THE HOSPITALITY CUSTOMER YOU DIDN’T TRAIN FOR

Fundamentals in Accident Training

Shaping how well we execute service to our guests is a primary function of hotel and?restaurant training.? From the front of house to the back, and the first floor to the top floor, we support our teams on the path to guest experience and financial rewards.? This is fundamental and we hope that nothing gets in the way of our dreams.

There is, however, the likelihood your practices are overlooking a component of training that is allowing significant risk to your success.? In simple terms, if you assume your employees are performing their responsibilities correctly in protecting guests from accidents, these allusions can become an unexpected concern.? Now you’ve opened the door and allowed in the customer you didn’t train for.? Accidents happen regularly, they are a threat to success, and no business is excluded from the potential of having accidents anywhere in hospitality.

The Clues Are There: Are You Liable?

Walk into any hotel or restaurant and observe the potential for an accident to occur.? The indications of dangerous inactions by staff are there if you take the time to look, but you must read the clues.

An employee runs into your office screaming that someone just slipped and fell on a wet floor in the lobby.? The chef calls you into the restaurant regarding an allergen incident.? The doorman is helping a guest that just tripped and injured themselves on the entry carpet.? Your facility manager is tending to a guest that fell in the stairwell.? And we cannot leave out hot coffee accidents that continue to appear, albeit uncertain as to why this keeps happening.? These incidents all have the same parallel, they are preventable.? While not often reasoned appropriately, incidents of this consequence should result in management documentation because they often can become litigated.?

Generally,?hospitality law?requires operators to provide a duty of care against trips and other injuries, to provide food that is suitable for consumption, and more recently truth in food labeling laws addressing allergen information.? While this duty does not ensure the guests' safety, the laws do say to act “prudent and with reasonable care” and that the laws do not protect an owner against charges of negligence.

Very often, accidents happen because our people are not trained to prevent such instances.? If you stand back and watch with an open eye like I do, you will understand the reasons why so many accidents happen to our guests.? One seemingly simple reason for incidents is because risk guidance is frequently absent from employee training.??

What is Risk Guidance?

Risk guidance is what supports training to keep your business safe from many of these dangers.?

This concept is sometimes difficult to put into place because management may lack training in risk management, and a lack in experience only supports an accident victims' case against you.

To put risk guidance in perspective and make it easier to understand, train for what can happen if an employee does not follow procedure.? Take for instance what can happen if an employee walks away from a mop cleanup and the floor remains wet or sticky.? Operators often believe placing a wet floor sign at the scene removes risk or responsibility from the business, but this rarely offers any significance of protection.??

Hidden Dangers: How is your Documentation?

There are few hidden dangers when looking at accident conditions in our hospitality environment.? As an occasional expert witness, incident conditions like these should be foreseen and prevention in place.? Simply put, risk guidance training and the documentation that tells the story of your procedures can be invaluable.? Without documentation of procedures or proof that they have been followed reduces the chance of success when litigation comes to your door.

Do not assume everyone knows how to mop and dry a floor safely, because they don’t.? This carelessness is also true for incidents of allergen concerns that are not fully understood by employees, documented incorrectly in the point of sale, or followed up improperly in the kitchen or during delivery of service.??

When carpets are not rolled properly or left upright instead of level they tend to develop raised or turned edges or ripples.? People trip on carpets in poor condition all the time.? Stairwells can have railings or stair nosing that has come loose or cracked, when work orders continually linger.? For the hot coffee burns that continually arise, let’s just say you need to have front-line delivery procedures broken down and perfected to avoid this from happening.? Coffee does not have to be served above 150 degrees, it just doesn’t.? If your risks are not realized or procedures in place and properly performed, the potential for an injury increases significantly.??

Think for a second, how often do you perform risk assessment with your team?? The tendency in our industry is not so often, or not at all.?

Address the Concern Before It Is Too Late

The costly result from a customer’s injury or the closure of the business is not something anyone wants to encounter.??

Risk guidance and seconds to address a concern can make all the difference, preventing the customer you didn’t train for.

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About the author

Jim Lopolito, President of?Lopolito Hospitality Consultants, Corp. is a veteran of the restaurant, country club, catering & concert industries offering expert assistance with club management consulting, restaurant consulting, and other foodservice development. He has worked as an executive chef and general manager and has performed in a consulting role for more than 20 years. The authoring of his book, Focusing On Expense Loss, is his review process that has been a highly sought after resource for his broad client base.