Hotel staffers say they’re being exposed to medical waste
The Wyndham hotel is next door to Massachusetts General Hospital
Housekeepers at the Wyndham hotel say they’re being exposed to used syringes, blood, vomit and other bodily fluids while cleaning rooms used by people who stay at the hotel after leaving Massachusetts General Hospital, which is next door to the hotel.
The hotel offers discounted rates for MGH patients.
In a report released by Unite Here Local 26, a union attempting to organize the workers, nearly two dozen housekeepers said they were not given protective clothing despite being required to clean the rooms of people who appeared to be ill.
Brian Lang, president of Local 26, said, but the complaints filed by the housekeepers with OSHA are “independent of the issue of unionization.”
“What the workers want is a safe and healthy workplace,” he said. “I’ve never in 30 years of dealing with the hotel industry come across anything remotely close to this situation.”
According to news sources, the hotel has denied the allegations but confirms that an OSHA investigation is being conducted.
The hotel issued a statement saying that the safety training conducted that its employees under includes blood-borne pathogen training. “We’ve looked into this matter, and the claim that hotel associates are forced to handle hospital waste from Massachusetts General Hospital is false.”
A spokesman for the hospital said patients sometimes stay at the Wyndham hotel prior to or after surgery.
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