A maid makes a bed in a hotel room.T.
Ferragut
From next year the four and five star hotels in the Balearic Islands will have to have elevating beds, mechanical or electrical, to facilitate the work of the group of chambermaids, one of the most affected by workplace accidents in the tourism sector. This obligation will mean renovating 300,000 beds in the highest category hotels on the islands to improve the working conditions of more than 20,000 waitresses, popularly known as
kellys
. It is one of the innovative measures included in the new Balearic Tourism Law promoted by the regional government and whose content was revealed this Monday in Madrid by the president of the community, Francina Armengol, accompanied by the Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, and by the head of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Reyes Maroto. The Balearic Government has taken advantage of the start of the FITUR tourism fair on Wednesday in Madrid to explain the details of a regulation that will involve an investment of 55 million euros and aims to turn the archipelago's tourism model towards labor and environmental responsibility.
The rule aims to combine the social, economic and environmental aspects with the objective, as Armengol explained, of achieving "more sustainable" economic growth and an improvement in coexistence "between residents, workers in the sector and visitors". The text contemplates a pioneering measure to guarantee the protection of chambermaids, one of the groups most affected by diseases derived from their professional activity in the entire tourism sector. Throughout the year 2023, the 4 and 5-star hotels on the islands will have to have elevating beds, whether mechanical or electrical, to facilitate the work of their employees when it comes to adapting the rooms —there are structures for less than 200 euros—. On the islands there are about 80.000 chambermaids who have been fighting for years for the recognition of illnesses derived from their job, mainly musculoskeletal disorders, and for a reduction in workload. 35% of occupational accidents suffered by this group are related to overexertion.
The law also displays a wide range of obligations in favor of the circular economy in the sector, including the obligation for all companies to have plans for the use of resources. For example, establishments will be required to install double-button systems in toilet tanks and to have water-saving devices in taps in sinks, bathtubs and showers. It is also intended to promote the use of rainwater, while it is intended to do away with single-use bathroom hygiene products. In the food field, the use of species classified within the category of threatened will be prohibited and the traceability of fish and shellfish of Balearic origin will be established as mandatory. At the energetic level,hotels will have to change fuel oil boilers for natural gas or electric ones, which will allow annual emissions of 57,600 kilos of CO₂ less per hotel.
With the new text, the scales that will serve to establish the hotel classification and the stars, which define the quality standard of each hotel, will also be completely remodelled. Category increases will take into account circularity measures, the use of renewable energies and the optimization of energy consumption. For example, hotels that aspire to upgrade will have to replace paper with QR codes and will be required to measure waste consumption. They will also have to monitor temperatures in buildings comprehensively, including areas reserved for staff, such as kitchens. "The law will allow the islands to lead a process around sustainability understood in a triple aspect: social, economic and environmental", Armengol stressed,which considers that the islands will continue to lead national tourism with transformations that will lead the sector to be "fully sustainable and circular".