Mr. Gernentz

Security & Safety

Building a Proactive Safety Culture

By Chris Gernentz, Director, Safety and Security, Carlson Hotels, Americas

Building a comprehensive proactive safety culture is critical in today’s environment. You can never underestimate just how important safety and security are. It’s easy to think about the almighty dollar, and many times “building a culture” sounds expensive, but it can be quite the contrary. Protecting guests and employees is of paramount importance for all of us in the industry. The properties that do it best adhere to a philosophy of active safety.

Culture Review

Every company has an “active” or “passive” culture. A review of current company dynamics and leadership style can generally provide a glimpse into which area your hotel falls. Hotels, just as any business, have their own inherent dynamics that can be affected by many variables. The most important dynamic is the people, but location, size and class of hotel all play major roles in how well proactive safety can work. Dynamics may vary, but some things remain the same regardless of the property and its features. While we hope all hotels are “active” when it comes to safety, a passive culture can be transformed into an active one by following some basic steps.

Let’s start with the culture. It may be the primary piece, but it’s also the end result of a host of other programs that help form a diverse culture leading to proactivity. First and foremost are compliance-driven programs such as: emergency preparedness, hazard communication, bloodborne pathogens, etc. Some companies require just a portion of the staff to take these training sessions while others require all employees to attend.

Second level programs include best practices or claim-driven topics such as slips, trips and falls, back safety, kitchen safety, etc. These are not required by local or state laws, but are internally required and make up the majority of our claims, and will be attended by all of staff.

The third level includes items that start to cross over among the above: alcohol awareness, safe driving, etc. These are very specific duty driven trainings, and have an even smaller attendee group.

The fourth level includes items our hotels wouldn’t necessarily train employees on, but those that are needed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, Food and Drug Administration regulations, etc.

Insurance requirements are the fifth and final level. They tie of the items above together, but it’s our insurance holders who will help insure life safety, fire safety and other geographical (i.e. earthquake, hurricane) requirements.

Culture Development by Group

Hotels have to handle their culture much differently based on their service level. For instance, Select-Service properties will generally be much smaller scale across the board, and employees can wear numerous hats to ensure all departments have leads. Your Accounting person may also be the Human Resources person who is also responsible for Safety and Security. This makes it much more difficult to maintain a culture that protects itself from loss. However, being of smaller scale can also mean fewer guests and fewer departments and fewer exposures, therefore making it more manageable. These hotels can range from 75-150 rooms, and have between 20-50 employees. Training takes less time, and with smaller square footages, self assessments can be done quicker.

It may be much harder to maintain proactivity with Full-Service hotels, even with many more department heads and employees. Full-Service properties generally have considerably more square footage and twice the number of rooms, if not more. There are many more elements of exposure coming into play, with full kitchens and/or restaurants, banquets, pools and large laundries. Many times, the role of Safety and Security is split between Engineering, Human Resources and Security, therefore taking much more communication to ensure protection. Additionally, with the larger footprint and square footage, self assessments take longer and generate more items for correction.

No matter what type of hotel it is, the physical location can be a major enemy in consistent protection against loss. Many Select-Service hotels are not located downtown or near the airport, although some can be. Most are in quieter, suburban areas. Full-Service hotels are often located in the middle of large downtown areas or at airports. In these higher profile areas, developing and maintaining a proactive safety culture is affected by potential higher rates of crime, larger parties that may be consuming alcohol and, of course, higher expectations of service, along with many more guests.

Creating a Culture

Safety is not just something management does for employees, nor is it always part of daily operations. Management commitment to safety and security is essential, but true safety and security excellence requires engagement from personnel throughout the organization. We have a saying: “Always Care.” These two words emphasize the personal responsibility every employee is expected to take to ensure the safety and security of people and property in all of our hotels. In fact, studies recognize that by focusing effort in creating a culture of organization-wide involvement and participation, a result of zero injuries is achievable.

Always care dovetails into compliance as well. With care comes compliance. If everyone is participating in the program, large exposures are reduced and small ones can be eliminated. The hotel industry offers a much different environment for incidents and loss. We have many of the same exposures as general industry for our employees, however all of those exposures are multiplied with the addition of guests in and out of our hotels each day. A proactive safety culture now gets multiplied as well. Therefore, it’s essentially twice as important in our industry. We cannot control what our guests do, however, if we can eliminate or at least minimize their exposures to common risks like slips, trips and falls, we keep them safe as well.

Creating this culture will take time, and it may take more than one round, but that’s when management commitment kicks in. If an employee sees a manager or general manager involved in safety meetings or trainings, they are more apt to ensure they do their part. Proactive safety and security should become a habit of all employees in our hotels, but, as with many companies, turnover, language barriers, etc. can slow the process, and make it difficult to complete. Training 75 employees on bloodborne pathogens may seem easy, but hotels never stop, nor do they close. It becomes necessary to perform trainings or certifications during off-hours. The difficulty here is that there are usually fewer employees on duty, and they cannot be taken from their work to receive training. Proactive rich cultures make this happen. The numbers show that their work pays off. It’s not hard to find why those with higher claims workman’s compensation and liability generally are those whom we have to constantly remind and communicate with to ensure culture development is happening.

Sustaining a Culture

That rich safety and security culture is the outcome of what management does, not just what they say. A proactive safety and security culture must be lived and demonstrated every day by your management team and every person in your organization. It takes constant work, coaching and demonstration to ensure a culture shift sticks. Over the past few years, we have seen the “desire” to be safe and secure change to a “need” to be safe and secure. Our world has changed dramatically, unfortunately only after major events. Until recently, when we heard “safety and Security” or saw a security guard, we assumed something was wrong, or that we did something wrong. Now, it’s an expectation of our employees and guests that safety and security be visible, in fact if they don’t see them, they start to worry. That says volumes about the paradigm shift in our world.

One common undertone to both safety and security is preparedness. We, as hotels, need to be prepared for many things, not just employee or guest incidents, but for weather, crime, illegal activity and terrorism. We must remain nimble and ready for anything. The time it takes to react is becoming so short that proactivity is essential, if you aren’t prepared in advance, things can spin out of control rather quickly. It becomes critical for the hotel, and for the brand and the industry itself. All brands have become much better about sharing information so to leverage all of our knowledge in case of need. Don’t get me wrong; the competition level is higher than it’s ever been. However, we are all learning the virtue of helping each other out as well. Proprietary items will always be such, but collaborative forums, councils and committees have become more frequent and very beneficial.

The Future

So where do we go from here? What does the future hold for us? I think it’s safe to say, our guest requirements and expectations will only get more rigorous. They will expect more, and their differentiators have already started to include safety and security. Safety and Security has become a regular topic of everyone within the hotel industry, and there have been many organizations seeing the benefit of working together, such as the alliances between the American Hotel and Lodging Association and the Department of Homeland Security with the “Eye on Awareness” program. Requests for proposals (RFPs) for large group stays have not only grown in requirements, but it’s becoming a necessity to show you have a program of safety and security. It’s now a smart business decision, too.

Chris Gernentz currently holds the position of Director, Safety and Security, Carlson Hotels, Americas. (www.carlson.com) He is responsible for Safety and Security plans and procedures that assist hotels worldwide in developing, implementing and enhancing compliance and best practices in order to ensure a safe, secure and sellable hotel. Over the last 22 years, Mr. Gernentz has gained global Safety and Security Industry experience working in a variety of operations. Most recently, Mr. Gernentz has focused his career on building and enhancing Safety and Security strategies and processes in North and South America. The Carlson portfolio currently flies the Radisson, Country Inns and Suites, Park Plaza and Park Inn by Radisson flags, with the new up-scale Radisson Blu Aqua - Chicago set to open in late October. Mr. Gernentz can be contacted at 763-656-3025 or cgernentz@carlson.com Extended Bio...

HotelExecutive.com retains the copyright to the articles published in the Hotel Business Review. Articles cannot be republished without prior written consent by HotelExecutive.com.