case study about housekeeping

Evaluating the environmental sustainability strategies of the housekeeping department: the case of an international hotel chain in Hong Kong, China

Tourism Critiques

ISSN : 2633-1225

Article publication date: 5 May 2021

Issue publication date: 18 June 2021

The purpose of this paper is to use the case of an international luxury hotel chain in Hong Kong to illustrate general environmentally-friendly practices in housekeeping. Six in-depth interviews were conducted with the housekeeping department staff to evaluate the effectiveness of the Hotel’s environmental sustainability practices by analysing their benefits and limitations. Results reveal that all informants acknowledged the environmental sustainability strategies adopted by the Hotel, which can benefit stakeholders. Despite multiple green practices in hotel housekeeping, several strategies may not be as significant as expected with misaligned expectations from the management and the actual practices may create excessive workload for frontline room attendants with a lack of policy enforcement and supportive policies. Therefore, hotels should keep a mutual communication between the management and frontline employees prior to conducting environmentally- and employee-friendly practices. Given the labour-intensive nature of the hotel industry, the housekeeping department should ensure employment equality policy is in place with adequate environmentally friendly support for employees.

• Environmental sustainability strategies
• Housekeeping department

Choy, M. , Cheng, J. and Yu, K. (2021), "Evaluating the environmental sustainability strategies of the housekeeping department: the case of an international hotel chain in Hong Kong, China", Tourism Critiques , Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 115-132. https://doi.org/10.1108/TRC-01-2021-0001

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Monica Choy, Justin Cheng and Karl Yu.

Published in Tourism Critiques: Practice and Theory . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

The concept of “environmentally friendly” practices had appeared in several European countries and in the USA since 1980s ( Wong et al. , 1996 ). In 1993, the Green Hotel Association ( GHA, 2005 ) introduced the importance of applying environmentally friendly practices to protect the environment. In the same year, the International Hotels Environment Initiative, now known as the International Tourism Partnership (ITP), was established to regulate and establish standards on hotel environmentally friendliness ( International Tourism Partnership, 2014 ). The concept of sustainable development becomes further specific after the announcement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which outlines detailed action plans to achieve a sustainable future for all people. Sustainable development aims to achieve a balanced economic, social and environmental integration by addressing challenges related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, prosperity and peace and justice through the participation of multiple stakeholders from private sectors, government and civil society ( UN, 2018 ). In this paper, we will see if the housekeeping practice can help keep a sustainable environment while frontline staff are willing and comfortable to keep up with this goal.

A unified definition of “green hotels” remains non-existent; however, this “green” concept is occasionally defined as hotels that are “environmentally responsible” and “environmentally friendly” ( Kim and Han, 2010 ). Another definition states that “green hotels” should use “recycled”, “low-polluting” or “energy-saving” materials ( Chen and Chen, 2012 ). Apart from simply using “green” in hotels, the word “environmental sustainability” is also associated in compliance with corporate social responsibilities (CSR) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ( Raub and Martin-Rios, 2019 ). Hotel CSR policy concentrates on education; skill enhancement; restoration; livelihood support; social problems; support to government policy, environmental protection and conservation; extended support and community development ( Sudhagar and Samuel, 2019 ). SDGs are focussed on fostering economic growth and addressing various social needs, which include delivering decent employment, assuring sustainable production and consumption practices, achieving gender equality and protecting the environment ( UN, 2018 ). The investigated hotel group claims it is following the SDGs for its staff. Studies have revealed that large hotel chain groups are more enthusiastic in adopting green policies than independent operators do, but the compliance level may vary ( Jones and Comfort, 2019 ; Chen, 2019 ; Jarman-Walsh, 2018 ). People may have various descriptions and interpretations on the effort exerted by hotels, but all of them tend to share the same central idea that hotels should help alleviate environmental pressures during their operation ( Casado, 2012 ).

The rapid expansion of advanced transportation has promoted tourism and hotel industry ( Georgescu, 2016 ). The hotel sector represents a significant share of total tourism revenues of over US$550bn in 2017 which was generated by a handful of international hotel chains, such as Marriot, Starwood, Hilton and Hyatt ( Lock, 2019 ). Given the large consumption of water and electricity, the industry is exacerbating environmental damages by using natural reserves and generating a considerable amount of pollution ( Sourvinou and Filimonau, 2018 ), which can pollute the environment ( Mbasera et al. , 2016 ). A report states that an average hotel releases an estimated 160–200 kg of carbon dioxide per square metre of room floor area per year, whereas the water consumption per guest per night is between 170 and 440 litres in a 5-star hotel ( Bohdanowicz, 2005 ). On average, hotels produce 1 kg of waste per guest per night ( International Tourism Partnership, 2014 ). Studies have consistently suggested the hotel industry should implement sustainable business practices ( Jones et al. , 2016 ). In the balance of keeping up with revenues and protecting the environment, hotels can make or break environment sustainability ( Chen, 2019 ; Jarman-Walsh, 2018 ). On one hand, the hotel sector can generate profit and provide decent employment opportunities. On the other hand, they can contribute to building an environmentally-friendly society by reducing the impact of climate change and enhancing social capital ( Pérez-Pineda et al. , 2017 ). Some hotel chains have found ways to remain “green” by reducing energy consumption and waste production ( Mak and Chang, 2019 ; Yoon et al. , 2016 ). For instance, Hyatt has contributed to SGDs through different CSR initiatives. Waste management and recycling strategies are prepared to decrease hotel energy and water consumption and greenhouse gas emission, thereby enabling environmental stewardship culture ( Hyatt, 2018 ). Marriott has pledged to become a sustainable hotel chain by minimising carbon and water usage and choosing environmentally responsible suppliers ( Marriott International, 2017 ).

Notwithstanding the shared responsibilities of all stakeholders, business sectors have a critical role in contributing to environmental sustainability ( Jones and Comfort, 2019 ). The hospitality industry was urged to adopt environmental sustainability strategies in their daily operations, which include setting priorities, developing and implementing green practices that are consistent with the developed SDGs and striving for balance among economic growth, environment protection and social welfare improvement ( Jones et al. , 2016 ). However, a gap exists between the suggested global-level sustainable development blueprints (e.g. MDGs and SDGs) and the actual implementation at the organisational level because of the difference in sociocultural, economic, legal, workforce and customer demographics in each market ( Raub and Martin-Rios, 2019 ). Consequently, individual hotels tend to adopt selected sustainability strategies, which advocate easy-to-implement green initiatives that satisfy the needs and expectations in the local context ( Akenji and Bengtsson, 2014 ). Findings from extant studies have revealed implementation failure usually arising from companies who fail in identifying localisation issues and addressing vulnerable areas where require considerable support ( Allen et al. , 2019 ; Scott, 2018 ).

What environmental sustainability strategies are adopted in the housekeeping department of the sample Hotel?

How do employees perceive the benefits of environmental sustainability strategies in housekeeping?

What are the barriers that can reduce the effectiveness of environmental sustainability strategies in housekeeping?

How beneficial are the housekeeping green practices in contributing to the Hotel’s environmental sustainability strategies and the hotel industry in Hong Kong from the employees’ perspective? How can the implementation of environmental sustainability strategies be improved?

2. Literature review

Sustainability refers to the mode of development that “meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” ( WCED, 1987 ). The concept of sustainability concretises when the three elemental pillars ( UN, 2005 ), namely, economic development, social development and environmental protection, can extend the planet’s protection to include all countries, governments, private organisations and individuals ( UN, 2018 ). Sustainability has been applied to numerous industries including hospitality ( Mak and Chang, 2019 ). The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (2005) define sustainable tourism as the “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities”. One of the main objectives of sustainable tourism is to “make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development” ( United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 2005 ). As a key stakeholder in the tourism industry, hotels have adopted the same concept of sustainable tourism ( Kim et al. , 2012 ).

Hotels, as the major producer of commercial waste, are compelled to this environmental issue ( Kasim et al. , 2018 ). Green practices may be one of the most effective policies to increase the hotel’s monetary and environmental status. Managers of environmentally-friendly hotels are eager to “go green” to save energy and money ( Singh, 2015 ). The US Green Building Council (2021) revealed that the hotel industry in the USA spends $4bn per year on energy. Reducing energy consumption by 10% can improve the average daily room rate for up to $1.35 ( Energystar, 2021 ). The hotel housekeeping department is responsible for keeping the property clean and comfortable while producing significant environmental risks and liabilities in their operation. Their crucial role in achieving sustainable development was often overlooked ( O'Neill, 2018 ). Implementing sustainable practices in housekeeping can exhibit a notable impact on waste reduction. A study on hotels in Hong Kong revealed that up to 15% of energy and water can be conserved by implementing effective green practices in the housekeeping department ( Deng and Burnett , 2002a, 2002b ). Eaton Hong Kong, which is under Langham Hospitality Group, has successfully helped reduce waste production and won the green hotel prize awarded by Green Hotelier of 2015, Asia Pacific ( Green Hotelier, 2015 ). Eaton has been the first hotel in Hong Kong to install their own water bottling system and introduce refillable amenities, which can save a total of 850,000 pieces of plastic waste each year ( Eaton Hong Kong, 2015 ).

Apart from their environmental benefits, applying green programmes in hotel housekeeping can also provide economic benefits and employment opportunities. Despite absence of validated secondary data on the total number of employees working in the housekeeping department in Hong Kong, hospitality sector provides substantial employment opportunities (i.e. 38,800) for frontline employee in the first quarter of 2020 ( Census and Statistics Department, 2020a ). Green programmes may create more decent work for workers to make a living. As stated in the sample Hotel group’s website, they offer their colleagues competitive wages, health care, retirement savings and performance-based incentives, while also offering industry-leading perks to eligible staff, including complimentary hotel stays, which should be considered “decent work” and “sustainable” as defined by the UN in their SDG framework. On the economic side, green programmes may help save natural as well as economic resources for our planet. For example, clean water accounts for 10% of the utility fee in numerous hotels, which was twice the amount of water that the hotel has consumed, because half of the total fee is paid for the disposal of waste water ( Tuppen, 2013 ). Saving water as a housekeeping practice can decrease the amount of water used, thereby decreasing the price paid for disposing wastewater in the process. Reducing the frequency of a full-service room cleaning can decrease the money spent on detergents and electricity, while increasing the life of linens ( Heney, 2009 ).

Apart from hotels in Hong Kong, hotels in other countries have also implemented green concepts; for example, the ITP is promoting the hotel industry can be a force for good and make a positive contribution to the UN’s SDGs and to the Paris Climate Conference (COP21) ( The International Tourism Partnership (ITP), 2017 ). A hotel in Hawaii has committed to protecting the environment by merely using botanical cleansers and disinfectants in housekeeping. Thus, switching from synthetic chemicals to natural detergents can reduce the occurrence of allergies, headaches and dry, chapped hands among housekeeping staff and simultaneously helps in protecting offshore coral reefs by preventing the intensification of water pollution ( The Fairmont Orchid, 2004 ; Graci and Dodds, 2008 ). Studies have shown that green cleaners posed no harm to the environment because they do not contain or release harmful substances such as volatile organic compounds into the air when being used ( Zabiegala, 2006 ). In addition, green cleansers lack irritants, abrasives and toxicity, whilst being highly biodegradable in the environment compared with synthetic cleaners ( Fukey and Issac, 2014 ).

Guests’ perception of health and safety exhibit a significantly positive influence on their purchase intention in green hotels ( Jiang and Kim, 2015 ). Environmental protection has been promoted because customers recognise that business activities can cause serious damage to the environment ( Han et al. , 2018 ). Customers believe that they are a part of the “green programme” ( Sánchez-Ollero et al. , 2014 ) and feel a sense of satisfaction and strong “emotional benefits” for leaving a sustainable planet to the next generation ( Kuminoff et al. , 2010 ; Robinot and Giannelloni, 2010 ). The study revealed that customers can obtain “status-enhancing benefits” and tend to believe that they may leave a good impression to others by choosing green hotels ( Jiang and Kim, 2015 ). Thus, acknowledging guests for their environmental efforts ( Suki and Suki, 2015 ) and enhancing customers’ sustainability mindset ( Chen and Chen, 2012 ) are powerful forces for promoting sustainable hotel service provision and consumption.

Good intentions may not consistently be translated into desirable outcomes and occasionally become detrimental. Housekeeping staff expects a feasible and cost-effective green policy and practices but experiences extra burden such as sorting out rubbish to different recyclable items ( Wan et al. , 2017 ). In 2014, a group of 200 protesters in Toronto appealed to end the “Make A Green Choice” programme launched by an international hotel chain in 2009. The programme encouraged guests to forego housekeeping in exchange of a $5 voucher or loyalty points in the interest of “conserving water, energy and other resources”. The programme claimed to create environmental benefits, in which a one-night participation could save 49.2 gallons of water and sufficient natural gas to produce heat for a 400-square-foot room for 4 h ( Sheraton Baltimore Washington Airport Hotel, 2017 ). However, this programme resulted in a burden amongst room attendants because the rooms that were not cleaned for several days required additional time and effort to tidy afterwards ( Mojtehedzadeh, 2014 ). The malpractice amongst housekeepers can also harm the effectiveness of green strategies. A common practice that towels on the floor or in the bathtub should be laundered, whilst others left hanging should be kept for reuse ( Heney, 2009 ). A hotel in New Orleans applied this towel reuse policy. However, the housekeeping staff changed all towels and linens daily even the guests participated in the environmental protection programme ( Eilperin, 2010 ). This example has illustrated that environmental training and communication can influence the employees’ ecological behaviour in compliance with the hotel’s green policy ( Chou, 2014 ; Sourvinou and Filimonau, 2018 ). The success of green practices was significantly related to employee participation and engagement ( Kim and Choy, 2011 ). Green organisational climates, management support, employees’ environmental knowledge, environmental awareness and environmental concern can influence the employees’ willingness to adopt environmental management practices ( Zientara and Zamojska, 2018 ; Chan et al. , 2014 ). The lack of willingness to change long-established work routines and to monitor the actual purpose of the green initiatives can also diminish the room attendants’ intention to execute sustainability practices ( Iraldo et al. , 2017 ).

Sustainable policy in a hotel is definitely related to gender equality and reduced inequalities in a society ( The International Tourism Partnership (ITP), 2017 ). Females are considered to be easier affected by environmental and economic changes and, therefore, should be given an equal opportunity to develop their career with a decent work environment. Traditionally, housekeeping has been viewed as “household related” and females should be taking up more responsibilities ( Thébaud et al. , 2019 ). There are more women than men working in operation positions in the housekeeping department in Hong Kong ( Employees Training Board,2016 / 2017 ) but only a minority of working females can be promoted to senior positions in the hotel industry ( Segovia-Perez et al. , 2019 ). Sustainable practices may buffer the negative effects of the deteriorating service quality ( Van Rheede and Dekker, 2016 ). Several guests still express negative impressions of green hotel products and experiences ( Robinot and Giannelloni, 2010 ). For instance, several green hotel initiatives such as refillable soap and shampoo dispensers, low-flow showerheads and linen reuse are considered as unfavourable amongst the guests because they perceive these practices as unsanitary, uncomfortable or an inconvenience during their stay. Results showed that although guests often appreciate hotels that contribute to protect the environment, they are generally unwilling to sacrifice their living standards and comfort levels ( Baloglu and Jones, 2015 ).

3. Methodology

the current environmental sustainability strategies in housekeeping;

employees’ perception of the benefits and hurdles in executing green practices;

benefits of housekeeping green practices in contribution to the Hotel’s environmental sustainability strategies and the hotel industry in Hong Kong; and

recommendations on the implementation of environmental sustainability strategies.

Using the participants’ mother tongue in a qualitative interview is advantageous for obtaining rich responses by minimising language barriers and developing a good rapport ( Welch and Piekkari, 2006 ). All interviews were recorded and transcribed after an informed consent was obtained. All respondents were told that their participation was completely voluntary and they could withdraw from the interview at any time. Moreover, the respondents were assured that the collected data would be kept strictly confidential and reported anonymously. Subsequently, a content analysis on the data obtained was conducted.

4. Findings and discussion

4.1 respondents’ profile.

Six interviews with three room attendants, two supervisors and one assistant manager in the housekeeping department of a research organisation (referred to as “Hotel” in the subsequent mentions in this study) were conducted. The number of male and female respondents was evenly distributed. Their age ranged from 25 to 55, and they have worked for the Hotel between one and six years on average. Most of them completed a secondary or postsecondary education, whereas only one received a tertiary education ( Table 1 ).

Of the 25 workers in the housekeeping department, we had interviews with six, including three males and three females. However, given the general situation in Hong Kong, the majority (20 out of 25) working in the housekeeping department are women in their 40 s ( Census and Statistics Department, 2020b ). There may be various factors for women working in the housekeeping department. The level of salary can be one factor not attractive enough to young males to work for housekeeping ( Baum et al. , 2020 ). However, according to the website of the Hotel, it stated that gender is not a point of consideration in recruitment and the Hotel will only consider employees’ work ability when considering their promotion. We did not specifically ask questions about gender difference in the interviews, but believed the imbalance of female to male ratio in the housekeeping department may be because of various social factors ( Segovia-Perez et al. , 2019 ; Nimri, et al. , 2020 ). With the implementation of SDGs strategies in hotels, it is believed that a more decent environment can be created for women to work.

4.2 Environmental sustainability strategies in housekeeping

4.2.1 reusing and recycling..

All interviewees cited “reuse and recycling” for their first answer in the interview given that the practice was simple and clear. The “three treasures” refer to “shampoo, conditioner and shower gel” bottles which are placed together in the bathroom. Informants were taught to collect reusable amenities in the guestroom and place them in the corresponding collection boxes for reuse if leftovers remain. The Hotel has collaborated with a distilled water brand to provide “light plastic bottles” that can be twisted easily to save space for recycling. The plastic bottles are collected by a recycling company daily. The assistant manager mentioned that a bed linen reuse programme was implemented, in which ripped or stained linen are turned into condemned cloth for cleaning. Ripped pillowcases are reused as excellent dusters for cleaning glasses and mirrors without scratching them. Consistent with previous studies, our findings showed that reusing and recycling material is a widely used practice for green hotels that implement CSR practices ( Sudhagar and Samuel, 2019 ; Chen and Chen, 2012 ).

4.2.2 Integration of environmental considerations in daily operations.

The Hotel integrates environmentally-friendly practices to their operational procedures. The assistant manager mentioned that under the bed linen reuse programme, the bed linen for guests is merely changed during the 1st, 4th and 7th day of their stay, unless the guests place a “Bed Linen Refresh Card” on the bedside to ask for a bed sheet replacement. To enhance energy efficiency, the electricity in the guestrooms can only be turned with a key card inserted into the card slot at the door. The light will be automatically off in five seconds if the key card is removed when guests leave the guestroom. A dual-flush toilet with “full flushing” and “half flushing” buttons is installed. Other environmentally-friendly practices include using a high-power destaining powder and energy-saving equipment. A highly soluble destain powder can dissolve naturally without heavy brushing and rinsing with plenty of water to remove the stain. Energy-saving vacuum machines were also adopted. The Hotel has exerted an effort to update their equipment for improved green practices and efficient use for the employees. These findings are consistent with previous studies, which indicate that hotel chains are prepared to implement practices that reduce energy consumption in their daily operations ( Mak and Chang, 2019 ; Yoon et al. , 2016 ; Casado, 2012 ).

4.3 Benefits of environmentally-friendly strategies in housekeeping

All informants have agreed that housekeeping green practices can contribute to the company’s environmental management programme and generate various benefits for the environment, hotels, housekeeping staff and guests.

4.3.1 Benefit for the environment

4.3.1.1 waste reduction and water and energy conservation..

All room attendants have agreed that the “three treasures” can help reduce waste given that they typically clean about 20 rooms per day. The assistant manager stated that 600 rooms are available in the Hotel, with an average of 80% occupancy rate. Therefore, a total of 1,000 wasted empty bottles were produced daily. The staff members could realise the waste volume generated in the hotel industry, and they have agreed that the “reuse and recycle” practices can help reduce the number of waste, which is beneficial to the hotel industry and its stakeholders. Furthermore, green hotel practices can help reduce the water consumption, thereby benefitting the environment. The supervisor and assistant manager mentioned that water conservation strategies include the use of environmentally-friendly destain powders and the bed linen reuse programme, as well as the use of electronic key cards and dual flush toilets in guestrooms. Results confirm that environmental knowledge, awareness and concern are the key motivational sources for the employees’ ecological behaviour ( Zientara and Zamojska, 2018 ; Chan et al. , 2014 ). From the implemented practices, we found the housekeeping green practices has strived and contributed to attainment of hotel’s environmental sustainability strategies by reducing energy, water consumption and waste generation.

4.3.1.2 Benefits for hotels

4.3.1.2.1 money saving.

The assistant manager claimed that replacing bed linens less frequently can help save laundry fees given that this chore is one of the largest expenses in the housekeeping department. The laundry company charges the Hotel based on the weight of linen. By reducing the replacement of bed linens, the Hotel can save money, water and energy. The bed linen reuse programme can help reduce the money spent on laundry fees and extend the life cycle of bed linens. This view is consistent with Heney (2009) , who claimed that green practices in housekeeping can provide economic benefit to the hotels. Similar to previous hotel-related studies ( Wan et al. , 2017 ), our findings also indicate that installing water-conserving fixtures, including the dual-flushing systems for toilets in guestrooms, is a common practice for green hotels, thereby decreasing water utility bills.

4.3.1.2.2 Increasing work efficiency

The assistant manager stated that an insufficient supply of amenities during peak season is evident, given that stocks of amenities merely arrive twice a week. Thus, unused and unopened amenities should be kept. In addition, the newly purchased vacuum machines exhibit better suction power than other types of vacuum machine, which helps save the time and effort in cleaning, increase room availability and create a decent work environment. With less effort to clean the carpet, females are beneficial for their less strong physical strength and the practice of using more powerful vacuum machines thus creates greater gender equality and provides reduced inequalities. The results have demonstrated two things. Firstly, sustainability commitment and business performance are interrelated and interdependent ( Jones and Comfort, 2019 ). Secondly, green practices may be one of the most effective policies to improve the monetary and environmental status of a hotel ( Singh, 2015 ).

4.3.1.3 Benefits for employees.

The provision of green cleaners and detergents was appreciated by all respondents because these cleaners are safer and less harmful to the environment compared with synthetic ones. These findings are consistent with the findings of Fukey and Issac (2014) . Our findings indicate that room attendants approve the bed linen reuse programme because they must only “tidy up” the bed instead of adding another chore of changing the bed linens in every room, except for the guests who have requested for a replacement. Room attendants can save their effort and time in a room given that they must only focus on cleaning the bathroom, which create a more decent work environment with same economic returns. The use of destain powder and the bed linen reuse programme can significantly reduce the workload by decreasing physical work, which is consistent with Chan et al. (2014) , who argued that employees are indispensable in implementing environmental programmes. Operational inconvenience and additional workloads can undermine the successful execution of hotel green practices ( Linneberg et al. , 2019 ).

4.3.1.4 Benefits for guests.

During the interview, the assistant manager mentioned that several guests wrote a message which noted their appreciation of the environmental effort spent by the Hotel. Moreover, the guests were pleased to be part of this effort. For instance, they were given a sense of pleasure and satisfaction as they participate in green practices. This finding is similar to the finding of Sánchez-Ollero et al. (2014) . However, the results contradicted a study in mainland China, which indicated that the green initiatives are insignificant for customer satisfaction ( Lee et al. , 2018 ). Our findings have contradicted previous studies, which indicated that hotel green practices induce a high risk of unpleasant customer experience ( Robinot and Giannelloni, 2010 ). The findings indicated that the customer satisfaction level towards the hotel’s green initiatives may vary in terms of sociocultural backgrounds and cultural values ( Raub and Martin-Rios, 2019 ).

4.4 Barriers lowering the effectiveness of environmentally friendly strategies in housekeeping

4.4.1 heavy workload amongst frontline room attendants..

Owing to the high physical demand and heavy workload, room attendants are more prone to face stress and job burnout than other staff members ( Chiang and Liu, 2017 ; Kensbock et al. , 2017 ). Sorting the “three-treasures” and bringing them back to the collection point downstairs require extra effort especially in peak seasons with hundreds of rooms to clean every day. Room attendants must carry unused amenities around on a small trolley during their work hours. Manpower shortages and heavy workloads are the major barriers to implementing green management in the hotel industry ( Wan et al. , 2017 ).

4.4.2 Lack of enforcement.

The supervisor and the assistant manager likewise claimed that closely monitoring the room attendants’ job performance would be difficult. They stated that several room attendants would throw away toilet supplies. Thus, the “three treasures” practice is merely voluntary and recycling is considered as an “extra duty”, particularly during peak seasons. The supervisory staff members are busy with inspecting the rooms for cleanliness and conducting administrative duties. Thus, they do conduct the first-hand execution of the green policy and cannot take close control whilst room attendants perform their duties, which make the policy “empty” in implementation to a certain extent. This result was supported by Iraldo et al. (2017) , who suggested that an effective sustainability monitoring system is essential to improve the green practice implementation in hotels.

4.4.3 Defective supportive policy.

Room attendant A stated that the cleaning power of the destain powder was not as ideal as the management mentioned given that it takes about 20 min to soak. Room attendant C mentioned that only one bottle of destain powder is provided for each floor, whereas the management instructed to put it back immediately to the pantry after every single use to prevent the bottle from spilling and getting wet. Thus, no room attendant would waste plenty of time on travelling back and forth to get the destain powder. Although new vacuuming machines are available, several room attendants prefer to use the old vacuum machines without excessive suction power, particularly for the carpets in the guestrooms, which require extra strength and effort to be swept. The aforementioned examples have shown actual work environment may become the barriers to effectively implement environmental sustainability strategies. The supportive measures in the green practices are not as employee-friendly as expected, thereby significantly lowering the effectiveness of the green strategies used by the Hotel. Our results are consistent with previous studies, which claimed that resistance to change can reduce the employees’ intention to implement green practices ( Iraldo et al. , 2017 ). This finding is consistent with the findings of extant studies, which indicated that support and commitment from the top management to provide the necessary tools and proper equipment are the key success factors of sustainability management effort ( Mak and Chang, 2019 ).

4.5 Usefulness of housekeeping green practices in contributing to industry’s environmental sustainability strategies and recommendations for improvement

All interviewees have agreed that the environmental strategies applied in housekeeping can help reduce the waste of the hotel industry in general. In addition, the respondents have suggested that improvements can be implemented in the following areas:

4.5.1 Improvement on supportive policy.

Casado (2012) supported that the environmental sustainability philosophy must be integrated into the company’s activities at all levels. For instance, room attendant B suggested that recycling boxes should be collected from the office daily by housemen, who support the housekeeping department staff. Two room attendants also hoped that the recycling boxes should be placed on every floor, instead of placing them in the office. They prioritised convenience for executing green practices, which can be correlated with their heavy workload and hasty working environment ( Sarosi, 2017 ). Certain hotels have implemented the same green initiatives, in which recycle bins are placed on every floor landing for housekeepers to use ( Brown Palace, 2019 ).

4.5.2 Enhancing communication.

All supervisors have agreed that they should be obliged to establish a communication bridge between the management and the frontline employees. Thus, they should be proactive in reflecting the current operational issues, such as relaying the ruling opinion on the new vacuum machines to the department head to solve the problem and implement improvements. Moreover, supervisors should be further proactive in understanding the needs of room attendants, whilst enhancing the communication with the top management to help them set out employee-friendly decisions. Chou (2014) found that personal environmental norms exhibited a stronger effect on employees’ green behaviour than other variables. Furthermore, the senior management should further emphasise green engagement to implement environmental policies, and the human resources management should provide environmental education among employees ( Sudhagar and Samuel, 2019 ; Sourvinou and Filimonau, 2018 ).

4.5.3 Recruitment and understaffing.

Before COVID-19 outbreak, existing hotels have been facing manpower constraints because of an overall decline of the young population’s entrance into the workforce with the aging population, as mentioned during the Hotel Management Asia Summit (2018) that was held on 27 September 2018 in Hong Kong. A serious manpower shortage has occurred in numerous positions, including room attendant, room service butler and floor attendant positions ( VTC, 2018 ). The pro-democracy movement and cumulated impact of the pandemic have caused career discontinuity and underemployment across all tourism-related industry sectors at all levels abruptly to release labour force to other industries ( Yau, 2020 ). Hong Kong’s double whammy of social unrest and the pandemic demonstrated precarious employment of tourism industry practitioners ( Choy and Kamoche, 2020 ). The low income hospitality frontline, young and women workers are among one of the most vulnerable groups at risk of being made redundant or become a victim of underemployment partly because of their limited education and skill level ( Baum et al. , 2020 ) and perennial gender inequalities problem for women in the hospitality industry ( Santero-Sanchez et al. , 2015 ). While tourism and hospitality employees are struggling for alternative employment and some tourism organisations are trying to keep a tether to their manpower pool in wake of COVID-19, it is anticipated that there would be fierce competition for new bloods and those who opt for (or not) staying with their original sector/industry ( Baum et al. , 2020 ). Green practices have created “extra work” and used “additional time” without extra pay that affect employee decision to stay or leave with tourism-related organisations on one hand ( Choy and Kamoche, 2020 ). This may not be a sustainable practice as the SDG framework aims to create a decent work environment and economic growth for the workers on the other hand ( UN, 2015 ).

Supervisor B mentioned that understaffing is an evident issue in the Hotel. For instance, several staff members from the human resources department were called to help with housekeeping during peak seasons. This phenomenon could be the reason why some room attendants were uncooperative with environmental strategies. The supervisor believed that for the long-term benefits of the Hotel, housemen or “green assistants” are employed. Apart from creating more employment opportunities and economic values for all people, this is a better solution than raising the employees’ salary given that the green programme should not be a responsibility of a specific position. Gender stereotypes remain prevalent in the hotel industry, in which millions of women work as room attendants and clean a total of 15.5 million hotel rooms worldwide ( Sarosi, 2017 ). Therefore, the hotel industry should take steps to ensure a decent work environment for all, including women ( UN, 2018 ).

4.5.4 Expand the scope of green practice.

Supervisor A suggested that additional reuse strategies should be used. For example, laundry bags can be reused, particularly when a supply shortage exists. The toilet paper can be retained until the next guest stay provided that the thickness of paper should be greater than 3 cm to facilitate easy usage. The collected “three treasures” can be reused for removing the stench and slight stains of furniture or for use by employees in staff toilets and canteen. The assistant manager also suggested that amenities can be kept for the next stay if the plastic cover remains intact without being opened or getting wet.

4.5.5 Raising employees’ environmental awareness.

Studies reveal that environmental awareness can enhance the employee’s intention to implement green practices ( Chan et al. , 2014 ) and the SDG framework. Supervisor A stated that the Hotel should raise the environmental awareness amongst employees before commanding them to adopt environmental practices. Thus, the employees must be daily reminded about environmental information during the morning briefing. Moreover, inviting staff to join outdoor green activities and letting them feel “green” and enjoy the nature, which is encouraged by the Hotel, is an impressive approach. Thus, the environmentally-friendly concept can be assimilated among themselves. O'Neill (2018) proposed the same idea that having eco-friendly products and processes are not sufficient if employees do not practice them. Each staff member’s beliefs with regard to environmentally-friendly practices are the most significant. Hotels should offer training courses for their staff to conserve resources, which may be wasted otherwise ( Sourvinou and Filimonau, 2018 ; Chou, 2014 ).

5. Conclusion

Multiple environmentally-friendly strategies are applied in the housekeeping department of the sample Hotel. Firstly, the reuse and recycle policy is implemented. Several housekeeping staff members recycle the toilet amenities and plastic water drinking bottles. Secondly, the Hotel develops its own linen reuse programme for the guests and the staff. Thirdly, green concepts including the SDG strategies proposed by UNs for the enhancement of hardware and equipment should be introduced in the housekeeping department. These practices include the use of electronic key cards, low-flush toilets, destain powders and new vacuum machines. Green practices have brought various benefits to the Hotel in particular and the hotel industry in general based on various perspectives. These practices can help protect the environment by reducing waste generation and water and energy consumption. Furthermore, they can reduce the expenses of the Hotel and increase the efficiency of cleaning rooms. From the employees’ perspective, environmentally-friendly strategies can protect their health and significantly save their physical strength that was spent on cleaning. However, barriers that limits the effectiveness and thus reduces the benefits of green practices remain. For instance, the heavy workload of frontline employees is a reason why environmentally-friendly strategies cannot be successfully practiced. In addition, management issues, including the lack of enforcement and incomprehensible support policy, are also responsible for the ineffectiveness of the implementation of green practices.

All informants have agreed that housekeeping green practices contribute to the environmental sustainability strategies of sample Hotel as well as the hotel industry in Hong Kong at large. Multiple suggestions to address the limitations of green practices are provided by the frontline and the top management employees. Frontline employees believe that they would be further motivated if green practices provide convenience and rewards. Supervisors state that the management should start from the basics such as improving communication, creating decent jobs and raising the environmental awareness amongst employees. Green hotel initiatives should be operationally practical and sustainable to benefit the entire tourism industry. This study reveals the actual working environment in the housekeeping department of a hotel and the staff’s perception towards environmental sustainability strategies. In this study, one of the most significant findings reported that a difference has consistently existed between expected outcomes and actual results. Communication and mutual understanding between the top management and the frontline employees are the foundations that yield efficient housekeeping practices in hotels. Environmental sustainability is a continuous journey that requires on-going improvement in micro and macro levels within the hotel industry. In this study, we focussed on reviewing the implementation barriers and actual practices in the housekeeping department of a hotel, without examining other departments in the hotel industry. Green practices should be adopted for the whole tourism industry but not just the hotels themselves. How the green practices can be promoted to the entire tourism is worth for further studies.

Profile of respondents

*Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding

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Further reading

Alarcón , D.M. and Cole , S. ( 2018 ), “ No sustainability for tourism without gender equality ”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism , Vol. 27 No. 7 , pp. 903 - 919 .

Paraskevas , A. and Brookes , M. ( 2018 ), “ Human trafficking in hotels: an ‘invisible’ threat for a vulnerable industry ”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , Vol. 30 No. 3 , pp. 1996 - 2014 .

Corresponding author

About the authors.

Dr Monica Choy is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Management and Hospitality at the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong. Prior to embarking on her career in education, she acquired extensive business experience in the tourism and commercial sectors. She studied in China, Australia and Japan, and holds a BCom from the Curtin University of Technology, an MBA degree from the University of Sydney and University of New South Wales, an MSc in Hotel and Tourism Management from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and a DBA from the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her research interests include tourism management and human resources management issues. She has published various articles in journals, such as current issues in tourism.

Justin Cheng is a Former Instructor of the Division of Continuing Professional Education in Hong Kong Institute of Education (now The Hong Kong Education University). He has taught few courses on the use of English language. He also acted as an Editor for a number of books and journals in an international publishing house. Justin holds a master’s degree in Communication and New Media from City University of Hong Kong and a bachelor’s degree in Contemporary English Language from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Karl Yu holds a bachelor's degree in Hotel Operations Management from the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong, and is now an Industry Practitioner of an international hotel chain in Hong Kong.

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Housekeepers Face a Disaster Generations in the Making

Ghosted by their employers, members of the profession are facing “a full-blown humanitarian crisis — a Depression-level situation.”

“There are a lot of people who don’t want to disinfect their own homes,” Maria Del Carmen says, “so they call a housekeeper.” Credit... Hannah Yoon for The New York Times

Supported by

By David Segal

• Published Sept. 18, 2020 Updated Sept. 24, 2020

The scariest day of Maria Del Carmen’s life started with a phone call that initially cheered her up.

A native of Mexico, she has spent the last 24 years as a housekeeper in Philadelphia and had a dozen regular clients before the pandemic began. By April, she had three. Food banks became essential to feeding herself and her three children. To earn extra money, she started selling face masks stitched on her sewing machine.

So in mid-August, when a once-regular client — a pair of professors from the University of Pennsylvania and their children — asked her to come and clean, she was delighted. No one was home when she arrived, which seemed like a wise precaution, given social distancing guidelines. What struck her as odd were the three bottles of Lysol on the dining room table. She had a routine at every home, and it had never involved disinfectant.

Ms. Del Carmen started scrubbing, doing laundry and ironing. After a few hours, she stepped outside to throw away some garbage. A neighbor spotted her and all but shrieked: “Maria, what are you doing here?!” The professors and their children, the neighbor said, had all contracted the coronavirus.

“I was terrified,” Ms. Del Carmen recalled. “I started crying. Then I went home, took off all of my clothing, showered, got in bed, and for the next night and the next day, I waited for the coronavirus.”

She never got sick, but she still is livid. At 58 and, by her account, overweight, she considers herself at high risk. That is why she never took off her mask while cleaning that day — diligence she thinks might have saved her life.

“There are a lot of people who don’t want to disinfect their own homes,” she said, “so they call a housekeeper.”

The pandemic has had devastating consequences for a wide variety of occupations, but housekeepers have been among the hardest hit. Seventy-two percent of them reported that they had lost all of their clients by the first week of April, according to a survey by the National Domestic Workers Alliance. The fortunate had employers who continued to pay them. The unlucky called or texted their employers and heard nothing back. They weren’t laid off so much as ghosted, en masse.

Since July, hours have started picking up, though far short of pre-pandemic levels, and often for lower wages.

“We plateaued at about 40 percent unemployment in our surveys of members,” said Ai-jen Poo, executive director of the alliance. “And because most of these people are undocumented, they have not received any kind of government relief. We’re talking about a full-blown humanitarian crisis, a Depression-level situation for this work force.”

The ordeal of housekeepers is a case study in the wildly unequal ways that the pandemic has inflicted suffering. Their pay dwindled, in many cases, because employers left for vacation homes or because those employers could work from home and didn’t want visitors. Few housekeepers have much in the way of savings, let alone shares of stock , which means they are scrabbling for dollars as the wealthiest of their clients are prospering courtesy of the recent bull market.

In a dozen interviews, housekeepers in a handful of cities across the country described their feelings of fear and desperation over the last six months. A few said the pain had been alleviated by acts of generosity, mostly advances for future work. Far more said they were suspended, or perhaps fired, without so much as a conversation.

Scrubbing a fluffy little dog named Bobby

One of them is Vicenta, a 42-year-old native of Mexico who lives in Los Angeles, and who, like many contacted for this article, did not want her last name used because she is undocumented.

For 10 years, she had earned $2,000 a month cleaning two opulent homes in gated communities in Malibu, Calif. This included several exhausting weeks in 2018, when fires raged close enough to cover both homes in ash. Three times a week, she would visit both houses and scrub ash off floors, windows, walls and, for one family, a fluffy little dog named Bobby.

Vicenta received nothing extra for the added time it took to scour those houses during the fires. She would have settled for a glass of water, she said, but neither family offered one.

“It was incredibly hot, and my mouth and throat were really sore,” she recalled. “I should have seen a doctor, but we don’t have health insurance.”

If Vicenta thought her years of service had banked some good will, she was wrong. Early in May, both families called and left a message with her 16-year-old son, explaining that for the time being, she could not visit and clean. There was some vague talk about eventually asking her to return, but messages she left with the families for clarification went unreturned.

“Mostly, I feel really sad,” Vicenta said. “My children were born here, so they get coupons for food, but my husband lost his job as a prep cook in a restaurant last year and we are three months behind on rent. I don’t know what will happen next.”

Housekeepers have long had a uniquely precarious foothold in the U.S. labor market. Many people still refer to them as “the help,” which makes the job sound like something far less than an occupation. The Economic Policy Institute found that the country’s 2.2 million domestic workers — a group that includes housekeepers, child care workers and home health care aides — earn an average of $12.01 an hour and are three times as likely to live in poverty than other hourly workers . Few have benefits that are common in the American work force, like sick leave, health insurance, formal contracts or protection against unfair dismissal.

‘A treadmill life’

This underclass status can be traced as far back as the 1800s, historians say, and is squarely rooted in racism. Domestic work was then one of the few ways that Black women could earn money, and well into the 20th century, most of those women lived in the South. During the Jim Crow era, they were powerless and exploited. Far from the happy “mammy” found in popular culture like “Gone With the Wind,” these women were mistreated and overworked. In 1912, a publication called The Independent ran an essay by a woman identified only as a “Negro Nurse,” who described 14-hour workdays, seven days a week, for $10 a month.

“I live a treadmill life,” she wrote. “I see my own children only when they happen to see me on the streets.”

In 1935, the federal government all but codified the grim conditions of domestic work with the passage of the Social Security Act. The law was the crowning achievement of the New Deal, providing retirement benefits as well as the country’s first national unemployment compensation program — a safety net that was invaluable during the Depression. But the act excluded two categories of employment: domestic workers and agricultural laborers, jobs that were most essential to Black women and Black men, respectively.

The few Black people invited to weigh in on the bill pointed out the obvious. In February 1935, Charles Hamilton Houston, then special counsel to the N.A.A.C.P., testified before the Senate Finance Committee and said that from the viewpoint of Black people, the bill “looks like a sieve with the holes just big enough for the majority of Negroes to fall through.”

The historian Mary Poole, author of “The Segregated Origins of Social Security,” sifted through notes, diaries and transcripts created during the passage of the act and found that Black people were excluded not because white Southerners in control of Congress at the time insisted on it. The truth was more troubling, and more nuanced. Members of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration — most notably, the Treasury secretary, Henry Morgenthau Jr. — persuaded congressional leaders that the law would be far simpler to administer, and therefore far more likely to succeed, if the two occupations were left out of the bill.

In the years that followed, Black domestic workers were consistently at the mercy of white employers. In cities like New York, African-American women lined up at spots along certain streets, carrying a paper bag filled with work clothes, waiting for white housewives to offer them work, often for an hour or two, sometimes for the day. A reporter, Marvel Cooke, and an activist, Ella Baker, wrote a series of articles in 1935 for The Crisis, the journal of the N.A.A.C.P., describing life in what they called New York City’s “slave markets.”

The markets’ popularity diminished in the ’40s after Mayor Fiorello La Guardia opened hiring halls, where contracts were signed laying out terms for day labor arrangements. But in early 1950, Ms. Cooke found the markets in New York City were bustling again. In a series of first-person dispatches, she joined the “paper bag brigades” and went undercover to describe life for the Black women who stood in front of the Woolworths on 170th Street.

“That is the Bronx Slave Market,” she wrote in The Daily Compass in January 1950 , “where Negro women wait, in rain or shine, in bitter cold or under broiling sun, to be hired by local housewives looking for bargains in human labor.”

That same year, domestic work was finally added to the Social Security Act, and by the 1970s it had been added to federal legislation intended to protect laborers, including the Fair Labor Standards Act. African-American women had won many of those protections by organizing, though by the 1980s, they had moved into other occupations and were largely replaced by women from South and Central America as well as the Caribbean.

A total lack of leverage

Today, many housekeepers are undocumented and either don’t know about their rights or are afraid to assert them. The sort of grass-roots organizations that tried to eradicate New York City’s “slave markets” are lobbying for state laws to protect domestic work. Nine states have domestic workers’ rights laws on the book. Last summer, Senator Kamala Harris introduced the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, which would guarantee a minimum wage and overtime pay, along with protections against racial discrimination. The bill has yet to pass, and if it did, labor advocates and historians say it would merely be a beginning.

“It’s important to get a federal bill, but it leaves unanswered the question of enforcement,” said Premilla Nadasen, the author of “Household Workers Unite” and a professor of history at Barnard College. “The Department of Labor is overextended and it tends not to check up on individual employers. The imbalance of power between employer and employee has been magnified by the pandemic because millions of people are now looking for work. And xenophobic rhetoric has made women more fearful of being deported.”

The pandemic has laid bare not just the vulnerability of housekeepers to economic shocks but their total lack of leverage. Several workers said they had clients who would not let anyone clean who has had Covid-19; others know clients who will hire only Covid survivors, on the theory that after their recovery, they pose no health risk. Housekeepers are often given strict instructions about how they can commute, and are quizzed about whether and how much they interact with others. But they have no idea whether their employers are taking similar precautions . Nor, in many cases, are they accorded the simple decencies that are part of formal employment.

“It would be nice to have at least two days’ notice when someone cancels on you, either to let you know or compensate you for your time,” said Magdalena Zylinska, a housekeeper in Chicago who helped lobby for a domestic workers’ rights bill that passed in Illinois in 2017. “I think a lot of people don’t realize that if I don’t work, I don’t get paid and I still have to buy food, pay bills, utilities.”

Ms. Zylinska emigrated from Poland more than 20 years ago and has yet to get a week of paid vacation. The closest she came was in 1997, when a couple handed her $900 in cash, all at once — for work she’d just finished, work she would soon do, plus a holiday bonus.

“The couple said, ‘Merry Christmas, Maggie,’” she said. “I remember counting that money four times.”

Donate now to the 112th annual campaign of The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. All proceeds go to organizations providing assistance to those facing economic hardship. Make a tax-deductible donation through GoFundMe.

An earlier version of this article misquoted Ai-jen Poo, the executive director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. Ms. Poo said that in surveys of members, unemployment had plateaued at 40 percent, not that employment had peaked at that figure.

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David Segal is a Business section reporter based in London. More about David Segal

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“5 s Housekeeping”-A Lean Tool: A Case Study

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• Sarthak Jain 12 ,
• Gaurav Chaudhry 12 ,
• Mohd Talha 12 &
• Richa Sharma 12  

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering ((LNME))

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The research paper pertains to the implementation of “5S Housekeeping” in the Sheet Metal Workshop of a manufacturer/supplier of Hero MotoCorp Ltd. The objective for the implementation of 5S arises due to reasons like uneasy work environment, excessive wastage, and inefficient workstations in the company. Therefore, in order to efficiently work on the above-mentioned factors arises the need to implement 5S in the organization. The reduction of 7 wastes defined by Toyota is a major part of the process. The effective implementation and follow-through for 5S in the workshop by all staff members work as a catalyst for improving work ethics, fundamental practices, manufacturing performance and in-house capability. After the implementation of this technique, a visible improvement in the working conditions and employee satisfaction is achieved.

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Ab Rahman, M., Khamis, N.K., Mohd Zain, R., Deros, B., Mahmood, W.: Implementation of 5S. 2012 (2010)

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Jain, S., Chaudhry, G., Talha, M., Sharma, R. (2021). “5 s Housekeeping”-A Lean Tool: A Case Study. In: Phanden, R.K., Mathiyazhagan, K., Kumar, R., Paulo Davim, J. (eds) Advances in Industrial and Production Engineering. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4320-7_26

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Behavior-based safety on construction sites: A case study

This work presents the results of a case study and describes an important area within the field of construction safety management, namely behavior-based safety (BBS). This paper adopts and develops a management approach for safety improvements in construction site environments. A rigorous behav-ioral safety system and its intervention program was implemented and deployed on target construction sites. After taking a few weeks of safety behavior measurements, the project management team implemented the designed intervention and measurements were taken. Goal-setting sessions were arranged on-site with workers' participation to set realistic and attainable targets of performance. Safety performance measurements continued and the levels of performance and the targets were presented on feedback charts. Supervisors were asked to give workers recognition and praise when they acted safely or improved critical behaviors. Observers were requested to have discussions with workers, visit the site, distribute training materials to workers, and provide feedback to crews and display charts. They were required to talk to operatives in the presence of line managers. It was necessary to develop awareness and understanding of what was being measured. In the process, operatives learned how to act safely when conducting site tasks using the designed checklists. Current weekly scores were discussed in the weekly safety meetings and other operational site meetings with emphasis on how to achieve set targets. The reliability of the safety performance measures taken by the company's observers was monitored. A clear increase in safety performance level was achieved across all categories: personal protective equipment; housekeeping; access to heights; plant and equipment, and scaffolding. The research reveals that scores of safety performance at one project improved from 86% (at the end of 3rd week) to 92.9% during the 9th week. The results of intervention demonstrated large decreases in unsafe behaviors and significant increases in safe behaviors. The results of this case study showed that an approach based on goal setting, feedback, and an effective measure of safety behavior if properly applied by committed management, can improve safety performance significantly in construction site environments. The results proved that the BBS management technique can be applied to any country's culture, showing that it would be a good approach for improving the safety of front-line workers and that it has industry wide application for ongoing construction projects.

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ardavan Es.haghi

Construction is one of the most hazardous industries due to its dynamic, temporary, and decentralized nature. The Hong Kong Commissioner for Labor identifies worker behavior as the root cause of construction accidents. Behavior-based safety (BBS) is one effective approach in managing employee safety issues. However, there is little research on the application of BBS in the construction industry. This research proposes an extension of the BBS approach, proactive behavior-based safety (PBBS), to improve construction safety. PBBS integrates the theory of BBS with the technology of Proactive Construction Management System (PCMS). The innovations of PBBS are: (1) automatically monitoring location-based behaviors; (2) quantitatively measuring safety performance; (3) investigating potential causes of unsafe behaviors; and (4) improving the efficiency of safety management. A pilot study of a Hong Kong construction site practicing PBBS was conducted. The experiment results showed that PBBS performed well on construction accident prevention and the Safety Index (SI) of the two project teams, with increased improvements by 36.07% and 44.70% respectively. It is concluded that PBBS is effective and adaptable to construction industry.

International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology IJRASET

IJRASET Publication

Construction has long been considered dangerous work. In addition, the construction industry is under constant scrutiny for quality of work. Combining safety and quality management principles and methods capitalizes on the similarities between these two management concepts to create a single ‘synergistic’ management system for improving both safety and quality. Behavioural Based Safety (BBS) processes focus on individual behaviours in the workplace that are at the very root of a high percentage of work-related injuries. Once the critical behaviours have been identified, the BBS process involves an observer/coach using positive behaviour modification techniques to change employee behaviours. As the percentage of observed safe behaviours increases, the injury rate should decrease.

Journal of Safety Research

Steve Rowlinson

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR ADVANCE RESEARCH (IJAR)

FREDRICK AHENKORA BOAMAH

The construction industry is inherently risky, with a substantial number of accidents. Moreover, most construction firms aims at completing projects on time, especially with different projects at hand thereby neglecting the safety aspect of the workers. In most construction companies, adequate concentration is not allocated to the areas of health and safety and this has been a great problem over the years. To support in addressing this issue, this work planned with the aim to recommend measures and strategies for managing safety on construction sites. Data collected was analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) and the Relative Importance Index (RII) was also used in grading. It was therefore disclosed from the findings that poor planning at site, unsafe working conditions with others are some of the major causes of accident at site. Construction companies should consider the need for special training for workers and also to create a group of internal health and safety monitory experts were some of the recommendations made.

E3S Web of Conferences 65, 03006 (2018)

The construction industry involves one of the most hazardous occupation for workers due to complex management processes, environmental issues, work pressure and heavy and complicated equipment involved in modern construction projects. Despite the advancement of technology in the construction industry, an escalating number of fatal accidents occur because of the human errors and the unsafe behaviours. In this research, an analysis for previous studies has been conducted to define all safety behavioural factors in construction industry for improving the safety performance in construction industry. All the studies were categorised in accordance with their methodologies, analytical methods, variables, and the findings in order to build an effective conceptual framework. The framework comprises of three main categories that incur direct impact toward the safety behaviour in construction industries, namely: (a) organizational factors, (b) safety climate factors, and (c) individual factors. Each category has own variables which make a total of 16 factors for all categories. The framework facilitates to assess the effectiveness of a construction industry, identify the deficiencies and the weakness, and create procedures to manage the accident in future by controlling the safety behaviour of employees.

Frank Fugar , DOROTHY DONKOH

IOSR Journals

Background: There is a high risk of working in the construction industry in the U.S. because it contributes to the majority of the fatalities among all organizations, and the sections of construction with more fatalities rate are the residential and commercial constructions. Therefore it will be necessary to focus on the safety of residential and commercial constructions. Doing so will lower the accident rate for both construction and overall records. Eighteen previous related research reports were observed and it was found that five of the studies could be used to represent all the eighteen earlier experiments. These were used to carry out further investigations. The results were analyzed which was used to find a safety measure that will be suitable and effective in improving both commercial and residential safety in the U.S. The findings indicate that 91% of construction industries in the United States practice training and safety meetings and frequent site work inspections. Also, the media contributed towards improving construction safety. Some researchers used 3D immersive visual VR in some construction companies to train employees and it shows an advantage over the traditional method. Other experimenters focused on using Proactive behaviorbased safety (PBBS) management to improve construction safety in China. Increasing leader-based site verbal safety communication in two interventions improved safety by 7% and 12%. In conclusion, three methods were selected which if included as safety measures in both residential and commercial construction sites it will reduce the percentage of both fatalities and non-fatalities records in the construction industry and overall accident records in the United States. The methods are (1) Using Virtual reality instead of the conventional methods for training employees (2) increasing leader-based site verbal safety communication at construction sites (3) applying the Proactive behavior-based safety (PBBS) method.

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Safety in the construction industry has progressed exponentially in the last century. The development of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) may be seen as a major milestone for work place safety. However, the first stages of OSHA were reactive. In the early 2000’s, companies placed aggressive focus on the application of proactive measures in preventing incidents rather than simply reacting. Risk Assessments, Constructability Reviews, and Hazard Identifications were few of the best practices implemented in this time period. Experts now believe the implementation of a Behavioral Based Safety Program (BBS) is the next revolutionary technique to help decrease injury rates further. Several studies were conducted which exhibit a correlation between effective BBS implementation and OSHA classified recordable injury rates. However, there are no previous studies identifying correlation between BBS implementation versus Near Misses, and BBS implementation versus OSHA cl...

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