For businesses across the world, there are many things to consider and take into account, whether you’re a start up company, or you have been operating for many years. It can be quite difficult to keep up with latest news, regulations and trends when it comes to certain things in your specific industry, but it’s vitally important you pay attention to the environment you are in and your surroundings. It’s just like paying close attention to how your employees perform, you wouldn’t ignore terrible behavior or performance that should be rewarded.
Hygiene, on the other hand, should be one of many top concerns for any type of business. Raising and promoting hygiene awareness is more difficult than we all realize, which is why regulations and laws are enforced to ensure we actually meet requirements and play a small part in helping not only people, but the environment. Did you know that 1 in 5 people do not wash their hands when they visit a washroom? How often is your work-space thoroughly cleaned? Many businesses break regulations without even realizing it, so here are a few that you should know.
The Environment Protection Act 1990
This act essentially places a legal duty of care upon your organisation to make sure that all waste produced on your business premises is managed correctly and appropriately up until the final point of disposal.
The approved code of practice for regulation 21 of the workplace health, safety and welfare regulations 1992 strictly advises:
- Soap dispensers must be present, or other suitable means of cleaning
- Toilet roll holders must include toilet paper as this should be provided
- Sanitary disposal is required so women are able to dispose of their sanitary dressings
- Air dryers and dispensers must be present so users have some form of washing and drying their hands
How Many Toilets Should There Be In The Workplace?
The amount of toilets that are required in your workplace depends on how many employees work there every day. Evidently, the low number of employees indicates that you won’t need 10 separate washroom cleaning facilities, and therefore only require at least 1 washroom for males and females. However, for customer facing businesses, it’s generally more known, and strongly advised to have more washrooms for enhanced hygiene.
See the table below as an example.
| Employees | Number of toilets | Number of sinks |
| 1-5 | 1 | 1 |
| 16-30 | 2 | 2 |
| 31-45 | 2 | 2 |
| 46-60 | 3 | 3 |
| 61-75 | 3 | 3 |
Are Disabled Toilets Required In The Workplace?
In the majority of situations and environments, as a business owner you are required by law to provide a disabled toilet to disabled users. If you do not, you fail to comply with the Equality Act 2010. This particular law states that you have to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people are not at a substantial disadvantage. This can cause a few complications and issues within small businesses, however with large scale businesses it’s not usually an issue, because they have the money to invest and make the resources available for all.
The main focus points for hygiene in the workplace, is to provide clean spaces to your employees so they can maintain a high level of good hygiene and not be in the firing line for potential accidents, injuries or illnesses. Ensuring you have a suitable amount of toilets in your building, and ensuring those washrooms are fully equipped with necessary equipment is crucial. Be aware of rules, regulations and laws and if you follow these, you will be compliant with all of them if they apply to you and your business organisation.