Bill would require fitted sheets at hotels to protect housekeepers

[The Northerner]

Business owners and others who have long complained that companies are overburdened by state regulations say a proposal now moving through the Legislature shows that lawmakers have lost all touch with reality: It would require that hotels use fitted sheets.

"We are now going to make it a crime in California not to use a fitted sheet? Really?" state Sen. Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) asked during a debate before the Senate passed the measure in June.

The bill, one of nearly 900 awaiting final action in the Legislature when it returns on Monday from a month-long recess, is intended to address back injuries sustained by hotel housekeepers. But it has revived a long-simmering debate over whether California has become a hyper-regulated "nanny state."

In 2007, the Legislature was subject to national ridicule when it considered a bill to outlaw spanking of young children. Embarrassed lawmakers eventually shelved that proposal, but businesses have decried the Legislature's subsequent ban on trans fats in restaurant cooking, requirement that calorie counts appear on menus, and prohibition on dairies docking cows' tails.

Read more: http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/14/local/la-me-bed-sheets-20110814

[virgogal]

1. They waste their time on nonsense like this? Madness !

[JBoy]

2. WTF?

OK, I spent some time in the military and got pretty proficient at laying down hospital corners. And I'm sure a hotel employee doing this many times a day could kick my ass at it. A fitted sheet is no easier or faster to put on, and it looks worse.

To top it off, you've now got two types of sheets to manage for inventory, and have you ever tried folding a fitted sheet? Have you seen what a fitted sheet that's been folded up looks like when you unfold it? Have you ever had a fitted sheet that maybe shrank a bit too much and then tried to wrestle it onto a bed?

[bluestate10]

4. The bill is stupid.

I use fitted sheets at home. They are difficult to fold and cause more arm and back strain than my flat sheets cause. And I carry no more than two fitted sheets at a time due to their blinding my path, I can imagine a hotel maid trying to wheel around a cart of fitted sheets. The one advantage that I see with fitted sheets is that they do not crawl over the bed.

[Zanzoobar]

11. Folding a fitted sheet

My cousin taught me this. She learned it from our dear aunty who worked at a hospital for years.

I've folded them like this for years and they look pretty darn good folded, and on the bed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5k9nWcuFc

C'mon! Try it!

[SharonAnn]

18. Cool! That's the way I do it and i figured it out myself! Been doing it for years

and taught my sisters how to do it.

They couldn't figure out how my linen closet was always so well arranged.

[Luminous Animal]

15. Tell that to the housekeepers. Their unions are lobbying for this bill.

FYI, I do not have to lift the mattress to put on the fitted sheet.

[bluestate10]

17. I don't lift the mattress to press under a flat sheet. The best method

is to sweep it under the mattress. Less stress, cause the sheet to stay in place longer. I do lift the mattress to pin corners of my fitted sheet.

[Luminous Animal]

19. You are right. Those stupid housekeepers haven't a clue about the conditions of their jobs

or solutions to help them avoid injuries.

[uppityperson]

24. Excuse me but I'm one of those "stupid housekeepers" who thinks this is ridiculous

I'm also one of those "stupid nurses". Why do you have to post nasty stuff? It was more difficult, when I was one of those "stupid housekeepers" to pull a fitted sheet over the corners than tuck in a flat sheet. It was more painful to have heavy cleaning equipment to carry around, it was more painful to have to move heavy carts around. There are ways to avoid injuries but this "stupid housekeeper" thinks this one is idiotic.

[Luminous Animal]

25. Apparently, the stupid housekeepers and their stupid union disagree with you.

[uppityperson]

28. What is it with you calling people stupid?

[Luminous Animal]

35. In actuality, I think the housekeepers & their union who brought this issue to their

elected representative, are intelligent. I am being sarcastic when I accuse these advocates for labor as being stupid.

They:
1) Recognized the problem of injury (25% higher for housekeepers than for other service industry workers).
2) Sourced the studies that pinpointed the problems.
3) Used the studies to find solutions to mitigate the injuries (i.e., fitted sheets and long handled tools for cleaning bathrooms).
4) Approached their Reps in the statehouse.
5) Found one that was willing to represent them and sponsor legislation.


What I do find ignorant are many of the responses on this thread. They are replies to a half-baked barely informed article on the corporate supporting LA Times. Your and anyone else's anecdotal stories are irrelevant to the issue at hand.

Here is a link to the unions site about this issue.

The information page with links to injury studies:
http://www.hotelworkersrising.org/injuries/

The Press Release citing CALOSHA's conclusion that lifting heavy mattresses and washing bathrooms on hands and knees causes repetitive injuries.
http://www.unitehere.org/presscenter/release.php?ID=4317

[uppityperson]

36. thank you for the information. I agree with the long handled tools to clean bathrooms idea.

I still disagree that fitted sheets are any solution but, not being in CA, you are right. What I think has no relevance. What I have experience, however, does.

thank you for the links. Will go look at them.

[JVS]

6. I just watched a video of what you describe.

One thing that might have worked in your favor is that military beds are small and soldiers are generally medium sized to large. Hotel maids tend to be tiny and the mattresses are usually quite large.

[uppityperson]

3. I well understand wanting to decrease the amount of back injuries among workers but

this is not the way to do it.

Having been a housekeeper, my back was hurt by hauling a vacuum around, not by tucking sheets under a mattress while putting sheets on a bed.

Having worked as a nurse, my back was hurt by moving heavy people around, not by changing sheets.

Give workers the equipment they need to not hurt themselves. Lifters, hoists, lighter weight or better balanced stuff. But the pain from lifting a mattress to tuck the sheet in? Ridiculous.

[bluestate10]

5. Back injuries will become broken ankles, broken knees, broken legs.

I own fitted sheets. I would not want to be near a maid that is trying to cart around a cart full of fitted sheets. That maid would be a hazard to everyone, including the maid.

[uppityperson]

9. It is more difficult to pull a tight sheet over the last corner than to tuck a flat one.

However, sleeping on a fitted sheet is much nicer since it doesn't come out. But that's not what this bill is about.

[Luminous Animal]

20. Yes. This bill, backed by the housekeepers union, is about mitigating injuries.

But of course, that is a frivolous pursuit and makes Democrats look bad.

[Warpy]

8. This bill was written by the guy's wife

and not by anybody who's gone out there and worked a tough physical job for a living.

It's actually a bit harder to make hospital beds using fitted sheets on the bottom.

However, they could have saved a fortune on those stupid sheets and gotten us a Hoyer lift. Now that would have prevented most of the back injuries on my unit.

[Luminous Animal]

14. The housekeepers unions are lobbying for this bill. And there is a bill also for nurses

to require a lift advocated by the nurses unions. But that's frivolous, too.

[uppityperson]

22. I can see having lifts available in facilities. It depends on how the bill is.

There should be equipment to keep people from being hurt.

[FarCenter]

29. Wonder why they don't have chain hoists over hospital beds?

Like the ones mechanics use to lift heavy equipment in shops?

[uppityperson]

32. There are more lifts now than when I started nursing, but still not enough. Also too often

short staffing or not adequate staffing. Changing that would very much improve things.

Some states have patient/nurse ratios for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, others don't. Here in WA we don't for SNF, just "enough to get the work done". I researched this a while back, hoping to get better staffing at a place I worked at.

[bluestate10]

7. Thoughtless bills like fitted sheet bills gives republicans talking points. nt

[Luminous Animal]

16. So you think we should worry about Reps when they scoff at the concerns of employees & unions?

Because it is housekeepers unions who are lobbying for this bill.

But I'm sure housekeepers are too stupid to know what working conditions are best for them so, instead, they come up with these kind of thoughtless solutions.

[uppityperson]

26. Why are you ignoring or mocking those of us posting who have worked in housekeeping?

[xmas74]

10. I've worked as a maid in a motel

and this is just silly. It's faster and easier for me to make a bed with a flat sheet.

I don't see how this will prevent injuries. A decent cart with wheels that didn't stick and floors that didn't have slippery tile would have been better.

[Warpy]

30. I was a nurse and said much the same thing

Flat sheets are easier.

You've never lived until you've tried to race a critical care bed with crashing patient in it through a carpeted hospital hall. The wheels are just too damned small and they've even come off in transit once or twice in my own career.

[xmas74]

31. I worked for nearly six years in a state run mental institution.

We had a skilled nursing unit on grounds. I passed meds (med techs were allowed to do g tube feedings and meds back in the day) so the nurses could mess with the heavy equipment-mainly, anything that kept organs functioning.

I remember wheeling everyone out of the hall once during a tornado warning. All the equipment was no picnic! No carpeting but lots of frightened individuals screaming and fighting with staff. Dealing with the ambulatory in the halls made pushing the beds and machinery down the hall even harder!

[Ilsa]

12. These are the workers that can't wait to retire at age 67.

Their bodies can't handle repetitive strains. I think it should be federally mandated OR these workers should get full retirement at an earlier age than 65.

[Luminous Animal]

13. "The hospital & hotel bills are being pushed by employee unions representing nurses & housekeepers"

I guess they are too stupid to know what frivolous and what is good for their health, eh?

Fuck low paid whiners! Lift those fucking mattresses and get down on your hands and knees!

[uppityperson]

27. Have you worked housekeeping or nursing? I have. So have others on this thread.

Why do you call us stupid for thinking this idea is idiotic and swear at us? I can come up with better ideas as to how to avoid injuries, starting with staffing and equipment appropriately sized. How about hearing protection for use when using vacuums? This is part of the cause of my hearing loss.

Guess we're just stupid and mockable.

[xmas74]

33. I've worked in both nursing and as a housekeeper in a motel.

(When I first started posting on DU I was still picking up weekend hours as a motel housekeeper. I know I have a rant in the Lounge about a weekend of cleaning during the State Fair that could make a person's hair stand on end!)

The flat sheets were always easier to put on than the fitted. What would better benefit would be better carts to wheel equipment around the halls, multiple cleaning stations on each floor, tile floors that aren't so slippery, etc.

In the motel I worked in a partner would also have been nice, as would a mop. We cleaned rooms alone and we were not allowed mops-all mopping was done on our hands and knees. A regulated break would also have been nice,as would an hourly wage. Some motels, including the one I worked for, paid per room cleaned and not by the hour. A partner would not only have been helpful with the cleaning but also for safety purposes. There were a few situations I felt as though my safety was at risk. A partner would also have been a good witness in case a guest reported anything missing. (Some do make the claims about jewelry and such, even if they didn't actually bring that article. It can be viewed as an easy way to make a buck or two.) And gloves provided by the employer would also have been a nice touch. I found that I usually had to provide my own gloves or do without. I really didn't want to touch bodily fluids, stained sheets, etc without a pair of gloves. A step ladder would also have been nice to use to clean the ceiling fans, condoms and bits of pizza off the ceilings, whathaveyou, instead of having to stand on top of a wobbly dining table in the room. I could go on and on with the problems!

There are so many more problems in the industry. Flat sheets are the least of their concern.

[Odin2005]

21. This is common sense legislation, not "Nanny State".

Since when is protecting the health of workers bad?

[Luminous Animal]

23. Newt and his minions have us so brainwashed it is pathetic.

[Aerows]

34. Dear God

Between this, the lightbulb feud in Congress and naming freaking Post Offices while about to let the country slide into default, I am firmly convinced that everyone in politics have lost their fucking minds.

Is this REALLY the most significant issue affecting the citizens of California? Are light bulbs really the most important thing on the minds of Americans?

They do this bullshit to take up time so that they don't have to deal with real issues, and it's ridiculous. We have so many things going on in our nation, and debating light bulbs and fitted sheets is a waste of our tax dollars to pay these clowns.