California Department of Industrial Relations

Division of Occupational Safety & Health

Publications Unit

S A F E T Y & H E A LT H | FACT SHEET

Preventing Musculoskeletal Injuries in Housekeepers

This fact sheet gives an overview of workplace health and safety requirements intended to control the risk of
musculoskeletal injuries and disorders to housekeepers who work in:
• Hotels
• Motels
• Resorts
• Bed and breakfast inns
• Other lodging establishments
Housekeepers can include employees who are also called:
• Guest room attendants
• Room cleaners
• Maids
• Housepersons

What is the concern?

Hotel housekeepers are at increased risk of developing
musculoskeletal injuries caused by their job tasks, which
include, for example:
• Sweeping, dusting, scrubbing, mopping, and polishing of
floors, tubs, showers, sinks, mirrors, walls, fixtures, and other
surfaces
• Making beds
• Vacuuming
• Loading, unloading, pushing, and pulling linen carts
• Removing and supplying linen and other supplies in the
rooms What must hotels and other lodging
• Collecting and disposing of trash establishments do to reduce the risk of
• Moving furniture musculoskeletal injuries in housekeepers?
Hotels and other lodging establishments must have an
What is a musculoskeletal injury? effective, written Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention Program
A musculoskeletal injury is an injury caused by a single event (MIPP) that addresses hazards specific to housekeeping. The
(such as a slip, trip, or fall) or by repeated exposure over MIPP must include the following:
weeks, months, or years to repetitive motion, force, vibration
or awkward positions. These injuries can affect a person’s System for communicating with housekeepers
muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, joints, bones, back, or Safety and health information or instructions must be
blood vessels. They can cause pain in the back, wrist, shoulder, understandable by all housekeepers and must include
neck, or other parts of the body. provisions designed to encourage housekeepers to inform
the employer of hazards at work and injuries or symptoms
Cumulative Trauma Injuries that may be related to such hazards, without fear of reprisal
Develop over a period of (retaliation).
weeks, months, or years
Shoulder and Procedures to conduct worksite evaluations
neck pain
Worksite evaluations must be conducted to identify and
evaluate housekeeping hazards. The hazards include, but are
Back
not limited to the following:
pain • Slips, trips, and falls.
Wrist pain

(Continued on Next Page)

• Prolonged or awkward static postures. Incorrect Correct
• Extreme reaches and repetitive reaches above shoulder
height.
• Lifting or forceful whole body or hand exertions.
• Torso-bending, twisting, kneeling, and squatting.
• Pushing and pulling.
• Falling and striking objects.
• Pressure points where a part of the body presses against an
object or surface.
• Excessive work rate.
• Inadequate recovery time between housekeeping tasks. understand. The training must be provided:
• When the MIPP is first established and every year after that.
Employers must have an effective way to involve housekeepers • To all new housekeepers and supervisors.
and their union representative in designing and conducting the • To all housekeepers given new job assignments for which
evaluations. training was not previously provided.
• When new equipment or work practices are introduced.
The initial worksite evaluation for identifying housekeeping • Whenever the employer learns of a new or previously
hazards must be completed by October 1, 2018, or within three unrecognized hazard.
months after the opening of a new lodging establishment. The
worksite evaluation must be reviewed and updated: Training for housekeepers must include the following:
• Whenever new processes, practices, procedures, equipment, • The signs, symptoms, and risk factors commonly associated
or guest room renovations are introduced that may increase with musculoskeletal injuries.
housekeeping hazards. • The elements of the employer’s MIPP, and how the written
• Whenever a new or previously unrecognized housekeeping MIPP and all records of the steps to implement it will be
hazard is identified and brought to the employer’s attention. made available to housekeepers.
• At least annually. • The process for reporting safety and health concerns without
fear of reprisal.
Housekeepers must be notified of the results of the worksite • Body mechanics and safe practices.
evaluations in writing or by posting the results in a location that • Why and how to report symptoms and injuries to the
is readily accessible. employer as soon as possible.
Procedures to investigate musculoskeletal injuries to • Practice using the kinds of equipment and tools the
housekeepers housekeeper will be expected to use.
The employer must obtain input from the injured housekeeper, • An opportunity for interactive questions and answers with a
the housekeeper’s union representative, and the housekeeper’s person knowledgeable about hotel housekeeping equipment
supervisor as to whether any other control measure, and procedures.
procedure, or tool would have prevented the injury.
General information:
Methods for correcting hazards This fact sheet only provides an overview, so housekeepers
Employers must correct hazards identified in worksite and their union representatives need to refer to the California
evaluations and in investigations of musculoskeletal injuries Code of Regulations, title 8, section 3345 (www.dir.ca.gov/
to housekeepers. They must have an effective way to involve Title8/3345.html) for additional details. If a housekeeper or
housekeepers and their union representative in identifying and their union representative wants to file a complaint, they can
evaluating possible corrective measures. go to www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/Complaint.htm or call the
Cal/OSHA District Office closest to the workplace. Every
What training must employers provide? employer is required to provide a poster that employees can
Hotels and other lodging establishments must train easily see and that lists the addresses and telephone numbers
housekeepers and supervisors in a language that they can of all the Cal/OSHA offices in California.

Graphics are courtesy of The Ohio State University Institute for Ergonomics. July 2023

This document is available with active links at www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications

For assistance regarding this subject matter, employers may contact Cal/OSHA Consultation Services at
1-800-963-9424 or [email protected]
www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/consultation.html
© 2023 California Department of Industrial Relations