Murphy said in a statement after signing the bill into law in Atlantic City. “This new law will ensure that hotel employees performing their duties will have the means to summon immediate assistance if they are in danger.”
The law will be in place for any hotel with more than 100 rooms and multiple hotel chains such as Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott International, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts and G6 Hospitality (the parent company of Motel 6 and Studio 6 )all have pledged to provide workers with emergency alert devices by the time the law goes into effect, in January 2020.
Besides supplying employees with emergency buttons, employers will also be required to:
- Report any incident involving an alleged crime to law enforcement.
- Maintain a list of accusations against a guest for five years from the date of the first incident.
- Notify all housekeeping and room service workers of the location of any guest included on the list.
- Conduct an internal investigation to gather information on accusations against a guest.
- Decline occupancy to any guest who is convicted of a crime brought to the hotel’s attention by an employee pressing a panic device.
Some large cities such as Chicago, New York City and Washington D.C. require panic buttons, but New Jersey is the first state to require such protection for its hotel employees.
It’s a shame that this is the world we live in, but I’m glad that those in charge are doing something to keep hotel employees safer.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
2 comments
This should be SOP for every hotel. When I was made aware of the disgusting behavior housekeepers are subjected to by Weinstein-type creeps it gave me a whole new perspective on the job.
[…] New York became the first city requiring union hotels in the city to have panic buttons. Last year, New Jersey passed a law that requires that hotels with 100 or more rooms provide the devices to their employees. Other cities such as Long […]