Health · Healthcare & Policy · 16 hrs ago
Spain begins process to recognize hotel housekeepers’ work-related illnesses
Spain has started an urgent process to recognize hotel housekeepers’ illnesses as work-related.
The proposed change would cover conditions affecting the shoulder, elbow, forearm and wrists, including carpal tunnel syndrome.
These problems can result from repeated movements, sustained effort and handling loads at work.
Recognition could give affected workers stronger Social Security protection and benefits than they receive when an illness is treated as a common condition.
The change concerns a largely female workforce, whose size is estimated differently in the reports.
The proposal will go to public consultation before it needs Cabinet approval, and the government has not confirmed when that approval will come.
A government working group will also examine whether the job’s physical demands could justify earlier retirement, but no decision has been made.
Spain’s government has begun an urgent process to add hotel housekeepers’ work-related illnesses to the official list of occupational diseases.
The proposed changes cover conditions affecting the shoulder, elbow, forearm and wrists, including carpal tunnel syndrome.
The process is not complete: the proposal is due to be published for public consultation, and the Council of Ministers must approve it.
Social Security Minister Elma Saiz said recognition would give affected workers occupational coverage and help measure the scale of these conditions.
Saiz also asked a government working group to examine whether housekeepers’ working conditions could justify earlier retirement without pension reductions.
- Who
- Spain’s government, announced by Social Security Minister Elma Saiz, is beginning the process. The change concerns hotel housekeepers.
- What
- The government is moving to recognize common housekeepers’ illnesses as occupational diseases. It will also examine whether their work could justify earlier retirement.
- When
- The urgent process was approved by the Council of Ministers last Tuesday. The proposal is due to be published for public consultation on Tuesday.
- Where
- The announcement was made in Palma, Spain. The proposed change would apply across Spain.
- Why
- Housekeepers’ work involves repetitive movements, sustained effort and handling loads, which are linked to the conditions being considered.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
UGT registered a request for housekeepers’ work to be assessed for retirement-age reduction coefficients.
A working group was established to examine when demanding working conditions may justify retirement-age reduction coefficients.
The Council of Ministers approved urgent processing of the change to the occupational-disease list.
Saiz announced the process at a housekeepers’ sector assembly in Palma.
The proposal is due to be published for public consultation.
- Conditions covered
- Shoulder, elbow, forearm and wrist conditions, including carpal tunnel syndrome
- Work factors
- Repetitive movements, sustained effort and handling loads
- Approval needed
- The Council of Ministers must approve the change for it to take effect
- Workers in Spain
- Around 175,000, according to El País; around 150,000, according to 20minutos, citing UGT
- Workers in the Balearic Islands
- Around 20,000, according to UGT in 20minutos
2 sources
What people are saying
No podemos permitir que esas lesiones queden diluidas bajo la consideración de una enfermedad común, como si fuera un simple catarro, cuando están directamente relacionadas con el trabajo que realizáis.
Hay dolencias que no aparecen de un día a otro, sino que llegan después de años de esfuerzo, movimientos repetitivos y exigencias físicas sostenidas
El primer encargo que he hecho a ese grupo de trabajo es estudiar precisamente el trabajo que realizan las camareras de piso y se va a analizar el desgaste físico de esta profesión