The endless array of Las Vegas high-rise hotels provides a stunning, illuminated landscape for visitors, but they pose serious safety risks for thousands of hotel workers. Workers’ compensation attorneys in Las Vegas commonly see a variety of workplace injuries to hotel restaurant employees, maintenance workers, and housekeeping staff.
Las Vegas High-Rise Hotels Safety Risks
Fire Risks
High-rise hotels pose significant fire risks to employees, as well as guests. Although all Las Vegas high-rise hotels have fire safety and evacuation plans in place, a fire that starts on the 53rd floor poses enormous personal injury risks for people above and below. In high-rise hotels that often have 50 to 80 floors, large numbers of people are required to travel extreme distances downstairs to evacuate the building. Compared to low-rise hotels, high-rise hotels present unique challenges:
- Complex evacuation strategies
- Fire department accessibility
- Longer egress times and distances
- Excessive smoke movement
- More difficult fire control
Slip-and-Fall Injuries
High-rise hotels in Las Vegas require constant maintenance and repairs. Hotel maintenance workers such as electricians, plumbers, roofers, landscapers, painters and window cleaners are often subjected to great heights, hazardous chemicals, high voltage lines, and dangerous mechanical equipment. Outside workers are often required to scale great heights to do their job. In November 2015, an experienced landscaper at the Mirage Hotel was killed while trimming a tree 35 feet above the ground. Interior maintenance workers often deal with high voltage equipment and electrical systems that can cause electrocution. Exterior maintenance workers are at a high risk for serious slip-and-fall injuries and fatalities. Slip-and-fall injury claims filed with workers’ compensation attorneys in Las Vegas are common among high-rise hotel maintenance workers.
Repetitive Stress Injuries
According to the American Journal of Industrial Medicine, housekeepers in hotels have high rates of on-the-job injuries. Housekeepers are prone to repetitive stress injuries from continual work such as changing bedsheets, washing bathroom floors, cleaning bathroom tubs, sinks and toilets, vacuuming carpets, cleaning blinds, and other daily hotel tasks. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that hotel housekeepers have a reported illness and injury rate of 5.4%, compared to other industries with an average rate of 3.5%. As more amenities are offered in luxury Las Vegas high-rise hotels, housekeepers are required to work faster to accomplish their duties. Workers’ compensation attorneys in Las Vegas are likely to see an increase in workers’ compensation claims for repetitive stress injuries.
There are many hazards in hotels, and hotel employee safety should be a priority. If you work for a hotel and were injured on the job, contact a workers’ compensation attorney for help with your case.
