Abstract:
Poor health and safety practices have resulted in a lot of challenges including accidents, injuries
and untimely demise of working staffs. This study sought to examine the health and safety
standard practices of hotel staff in some selected budget hotels in the New Juaben North
Municipality, Koforidua in Eastern region of Ghana. A cross-sectional study which employed
convenience sampling technique using a well-structured questionnaire was used to recruit 98
budget hotel staff. Descriptive and inferential statistics like means and standard deviations,
frequencies and their corresponding percentages were used to assess staffs’ experiences and
responses on the health and safety standard practices under study. The results revealed that, more
than two-thirds of the respondents agreed that the overall rate of health and safety standards of the
hotel is excellent. About one-third of the respondents agreed to have notice lapses in the health
and safety practices. Majority of the respondents agreed that lack of resources and insufficient
training is one of the biggest challenges in maintaining health and safety practicesl. More than
two-thirds of the respondents agreed that health and safety standards in the area of room
cleanliness need to be improved. One-third of the respondents disagreed that the current practices
is enough for any future pandemic. Almost all of the respondents agreed that they would
recommend any additional training for staff to enhance health and safety protocols. There still
exist lapses in the health and safety practice. Provision of additional or refresher training for staff
in the areas of food safety, food hygiene and room cleanliness is highly recommended.
