Hotel & Motel Management - August 2008 - (Page 8) Legally Speaking ance with all applicable laws. If your locality does not require lifeguards and you do not provide them, this fact should be conspicuously announced on prominent poolside signage. If you do hire lifeguards, verify their training and certification. Rules limiting pool capacity should be developed and enforced. Overcrowding can cause swimmers to collide and suffer injury. Also, a busy pool is likely to be noisy with the result that a swimmer yelling in distress might not be heard or noticed. The presence of too many people may cause the water to become murky, frustrating the ability of lifeguards and parents to observe someone needing rescue beneath the surface. Murkiness also might result from a defective filtration system, wrong amounts of chemicals or inadequate cleaning. Do what’s necessary to avoid these circumstances. Maintaining appropriate pool water chemistry ensures the pool is sanitary. Pool chemicals can result in illness if not applied properly. They must be measured carefully to verify correct amounts are used. Proper timing of applications also is important. A schedule should be devised and pool personnel rated on their adherence to it. In one recent case, a hotel pool contained an excessive amount of bromine, causing a guest to become ill. Don’t overlook possible de- H&MM August 2008 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition Keep afloat on legal mandates for hotel water attractions IN THE details Pool safety lessens liability Check local regulations Maintain grounds, furniture Keep up waterfront areas By Karen Morris H&MM Columnist N othing like a refreshing dip on a hot day. As summer continues in full swing and families enjoy their vacation travel, hotel pools, spas and waterfronts have significant appeal as relief from the heat. However, in addition to being fun attractions, they have the potential to generate much liability. Alert and vigilant management of these facilities will keep you out of hot water and help ensure that sunburn is the only injury your guests suffer. Here’s a quick review of matters needing your attention, gleaned from recent lawsuits. Municipalities have laws that address such issues as: the need for lifeguards, the required training and certifications for lifeguards, mandated poolside safety equipment, specs for diving boards, presence and placement of depth markers and safety ropes and pool maintenance. Be sure that you are in compli- fects in poolside chairs. In a recent case, the plaintiff suffered injuries when his plastic deck chair suddenly collapsed. His wife then observed many other deck chairs with visible cracks. Not good. Those chairs should have been discovered previously and removed from service. Failure to protect guests will not endear a jury to the hotel. As a relaxing poolside afternoon unfolds and drinks are typically imbibed, hotel guests unknown to each other are often inclined to schmooze. Newfound “friendships” can lead to sexual attacks. This scenario is based on several cases. The hotel is customarily not liable. However, if the staff knew of aggressive sexual tendencies of the perpetrator and failed to take precautions, such as barring him from the pool, liability is likely. Banish those who you know do not play well with others. People are customarily barefoot when in and around a pool. Inspect frequently to ensure floors are free from cracks or holes, broken glass or other debris that can cause injury. Water toys such as floats, rafts or balls can present dangers if the user becomes separated from them. Errant inflatable items can be dangerous when encountered by an unsuspecting swimmer. Consider whether prohibition is a good rule for your facility. Check pool ladders for loose rungs and any other condition that compromises the ladder’s ability to support swimmers as they enter and leave the pool. Water attractions, such as slides, wave pools, raging rapids and lazy rivers, need frequent inspection and maintenance. Be sure to give them the attention they require. Alas, sometimes tragedies occur in a hotel pool and someone, usually a child, drowns. Bad as this looks for the hotel, the facility is not necessarily responsible. The inn will be liable only if it did something wrong in the management and maintenance of the pool. Investigate carefully to determine the cause. Did the guest voluntarily enter the deep end although not able to swim? Assuming the area was clearly marked, the hotel should not be responsible. Was the victim hurt because of rough horseplay or because a playmate threw him in the deep end or held his head under water? In these circumstances, the hotel likewise would not be liable, unless the horseplay had been ongoing and ignored. Waterfront properties present additional risks. Lake bottoms can become home to a variety of objects of potential danger to swimmers, such as old anchors, pieces of jagged concrete or fishing tackle. Periodic raking of the bottom of the swimming area helps to avoid this prob- lem. Water depths should be disclosed so would-be divers can assess their safety. If the water is rough, no need to announce “surf’s up!” The law expects would-be swimmers to observe the obvious. However, if nonobvious conditions exist that the hotel is or should be aware of, the hotel does have a legal duty to warn guests. Thus, if the water is infested with jellyfish, or sharks have been seen nearby, or the beachfront is plagued by criminal activity after dark, this information should be disclosed. Notices alert the guest to take precautions. Failure to inform may result in liability to a guest injured by these latent conditions. Walkways are often provided to bridge the area between the hotel and the beach. These walkways also must be kept in good repair. To conclude, when guests are injured from water attractions, they don’t customarily treat it like water off a duck’s back. To avoid spending money like water to compensate injured guests, don’t water down enforcement of rules. (OK, OK, I’m done.) hmm@questex.com Karen Morris is a lawyer, municipal judge and Distinguished Professor at Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y., where she teaches hospitality law. Contact her at kmorris222@yahoo.com. Consultant’s Corner It’s 3 a.m., do you know who’s answering your phone? IN THE details Managing the night shift Find the right manager Give proper training Conduct nightly briefings By Christopher R.J. Knable H&MM Columnist arlier this year, a candidate for the U.S. presidency posed the question, “Will the person answering the White House hotline at 3 a.m. be qualified to take the call?” While this is an important question with regard to our nation’s leadership, a smart owner or manager will want to ask the same question of his or her own operation. For many businesses, the midnight or “graveyard” shift is the weak link in an otherwise efficient and well-run program of guest service. In a time when the economy is faltering, it is critical that such weak links be explored and remedied to avoid any possible liabilities. Whether your overnight team consists of one front desk clerk and a security guard or a much bigger team with a cast of dozens, here are three commonsense tips to ensure whomever directs your night operations is up to the task. The right person for the time Like many things in life, it all comes down to having the right person in the job. Too many operators settle for the “junior” person or “anyone with a heart- beat who can work overnight.” This seldom works and can be the source of numerous headaches and middle-of-the-night phone calls. There are several attributes that you need for an effective night operations leader, including someone who is calm under pressure, thick-skinned, patient, a good listener and presents well in public, an attribute often overlooked. It is amazing how See Night shift | page 23 http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.