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Industry warned not to rely on self-certified hotel health and safety audits
Tour operators and travel agents are being warned against relying on self-certified hotel health and safety audits.
The warning comes from Check Safety First, a company which supplies hygiene, health and safety risk management audit systems to international hotel, restaurant and hospitality industries.
Chairman Steve Tate explained: “Given that 70% of all health and safety claims are food and hygiene related, auditing once a year or even less frequently is inadequate.
“Allowing holidaymakers to eat food from a kitchen which may have not been independently audited for several years poses extreme risk to their health.”
It claims that between annual audits, many health and safety programmes rely on self-audits carried out by hotels.
“While the practice of self-auditing is better than taking no action at all, it means that tour operators and agents must place their trust completely in hoteliers. This process is open to potential abuse and does not guarantee improved health and safety performance,” continued Tate.
He said the industry needs togo beyond its legal obligations and put processes in place which ensure the well being of guests.
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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