JANUARY, 2003

TIME TO COMPLETE OSHA'S 300 FORM FOR THE YEAR 2002

This is the first year for reporting under the OSHA's Form 300, "Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses. For the first time, it will be possible to post an OSHA"s Form 300A Summary Form that will not be similar to the final page of the Log 200 with employee entries covered. By establishing the Summary, there is no possibility of names of injured or ill employees appearing on the same sheet as they had in the past. This became a privacy issue if the name was not carefully screened out. Another significant change is the posting of the Summary from February 1st through April 30th. It must be placed in a location where all employees will have the opportunity of seeing it. As in the past, it will not be necessary to forward the copy to OSHA unless you have received a notice in early 2002 indicating the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U. S. Department of Labor wished to receive your full report.

This year, it is required, for the first time, that a senior officer of the organization sign and certify that "to the best of the officer's knowledge, the data provided are true, accurate and complete." Should an audit indicate false recording, the officer may be fined. Use the data which has accumulated on your log entries during 2002. This information should be the basis for new safety initiatives during 2003. TERROR AND THE PEACEFUL WARRIOR By Julie Thompson, Student Conrad N. Hilton College, University of Houston Ms. Thompson presented an excellent paper based upon researching the internet and other terrorism data sources. Portions of her paper have been excerpted for your information. Ms. Thompson also obtained data from on-site interviews. Hotels and staff names are not included in order to protect the organization by not compromising the property's security program.

The content of this paper is to address the problem of protecting a 300 room, 10 story hotel from terrorists and to keep in mind the specific protection of the water and ventilation systems (Water and ventilation covered in previous Bulletins).. Dealing with a subject such as this, it is easy to focus on the gloom, doom and negative. It is horrible! However, this is part of what the terrorist likes to see happen. As difficult as it may be, the subject of securing ourselves must move from the negative to the positive in thought and action. It is key to better protection and security in our industry and the latent benefits of positive action are enormous. Particularly in our industry, it should be our commitment in hospitality to be peaceful warriors. A peaceful warrior still carries a sword. Terror, terrorize and terrorism are described by Webster's Dictionary as that action "to instill intense fear or panic, to fill with terror and coerce by threat or violence and a systematic covert warfare to produce terror for political coercion." It is obvious that the terrorist tactics have worked and worked well. Not only do we face real warfare atrocities, but we also face the accompanying disastrous psychological warfare.

A dimension in my personal life regarding the events of 9/11 is that date is my young son's birthday, and now his own birthday is awkward to him. The wave of damage these people have done to virtually every innocent person on the face of this planet is unbelievable, I can think of nothing more unholy than wars dressed up in drag and presented to us as Holy Wars."

It is easy to come up with ideas that end up making our hospitable offerings look more like an inhospitable prison system with a myriad of armed guards, barbed wire fences, stone walls, Doberman pinschers, metal detectors, gun turrets, lookout towers, etc. I realize that sounds over the edge, but that is what our places can begin to look like even if we try to pretty it up with nice wall paper and aroma-therapy. We traipse on such fine lines.

Then, of course, I believe we all will acknowledge little can be done in the presence of individuals who are willing to be suicide pilots or suicide bombers. Terrorists are totally off the radar screen. They may strike at random anywhere and anytime. A very sad acknowledgement indeed. So, we must first rely on our government forces to do their jobs. As much as we wish we could control the situation, we can't. We can, however, work with our government in keeping close tabs on alerts and reporting suspicious activity we observe.

I interviewed a general manager of an airport property in Houston about his security efforts since 9/11 Among other things, he said they keep in close contact with the FBI via Fax and other means concerning alerts, potential threats, and possible suspects to look out for. He hires his own security officers to permit him better control over his own security personnel. The hotel has sensors randomly placed around the hotel that a security officer must touch on a random schedule for patrolling accountability. This keeps the officers up and moving around the hotel. He has one officer patrol the parking area in a security vehicle. He has room attendants work in teams of two for their safety and has noticed their productivity and morale escalated because of that policy.

It is not surprising that after 9/11 in a study and article titled "The Safety and Security of U.S. Hotels. A Post September 11 Report" by Cathy A. Enz and Masako S. Taylor of Cornell University, airport hotels are now ranked as our most secure. Reportedly that is because they tend to have a full panoply of safety and security devices. Though related, they divide "safety" and "security" into two separate categories, as we do at the University of Houston. Most of the rankings translate into what we would expect, the higher price hotels are ranked more secure and the budget hotels the least secure Surprising is the safety portion of the study in that higher priced properties are least likely to have the most basic safety feature of all -sprinklers. (57.2 in luxury and 60.3 percent in upscale compared with approximately 70 percent in economy properties).

Michael Juneau-Katsuya, a former counter-terrorism officer for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, points out the changing nature of terrorists and their targets. In addition to the continuing threat posed by the al-Qaeda network is the suspicion that some of the recent assaults through out the world have been staged by Muslim extremists with no ties to al-Qaeda. Related to our industry, certainly night clubs and restaurants have been among the targets. The Bali attack has emerged as a regional terrorist network with "Jemaah Islamiya" as prime suspect. More for the industry to deal with.

After poring over article after article on security, employee verification, video cameras, alarm systems, weapons, fences, lighting, locking systems, building barriers, security officers, etc., and "Security as an Amenity" for marketing the "beast" on top of it all (have to pay for it somehow), I have come to but a few suggestions based upon my research findings that are often overlooked. All of the above items are good security and should already been in place before 9/11 in the industry battle against any criminal predator. I have racked my brains and even pondered innocent looking, but explosive sniffing beagles also patrolling the property.

I quote from Chris, E. McGoey at the Crime Doctor web site www.crimedoctor.com as part of my research: Have a Security Plan If no comprehensive disaster plan exists then that's where you start. The plan should be clearly defined and articulated so everyone knows their responsibility should an emergency arise. All emergency equipment should be inspected and tested. Practice drills should be conducted for fire and emergency response. Time and again, the employees who have been through a program of consistent drills have been stellar in performance under an actual crisis. (Witness the W.T.C. Marriott) Policy and Procedures First Security improvements like access control should be addressed at the policy and procedure level and supplemented by personnel to enforce the policy. This is the quickest to implement and the easiest to modify as conditions dictate without making structural alterations. For example, restricting ingress to a building, during limited hours, through a single door or driveway, and requiring identification to enter certain sensitive areas. Policies should be flexible enough to rapidly adjust to changes. Add physical security slowly Installation of new physical security measures or major design changes should come only after careful consideration and planning. While electronic access, video surveillance systems, concrete barriers, metal detectors, under vehicle scanning devices, and package x-ray scanners are high on building protection "want lists," their practicality, for example, with a large number of guests arriving for a conference or convention would be a logistical nightmare. Return to normalcy. Historically following other national crises, Americans have proven to have short memories and will want to be back to normal routines in a relatively short period of time. (NOTE: This was written shortly after the 9/11 tragedy and is not playing out as in the past. There continues to be a great deal of apprehension relating to air service and visiting or staying at :high-profile locations or facilities.")

And Mr. McGoey thoughts on Hotel Security as an Amenity:
Safety and security is a growing concern among travelers throughout the world. Let's face it, traveling is stressful enough without having to worry about becoming a crime victim while away from home. One has only to look at the negative impact on hotel bookings, following a highly publicized tourist attack, to see how important the perception is to the traveler. Design Factors The first opportunity to present a positive impression about the relative safety of a hotel property is at the perimeter. For maximum effectiveness, there must be an obvious and distinct design transition as you enter the property from the public street. Solid deterrent cues include significant barriers like perimeter walls, decorative fencing, landscaped terraces, and a well-defined driveway and main entrance. A strong transition sends a subliminal message to the criminal that this hotel is private property and for use by hotel. guests only. (Note: in a resort setting, it may be possible to introduce actual barriers that would deter the movement of a bomb-laden vehicle to within "striking" distance of the main building).

Mr McGoey further considers the aspects of Lighting and Interior Access Control and Ms. Thompson's concluding comments note: Our employees in the hospitality industry are our greatest assets. Studies have shown that employees; how a business treats them; and, in turn, how our employees treat our guests will basically either make or break the operation. Have a chef spend 20 minutes walking the 10th floor or visiting the pool to greet and visit with guests. I cannot believe that guests would not love the attention! Give employees the time and space to do this. Then, the employees must communicate their observations in some manner, by report or by a brief daily meeting. It is security. It is a negative into a positive. Our employees become like magicians to our guests. Now you see it; but you don't know what it is! Perhaps the creation of "Ambiance Manager" in our hospitality operations to implement all of the positives is called for. Pay the employee a good wage. Pay them more than they can get anywhere else. Keep trying to "save a buck" in the budget for your people and it's the most expensive dollar you ever saved. The wave of terror moved rapidly. Can we move a positive wave as rapidly? Latent benefits are lost while we seek result graphs in advance of trying something new. These benefits are difficult to measure and then become difficult to justify in the budgets and books. In conclusion, I would take as many approaches as possible, from forming a relationship with the FBI (and other applicable authorities) to all the security measures and upgrades; with a "warm and fuzzy" spin on it all. That is the way of the peaceful warrior.

DISCLAIMER

Nothing in this BULLETIN shall constitute a standard, an endorsement, or recommendation of the American Hotel & Lodging Association , (your Association), the American Hotel and Lodging Educational Foundation, The Hotel Association Group Trust, the Loss Prevention Management Institute, Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management, and the University of Houston. These entities disclaim any liability with respect to use of any information, procedure, or product or reliance thereon by any member of the hospitality industry.