The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends establishing a safety and health program at your construction job site. Within your program should be the optimal number of toilets provided for workers.
To find the optimal number of toilets, you need to start with the minimum standard required by OSHA.
What is the Minimum Standard for Toilets at the Construction Site?
OSHA requires that construction managers meet the following requirements for toilet facilities at the site.
- 20 employees or less: 1 facility
- 20 employees or more, but less than 200: 1 toilet seat and 1 urinal per 40 workers
- 200 employees or more: 1 toilet seat and 1 urinal per 50 workers
This is a minimum requirement. Additionally, the use of “employee” in the OSHA language creates a gray area of whether contractors, specialists, and one-time workers should be considered in the requirement.
We encourage construction companies to go above the minimum and include all workers in their consideration of how many facilities to provide.
There are other considerations to ensure that you comply with the OSHA requirement and provide the optimal restroom experience for workers.
Are Your Facilities Available and Ready for Use?
OSHA clarified that merely having a facility at the job site does not qualify to meet the requirement. The facility must be “available” and “serviced” to count.
– Availability means the toilet is close enough to the central work location to be readily accessible. OSHA states explicitly that “toilets that take too long to get to are not ‘available.’” Another disqualifier is workers needing to “wait in long lines” to use the facility.
If the facility is not easily accessible and if the facility is not readily accessible, then the facility is considered to be “not available for service or action.”
You need to use your best judgment at the job site to ensure that you meet the reasonable standard of availability for each worker.
– Serviced means the toilet is sanitary, clean, and stocked with appropriate resources. If a toilet is deemed “unsanitary and unusable,” then it is disqualified as “unavailable.”
OSHA set the following minimum standard for servicing toilets to be deemed in sanitary condition:
- A toilet used by up to 10 people: serviced a minimum of once per week
- A toilet used by up to 20 people: serviced a minimum of twice per week
For larger jobs, the toilets must be serviced more frequently during the week to ensure a constant ready state.
Texas Outhouse Far Exceeds the Minimum Requirement
Texas Outhouse provides the highest quality portable toilets and restroom trailers for construction site jobs. Our commitment is to exceed the minimum standards to ensure that you have a safe and comfortable work environment for your construction site.
The Texas Outhouse team is capable of quickly mobilizing our fleet of portable toilets and trailers to your worksite in Houston or throughout Southeast Texas.
To get started, we are available 24 hours per day to take your phone call. You can reach our customer service team directly at 713-999-6178. You can also provide us with information about your needs at the construction site by completing this form or emailing info@texasouthouse.com.
