September 27, 2013—IEHA, an organization for persons employed in facilities housekeeping at the management level, recently announced that it is partnering with Phoenix-based hospitality giant Best Western International (BWI) to produce the first Healthy Hotel Housekeeper (HHH) Certification.
According to the organizations, through the certification process and an ongoing certification program administered by IEHA, housekeeping professionals can receive the knowledge and training they need to help ensure hotel environments are clean and healthy.
HHH Certification has already received backing from The Healthy Facilities Institute (HFI), which is serving as the lead content developer in collaboration with IEHA and BWI.
“The HHH certification simplifies and builds upon the broad and robust platform of professional facilities leadership and skills training developed by the non-profit IEHA, but adds structural elements essential to more healthful care and cleaning of indoor environments of hotels,” says Allen Rathey, president of HFI.
Qualified content reviewers will be engaged at each stage of the curriculum’s development to ensure accuracy and relevance of the information, says IEHA. The curriculum will be contained in an illustrated hands-on workbook and study guide to prepare hospitality professionals to take and pass a proctored exam resulting in HHH L1 Certification.
HHH L1 certification topics include:
- Leadership and Management Principles and Practices—What is needed to lead and manage an HHH program
- Communication—An overview of the attitudes, skills, and knowledge needed to connect effectively, interpersonally, in groups, and in writing
- Planning and Organization—Providing the right tools for HHH planning and control tasks to lead and manage labor, budgets, and materials effectively
- Developing Staff—Will enhance understanding of staff potential and motivation coupled with practical work requirements and legal aspects to select, groom, grow, and help motivate teams
- Continually Improve—Will further develop management and technical skills, principles and processes for continuous improvement, systems-thinking, worker and quality growth, and benchmarking
