As a building site manager, it’s your job to ensure the contractors have access to portable toilets. It’s critical to understand the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules surrounding bathroom access to provide adequate options. Here is a guide to get you started.

The Number of Toilets

Worksites with under 20 employees must provide one working toilet. Job sights with 20 or more workers must have one toilet seat and one urinal per 40 workers, and those with 200 staff or more are required to offer one toilet seat and one urinal per 50 workers. These may include plumbing or not, so long as there is also drinking water available on-site.

Sinks

If the workers are using insecticides, coatings, paints, or other potentially contaminating substances, the sanitation setup must include sinks and soap. Moist towelettes or hand sanitizers found in many portable restrooms will not remove these materials, so look into hosting a portable sink if your workers use these substances. The restroom setups must also offer air blowers or sections of individual cloth or paper towels for hand drying.

Restroom Placement

The portable toilets must be placed within a quarter-mile of workers to ensure they can quickly reach the unit and return to their tasks. OSHA requires that the units are “readily available” or within 10 minutes of walking distance, so keep that in mind when placing portable toilets on large construction projects. In some cases, it may be helpful to place several toilets around the perimeter to ensure the staff can reach them quickly.

Cleaning

While OSHA does not specify how often to clean portable toilets, they note that the facilities must be usable. The more people on a job site, the more frequent cleaning the units will need. Talk over tank sizing and unit cleaning schedules with a port-a-john provider to learn their recommendations for promoting sanitation.

If you need portable toilets, contact Johnny on the Spot in Lawrence County, OH, to learn about their available rentals. The local team has served the Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia areas for over 60 years. Call the Ironton-area sanitation company at (888) 838-7768 or visit the website for information on their hand-wash stations, high-rise units, handicap-accessible toilets, and other restroom solutions.