OSHA creates workplace bathroom regulations.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) creates workplace regulations that help ensure employers provide safe work environments for employees. Some of these regulations require employers to keep bathrooms up to certain standards to protect employees from unsanitary and unhealthy conditions at work.
Number of Facilities
OSHA requires employers to provide at least one toilet for up to 15 employees, two toilets for 16 to 35 employees, three toilets for 36 to 55 employees, four toilets for 56 to 80 employees, five toilets for 81 to 110 employees, six toilets for 111 to 150 employees and an additional toilet for every 40 employees more than 150. In men's bathrooms, 1/3 of the toilets can be urinals instead.
Facility Gender Standards
Employers must provide separate locking toilet rooms for each sex, unless they are single-toilet individually locking rooms, which can be unisex.
Mobile Work Crews
Employers are not required to provide toilets on site to mobile work crews, but the workers must have fast transportation to nearby bathrooms if they do not have bathroom facilities at the work site.
Sanitation
OSHA requires that bathrooms be kept sanitary. Waste receptacles should not have leaks and the garbage must be removed often enough to prevent it from overflowing or creating a health risk. Employers must keep vermin under control, according to OSHA regulation. The floor should be clean of splinters, loose nails, holes, loose boards and other hazards, along with any other workplace floors. Toilets, sinks, floors and urinals should be cleaned often enough to keep them sanitary and prevent any health risks. The OSHA does not specify the frequency of cleaning, since that varies with bathroom use.
Water Requirements
According to OSHA regulations, lavatories should have tepid running water or hot and cold running water for hand washing. Employers should also provide soap for hand washing and sanitary hand towels for hand drying.
Storage
OSHA forbids food and water from being stored in toilet areas. If employees bring food to work, employers must provide a storage area separate from toilet areas, such as a lunch room, shelving, lockers or refrigerators outside of the toilet area.
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