NYC Hotels to Issue Panic Buttons to Housekeepers

Posted on Feb 8, 2012

Leandro, (CC-BY)

New York City’s hotels have agreed to arm housekeepers with personal panic buttons for use in emergencies, including the event of unwelcome advances from guests. The decision likely results from an increased concern for worker safety stirred up by the alleged sexual assault of a housekeeper by former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn last May. —ARK

The Guardian:

After Strauss-Kahn’s arrest, the Sofitel and the Pierre, another high-end hotel in Manhattan, both decided to give panic buttons, which can be used to summon help when they feel in danger, to maids. Now housekeepers at all of the biggest hotels in the city will be equipped with the devices.

Neither union officials nor representatives of the hotel owners would say that the provision was a result of the Strauss-Kahn episode[.]

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