LIHUE — A popular Kauai hotel received 14 workplace safety and health standards violations on Thursday, and nine of them were serious enough for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration to take action.
Kauai Beach Resort in Lihue faces a total of $48,000 in proposed fines. Kai Management Services of Lihue, the management company for Kauai Beach Resort, received the violations following a routine inspection conducted on Feb. 14 by the OSHA Honolulu Area Office.
“We appreciate the work OSHA performs to assist hotels in maintaining the safest possible environment for guests and staff,” said Sandi Yara, communications officer for the hotel. “We immediately addressed the items OSHA brought to our attention and will continue to diligently monitor all of our safety practices at Kauai Beach Resort.”
The violations regard worker safety and do not involve guest rooms or public areas, according to Galen Lemke, director of OSHA’s Honolulu Area Office.
“Everything in the inspection took place in non-public areas and places where guests could not get to,” Lemke said.
The Thursday announcement was the same day Gov. Neil Abercrombie spoke at the Hawaii Association of County Buildings Officials conference, which was held at the resort.
According to the OSHA release, the serious violations at Kauai Beach Resort involved storage, handling and labeling of propane tanks, electrical wiring, electrical work practices by untrained maintenance personnel, and training and use of personal respiratory and electrical protective equipment.
Lemke said workers mixing chlorine for swimming pools do not present a hazard to swimmers. Failing to follow proper safety precautions puts the workers health in jeopardy and it is the responsibility of the employer to train them, he said.
The maid service handles chemicals and it is the responsibility of management to ensure they are trained and using safety equipment, he said.
Untrained workers altering the wiring of an electrical panel in performing day-to-day maintenance is a serious violation. Management must ensure that only qualified personnel work on energized circuits, he said.
Another violation included the incorrect use of flexible cords as substitutes for fixed wiring. In some instances this occurs from daisy-chaining several electrical strips in an industrial kitchen, where an overload from high amperage appliances could cause melting and a fire hazard, Lemke said.
The emphasis of local area inspection is on behind the scenes operations, where workers can be exposed to hazards without the proper training or protective equipment, he said. The hotel is responsible for overall operations, and it is up to management to handle any contracted entity involved with a violation.
The non-serious violations included failure to accurately complete OSHA’s log of recordable work-related injuries and illnesses.
The inspection was routine and not the result of a complaint, and part of the year-old OSHA local emphasis program, he said. The program focuses on specific regional industry or occupational hazards, and in this case is the hotel and hospitality industry in Hawaii.
The Honolulu office inspects all hotels in Hawaii, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa. “Every hotel is open for inspection,” Lemke said.
“Hawaii has these large, world class hotels and they are like cities upon themselves with their own water treatment, maintenance facilities and furniture repair shops, and we are looking at all this activity behind the scenes,” Lemke said. “Hotel employers must make safety a top priority for workers by recognizing such basic occupational hazards and doing what is needed and required to mitigate risks.”
In the past year there have been 18 hotel inspections statewide that resulted in an average of five citations per hotel, and $3,700 per violation, he said. The nine serious violations at Kauai Beach Resort, which employs more than 270 workers, prompted a news release to alert hotels to work on hazards before inspections.
“This industry is pretty tight and people talk to each other,” Lemke added.
Lemke said OSHA does not shut down hotels but the management will have 15 days to contact their office for an informal settlement agreement of penalties and abatement. There is no changing the citations, he said, but the hotel has the right to contest the penalties to an administrative law judge with the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. There may be additional state or industry regulations to comply with but they usually mirror OSHA standards, Lemke said.
Whether a hotel snack bar or a machine shop, the OSHA health and safety regulations are applied the same to all places of business nationwide, he said.
Requests for comment from Kai Management Services, the Hawaii Lodging and Tourism Association and Kauai Visitors & Convention Bureau were not returned by press time.
Update adds comment from hotel in response to the violations.
