As many as 15-thousand Iowans who work in some 350 hotels and motels statewide are being issued employee safety devices, or E-S-Ds, as part of a program designed to help keep them safe while on the job. Chip Rogers, president and C-E-O of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, says the goal of the Five Star Promise effort is to help prevent sexual assault and harassment of lodging industry employees. It follows recent efforts to ensure all hotel workers are trained to spot and report signs of human trafficking. As for the E-S-Ds, Rogers says not every hotel employee would be issued one.

There are 735 hotels in Iowa with about 38-thousand employees. Rogers says almost half have already issued the devices.