title: Occupational injury disparities in the US hotel industry.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hotel employees have higher rates of occupational injury and sustain more severe injuries than most other service workers.
  
  
  METHODS
  OSHA log incidents from five unionized hotel companies for a three-year period were analyzed to estimate injury rates by job, company, and demographic characteristics. Room cleaning work, known to be physically hazardous, was of particular concern.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 2,865 injuries were reported during 55,327 worker-years of observation. The overall injury rate was 5.2 injuries per 100 worker-years. The rate was highest for housekeepers (7.9), Hispanic housekeepers (10.6), and about double in three companies versus two others. Acute trauma rates were highest in kitchen workers (4.0/100) and housekeepers (3.9/100); housekeepers also had the highest rate of musculoskeletal disorders (3.2/100). Age, being female or Hispanic, job title, and company were all independently associated with injury risk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sex- and ethnicity-based disparities in injury rates were only partially due to the type of job held and the company in which the work was performed.
authors: Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois, USA. sbucha3@uic.edu
authors: Susan
authors: S
authors: Buchanan
authors: Pamela
authors: P
authors: Vossenas
authors: Niklas
authors: N
authors: Krause
authors: Joan
authors: J
authors: Moriarty
authors: Eric
authors: E
authors: Frumin
authors: Jo Anna M
authors: JA
authors: Shimek
authors: Franklin
authors: F
authors: Mirer
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Orris
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Punnett
mesh_terms: D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005522:Food Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006796:Household Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007198:Indians, North American; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology; D011287:Prejudice; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult