Medical insurance worldwide

Hotel Worker Safety

2010-06-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

As a hotel and motel service worker, you provide hospitality and service to travelers. Whether you’re a room cleaner, maintenance worker or desk clerk, you help to ensure that hotel operations run smoothly and meet customers’ expectations. But, in order to keep your hotel functioning at its best, you want to insure that you stay safe and healthy on your job.

The biggest risk for hotel workers is ergonomic injury from sprains, strains, and repetitive work. Protect your back and limbs by practicing safe ergonomic principles when performing your job functions. Maintain neutral postures and rotate your tasks to give different muscles a rest. Limit the tasks that you do on your knees, over your head or with your back bent. When wiping down mirrors and surfaces, alternate arms and use slow, deliberate movements to avoid straining your muscles. Choose long-handled tools for vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing, and wiping. Take breaks every 20-30 minutes to give your muscles a rest.

Moving heavy, bulky, and/or wet room furnishings, doing maintenance work or working the front desk can cause injury if the work is improperly. Use good lifting techniques and work practices to protect your back. Keep your back straight and neutral while you work. Wear comfortable clothing and shoes to help you move freely. Avoid overreaching. Use your leg muscles to lift. Lift smaller, lighter loads or get help when you need to move heavy equipment or materials. And, use anti-fatigue mats when you will be standing in one place for a long time.

Read the label and/or material safety data sheets (MSDS) to know the hazards and safe work practices for the chemical products you use. Choose and use the mildest cleansers and chemicals possible that will still get the job done. Then, wash your hands with soap and water before eating, drinking, or smoking. You should wear recommended gloves while cleaning and performing plumbing jobs and be aware of exposures to body fluids, drugs, and sharps such as needles and syringes. NEVER reach into a garbage can and do not stomp on garbage to compact it.

Cleaning and maintenance tools can cause injury if they are not used correctly. Get training and always inspect your tools before use. Wear the proper personal protective equipment (PPE) including work gloves, safety glasses, and hearing protection when the hazard requires it. Inspect all equipment electrical cords for good condition to avoid the risk of electrical shock. Use caution when you are working with electrical systems and be sure to lock out or tag out powered equipment or wiring that needs service.

Ladders are commonly used to perform maintenance, wash windows, and change light bulbs. Practice ladder safety by climbing properly while holding on to the rails with both hands. Avoid reaching to the side of the ladder; climb down and re-position it if you need to. NEVER step on the top step of a ladder.

Rushing on the job can lead to accidents, especially on newly mopped or waxed floors. Slips on wet surfaces in bathrooms, kitchens, and lobby floors can cause serious injuries. So, clean up spills immediately and mark wet floor hazards with signs. Wear shoes with non-slip soles, take your time, and watch where you’re going.

Although you perform different job tasks and may face varied hazards, you need to practice good ergonomics, use proper tools and/or protective equipment, and follow all safe work practices.

Travel Insurance ! what is that ?

2010-06-29T06:37:00.000-07:00

Travel Insurance is insurance that is intended to cover medical expenses and financial (such as money invested in nonrefundable pre-payments) and other losses incurred while traveling , either within one's own country, or internationally. Temporary travel insurance can usually be arranged at the time of the bonking of a trip to cover exactly the duration of that trip, or a more extensive, continuous insurance can be purchased from travel insurance companies, travel agents or directly from travel suppliers such as cruiselines or tour operators. However, travel insurance purchased from travel suppliers tends to be less inclusive than insurance offered by insurance companies. Travel insurance often offers coverage for a variety of travelers. Student travel, business travel, leisure travel, adventure travel, cruise travel, and international travel are all various options that can be insured.

How to get insurance step by step

2010-06-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

Step 1

Sign on with the health insurance provided by your employer: it is likely to be the cheapest option you can find. Search for your own insurance if you're self-employed, or if your company doesn't offer it.
Step 2

Investigate coverage under COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1985) if you've recently left your employer. Through COBRA you can extend your coverage for 18 months beyond your separation date, though you have to pay the premium yourself.
Step 3

Find a health insurance broker to compare plans and costs for you. The National Association of Health Underwriters (nahu.org) can help find one in your area.
Step 4

Purchase a fee-for-service plan. The biggest plus is that you have complete control over which doctor you see and determine for yourself when you need to see a specialist. However, there is a significant out-of-pocket cost for this kind of care, the premiums are generally higher, and if your doctor charges more than what is considered customary, you may have to shell out additionally for that care as well.
Step 5

Sign up for a managed care plan where your insurance provider determines which doctors you can see. There are three basic kinds of managed care:
Step 6

Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) have a list of doctors to select from when choosing a physician who will be your first contact for health care. If you see doctors in your insurer's network, you pay a low co-payment. However, if you see a physician not in the network, your co-pay is higher. You also generally don't need prior approval to see a specialist--PPOs give you the most flexibility but cost more in monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
Step 7

Point-of-service (POS) networks are similar to PPOs, except that your primary care physician makes decisions about which specialists you can and can't see. You can still see a physician outside the POS network, but face higher fees and more paperwork to do so.
Step 8

Health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are the most restrictive, yet least expensive managed care programs. Most require that you see a doctor in their network, but offer low or no copays in exchange. Many HMOs also require you to see your primary care physician before getting referred to a specialist.
Step 9

Find out if benefits are limited for preexisting conditions, or if you have to wait for a period of time before you're fully covered. Other plans may completely exclude coverage of preexisting conditions.
Step 10

Compare the prescription drug coverage offered by various plans. Many plans have tiered benefit systems, and usually offer a preferred list of prescriptions that have a lower co-pay. Search for any medication you are taking on this list; drugs not on the list can have a co-pay that is twice as high. Also, see if any plans limit the amounts of new prescriptions or refills on a given drug.
Step 11

Check to make sure your regular doctors are on your plan's preferred provider list. All plans provide a database of their provider list on their Web site. Go with a plan that lists most or all of your regular doctors. Be aware that most PPOs will pay up to 20 percent less for out-of-network doctors.
Step 12

Investigate what sorts of delays you may encounter with managed care. Some plans are notorious about keeping members waiting to see a doctor. Ask a doctor you intend to visit how long a typical wait is before you choose a plan.
Step 13

Shop around. Call several agents and compare policies and premiums.
Step 14

Look into other potential sources for health insurance. Alumni associations, professional groups, fraternal organizations and other associations often offer health coverage to their members.

Human hospitalaty

2010-06-28T01:55:00.000-07:00

As human history speeds into the twenty first century, with ever-increasing problems and wider opportunities, the profession of hospitality services management, is attracting more and more attention from companies,families and institutions. Hotel and catering operations and management have evolved from its early origin in Ancient Egypt, Greek and Roman Empires into a comprehensive body of knowledge and practices in modern time. This has spread throughout European nations to the continent of America and to the developing nations of Asia and Africa. The application of modern management techniques to the operation of hospitality services are being used by such giant international organisations as Hilton Hotel, Trans-world Airline Catering, Holiday Inn, Kentucky Fried Chicken the famous Burger King and MacDonald Hamburger Companies.

The application of modern scientific management to the operation of providing food, accommodation and leisure services to people away from their homes has moved with globalization from Europe to America, Asia and to the modern Afrikan nations.The practice gained momentum in such establishments as the Grand Metropolitan Group Hotels, J.Lyons Group of Catering Organisation, Empire Catering Companies and Batman Catering Organisation in the UK. The practice is even more advanced in West Germany, France,India Kenya, Zambia, South Africa and Japan. In Nigeria, ours began almost as an accident of our colonial history and experience. The intensifying interest in hospitality services management in the recent years, has demonstrated an increased social awareness of our people that catering for people is the finest occupation in the world.

This book throws light for the first time in Nigeria, on the application of modern management principles to the operation of hotel and catering business with Nigerian cultural modifications. This book although an introduction shows boldly that to understand catering operations, we must first understand the concept of organisation, the principles of human relations and basic human needs.

Our time, society and world are changing. The relationship between people and the environments has changes and still changing. These changes reflect conspicuously in respect of ecology, security, public services, poverty,survival, over-population, technological advancement and stable government. In our search for relevant technology and effort to cope with these changes, a basic conflict of values has surfaced between the old and the new ways of handling existential problems.

African indigenous traditional values are pulling us towards the cherished good old ideas while our inherent capacity to question the viability of such values in the light of modernism compels us to establish new ones, based on our current needs and wants. As technologists, we have specific responsibility of meeting these changes. In the training of future generations of the catering managers, we must embrace new technological cultures and avoid myopic syndromes.

Medical insurance

2010-06-28T01:24:00.000-07:00

medical insurance, like other forms of insurance, is a form of collectivism by means of which people collectively pool their risk, in this case the risk of incurring medical expenses. The collective is usually publicly owned or else is organized on a non-profit basis for the members of the pool, though in some countries health insurance pools may also be managed by for-profit companies. It is sometimes used more broadly to include insurance covering disability or needs. It may be provided through a government-sponsored social insurance program, or from private insurance companies. It may be purchased on a group basis (e.g., by a firm to cover its employees) or purchased by an individual. In each case, the covered groups

or individuals pay premiums or taxes to help protect themselves from unexpected health care expenses. Similar benefits paying for medical expenses may also be provided through social welfare programs funded by the government.

By estimating the overall risk of health care expenses, a routine finance structure (such as a monthly premium or annual tax) can be developed, ensuring that money is available to pay for the health care benefits specified in the insurance agreement. The benefit is administered by a central organization such as a government agency, private business, or not-for-profit entity.