EU report presents examples of good practice for hotels and restaurants

The HORECA sector is an increasingly important source of jobs in many EU Member States, and it employs a high proportion of relatively unskilled young and migrant workers. Working conditions are often difficult, however, with long working hours and physically demanding tasks. In addition, the HORECA sector is characterised by atypical working patterns, with seasonal and shift work being common.

A deterioration in working conditions has been recorded in the HORECA sector from 1995 to 2000 in relation to working hours, job demands and job autonomy.

The workforce in the HORECA sector also faces a large number of psychosocial risks: long, non-standard and unpredictable working hours, a lack of control over work, heavy workloads, and time pressure, which lead to increased stress levels, and lack of work-life balance.

Violence, harassment and discrimination – from customers, colleagues and employers – are more commonly encountered by workers in the HORECA sector than others. They are more often faced with intimidation (12% versus 8.5%), physical violence (6.5% versus 3.5%) and unwanted sexual attention (8% versus 2%). Moreover, workers in the HORECA sector experience greater discrimination (10.5% versus 6.5%). Workers in pubs, discotheques, nightclubs and bars are particularly at risk*.

The physical risk factors that workers face include prolonged standing and the carrying of heavy loads; exposure to high levels of noise and smoke; very high or low temperatures, and working with dangerous substances such as cleaning agents. The resulting health problems include musculoskeletal disorders, skin diseases and respiratory problems.

The few health and safety policies that are specific to this sector include those relating to food hygiene, as well as the smoking ban, which have led in some cases to the introduction of further safety and health measures.

Since 90% of all HORECA establishments are very small (with up to 10 workers), employers often lack the time and resources fully to implement legislation at company level. EU-OSHA’s report includes a number of excellent examples of successful risk prevention, which are of use not only in restaurants and hotels, but also in school canteens, clubs and bars. Effective prevention management involves good risk assessment, worker involvement and training in the successful implementation of prevention measures.

In addition to the report, EU-OSHA has developed a wide range of material on health and safety in this area, including seven good practice factsheets and a forum on ’working safely in a multicultural HORECA sector’, which can all be found in a dedicated section of the EU-OSHA website. The forum identifies in particular the problems faced by the large numbers of migrant workers in the sector, and provides practical solutions for them.

Further reading

• Report: ‘Protecting workers in hotels, restaurants and catering’ http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/TE7007132ENC_horeca/view
• Factsheet: ‘Protecting workers in hotels, restaurants and catering’ http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/factsheets/79/view
• HORECA section of the EU-OSHA website http://osha.europa.eu/en/sector/horeca