Hotels, motels, and tourist courts are included in this industry. Hotels include lodging facilities operated by membership organizations. Rooming and boarding houses are primarily engaged in renting rooms, with or without board, on a fee basis. Apartment rentals, hotel apartments, and other housing units are classified under real estate as well as those managed by corporations or other large organizations.

Business services render services on a contract or fee basis, like advertising, credit reporting, collection of claims, mailing, reproduction, stenographic, news syndicates, computer programming, photocopying, duplicating, data processing, services to buildings, and help supply services. Establishments engaged in providing engineering, accounting, research, management, and related services are classified in Major Group 87.

Another major group of service business are primarily engaged in furnishing automotive repair, rental, leasing, and parking services to the general public. Similar facilities owned and operated for their own use and not for the general public are treated as auxiliary establishments. Establishments primarily engaged in finance leasing of passenger cars and trucks are classified in Finance, Industry 6159. Automotive repair shops operated by establishments engaged in the sale of new automobiles are classified in Retail Trade, Industry 5511; and those operated by gasoline service stations are classified in Retail Trade, Industry 5541. Repair shops of railroad companies are classified in Railroad Transportation, Major Group 40; and establishments repairing ships and boats are classified in Manufacturing, Industry Group 373.

Motion picture services include establishments producing and distributing motion pictures, exhibiting motion pictures in commercially operated theaters, and furnishing services to the motion picture industry. The term motion pictures, as used in this major group, includes similar productions for television or other media using film, tape, or other means. Amusement services provide amusement or entertainment services, not elsewhere classified. Establishments primarily engaged in operating motion picture theaters are classified in Industry Group 783, and those operating museums, art galleries, arboreta, and botanical and zoological gardens are classified in Major Group 84.

The health services group includes medical, surgical, and other health services. Establishments of associations or groups, such as Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), primarily engaged in providing medical or other health services to members are included, but those which limit their services to the provision of insurance against hospitalization or medical costs are classified in Insurance, Major Group 63. Hospices are also included in this major group and are classified according to the primary service provided.

Legal services include establishments that are headed by members of the bar and are engaged in offering legal advice or legal services. Educational service establishments provide academic or technical instruction. Also included are establishments providing educational services such as libraries, student exchange programs, and curriculum development. Schools for the instruction of beauticians and cosmetologists are classified in Industry 7231, and barber colleges are classified in Industry 7241. Establishments primarily engaged in providing job training for the unemployed, the underemployed, the handicapped, and persons who have a job market disadvantage because of lack of education, job skill, or experience are classified in Industry 8331.

Social services are another major group that includes establishments providing social and/or rehabilitation services to those persons with social or personal problems and to the handicapped and the disadvantaged. Also included are organizations soliciting funds to be used directly for these and related services. Establishments primarily engaged in providing health services are classified in Major Group 80; those providing legal services are classified in Industry 8111, and those providing educational services are classified in Major Group 82.

This section also includes organizations operating on a membership basis for the promotion of the interests of their members, including trade associations, professional membership organizations, labor unions and similar labor organizations, and political and religious organizations. Business establishments operated by membership organizations, which are classified according to their primary activity.

This section also includes establishments primarily engaged in providing engineering, architectural, and surveying services; accounting, auditing, and bookkeeping services; research, development, and testing services; and management and public relations services.

Private households which employ workers who serve on or about the premises in occupations usually considered as domestic service are also included in this section. Households classified in this major group may employ individuals such as cooks, laundresses, maids, sitters, butlers, personal secretaries, and managers of personal affairs; and outside workers, such as gardeners, caretakers, and other maintenance workers. Individuals or groups providing amusement and entertainment services are classified in Major Group 79; individuals or groups providing babysitting services are classified in Industry 7299, and other daycare services are classified in Industries 8322 and 8351. The households of farming establishments are classified in Agriculture, Division A.

The following table represents only the potential occupational health concerns related to the entire service industry based on the type of business, job task, or work activity, and any related OSHA standards for regulatory compliance. The information presented herein does not indicate or suggest a relative risk of exposure based on the location within the table nor provides any exposure information. Health risks associated with fatigue, working long hours, stress living away from home, and other psychosocial disorders are not addressed. The focus of this information is to provide guidance to understand the occupational health hazards from chemical substances, physical and biological agents, radiological, ergonomic, and environmental hazards. Some of the potential occupational health exposures in this industry were contrived from the OSHA Integrated Management Information System database between 1984 to 2020.

OSHA has also published supplemental information on their Hospital and Laboratory Resource pages

https://www.osha.gov/hospitals

https://www.osha.gov/laboratories/resources

OSHA has also created a web page for workers potentially exposed to diesel exhaust. https://www.osha.gov/diesel-exhaust

Additional information was obtained from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Health Hazard Evaluations performed by request of employee representatives and organizations from 1978 to 2020.

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