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Health and Safety Planning

October 2003

Safehotels.com - prevention is better than cure:

In the past few months we have seen terrorist attacks on hotels in Mombassa and Jakarta. Elsewhere in the world, hotels have been destroyed by fires. In addition, hotels guests are being robbed and mugged on a regular basis.

Against this background, a Swedish based company is developing a global hotel security standard The concept behind safehotels (www.safehotels.com) is simple. Each vetted hotel undergoes a rigorous 2 day investigation into their security and safety standards. This is conducted by an independent specialist company and complies to a structured protocol.

Once awarded the 'safehotels' standard, travel managers, independent travellers and travel agencies will have fast and accurate hotel security and hotel safety information. By using these hotels, travellers will be confident that all practical steps have been taken to address the following areas:

Fire fighting equipment and testing
Building evacuation procedures
Bedroom security - locks and room safes
General building security
Staff training on security and fire areas

From a personal perspective, I have been robbed from a hotel room. I caught the thief, mid action, who was dressed as a room service waiter. I have also been involved in 3 hotel fire evacuations - all at night and all chaotic. Through my work, I have also met survivors of horrific hotel related incidents. If safehotels prevents incidents occurring, this has to be a great thing.

The articles which appear on this web site are written and/or edited by Dr. David Perl, Chief Executive of docleaf®, unless otherwise mentioned. Articles are copyrighted to docleaf®. Permission to reprint will usually be granted for no charge. Write to info@docleaf.com. The articles represent the opinions of the authors and all information is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind.

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Health and safety planning: why the need?

The EU Travel Package Regulations (TPR) places the legal liability on the operator that is ‘packaging’ elements of a holiday. This operator becomes responsible for every element of the trip they organise and even components that they only recommend. The issues of Health and Safetythus comes sharply into focus.

There is a very real threat of corporate manslaughter charges which can be brought against a company and the people within it, who are "packaging" travel. Thomson Holidays faced just this in the mid 1990's after a client died from carbon monoxide poisoning. As a consequence, some travel companies have been investing significantly in developing Overseas Health and Safety (OH&S) systems.

It is only by doing this that you will have a reasonable chance of demonstrating due diligence and that you have gone someway to fulfil your legal duty of care in this area.

Why not call us now on 01923 681224 for more advice and information, or visit us at www.docleaf.com