Every facility needs bathrooms, and your organization’s bathroom requirements will change as its employee population grows. But have you stopped to consider whether or not you are required to provide a specific number of toilets based on the size of your company? Recently, a question came in to the experts at Safety.BLR.com regarding the ratio of bathrooms to people required under Cal/OSHA. Read on to find out if your facility would meet the requirements.
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Cal/OSHA’s requirements for toilet facilities are detailed at 8 CCR 3364. Separate toilet facilities for each sex must be provided as follows:
- 1 to 15 employees: 1 water closet
- 16 to 35 employees: 2 water closets
- 36 to 55 employees: 3 water closets
- 56 to 80 employees: 4 water closets
- 81 to 110 employees: 5 water closets
- 111 to 150 employees: 6 water closets
- Over 150 employees: 1 additional water closet for each additional 40 employees or fraction thereof
Cal/OSHA defines a water closet as a plumbing fixture which may be used for both defecation and urination in which the waste matter is removed by flushing with water (in other words, a toilet). The standard requires the designated number of water closets/toilets as listed above but does not require a minimum number of toilet rooms, as long as there is at least one for each sex and the proper number of toilets for the number of employees is provided.
Where practicable, toilet facilities should be within 200 feet of locations at which workers are regularly employed and should not be more than one floor-to-floor flight of stairs from working areas.
Urinals may be installed instead of water closets in toilet rooms to be used only by men, provided that the number of water closets is not less than two-thirds of the minimum number of toilet facilities specified.
When there are less than five employees, separate toilet rooms for each sex are not required as long as toilet rooms can be locked from the inside and contain at least one water closet.