It is essential to place portable restrooms near your construction site. You’ll find many of these job sites outside, far from indoor facilities, and at jobsites where employees may be working for extended periods. Having a convenient restroom nearby allows workers to take care of their sanitary needs without losing productivity—or risking an OSHA violation for your business.
However, you also need to pay attention to where you’re placing bathrooms. Each unit must be easily accessible and secure for your personnel. Continue reading to learn how to position portable restrooms at construction sites.
Convenience Is Key
You may find yourself simply installing portable restrooms in any vacant area that doesn’t take up valuable space you need for keeping tools, supplies, or equipment. However, you should make sure you consider worker accessibility before you make any placement decisions. Closing the distance between the bathroom and where the action takes place significantly improves productivity by cutting down travel time.
OSHA states that you can consider restrooms nearby when they take less than ten minutes to get to. Try to use this ten-minute timeframe as a rule of thumb when planning, but the closer you get to the job site, the better.
Avoid Areas With Clutter
Avoid situations where employees may have to maneuver around heavy machinery, debris, building materials, or other clutter to reach the bathroom. Obstacles in the vicinity of portable bathrooms can extend the time it takes to use the restroom, as well as pose significant safety issues.
Leave an Open Lane To Service Restrooms
Restrooms should be easily accessible to employees and should also be situated where a crew can quickly service units. These services include essential tasks such as cleaning the interior surfaces and removing waste accumulated in the tank over time. When there’s little room to maneuver up to the unit with cleaning equipment, it leads to service delays and limits the number of restrooms personnel can use.
Safety First
Safety is your top priority when it comes to portable bathroom placement. No one should feel like they might be in danger when approaching or exiting a portable restroom. Moreover, you need to make sure you have plenty of units available, so workers don’t have to leave the safety of a job site to find a usable bathroom.
Put Distance Between Heavy Machinery and Bathrooms
You should never place bathrooms beneath hanging materials or near heavy machinery that swings or swivels, such as excavators and cranes. These situations put units in danger of getting knocked over or hurting unsuspecting personnel entering or exiting restrooms.
Watch Out for Traffic
Many construction jobs will see you and your employees working on busy streets or highways. In these circumstances, you should place bathrooms on the same side of the road you’re working on so workers don’t have to cross the street.
Follow OSHA Standards
The best way to ensure your portable restroom situation is safe to use is following all OSHA regulations. First, you must have enough toilets for the number of workers at the construction site. For example, you need at least one bathroom for locations with 1-20 employees, with more required as you increase the number of personnel.
Stick to Level Surfaces
While it might seem like an easy decision to place units on level ground, in practice, it can be a bit of a challenge to find suitable terrain on construction sites. Look for spots with a flat, firm base far away from any ground actively being disturbed. Otherwise, the unit could become unsteady and topple over while excavating or doing other earth-moving activities.
Keep an Eye Out for Sudden Situational Changes
You need to be ready to move restrooms often to keep them away from uneven surfaces. Ensure you have the necessary equipment, such as handcarts, to relocate units out of harm’s way rapidly. Restroom trailers are convenient for this purpose because they’re simple to transport and set up wherever you need them.
Stay Clear of Curbs
Position portable restrooms away from the edge of curbs. Curbs are huge falling hazards that make it easy for individuals entering and exiting apartments to trip since they can be tough to see. Furthermore, curbs can make it hard to open porta-potty doors if the unit happens to shift in any way.
Make Sure Access Is Limited to Workers
Keep units inside fenced-in or blocked-off zones to decrease the possibility of random passersby using your units as they walk past them. That way, you significantly reduce the chance of pedestrians getting hurt and leaving you accountable. It also ensures that your employees are the only ones who use each unit, which keeps restrooms cleaner and makes maintenance easier.
Stop Vandalism in Its Tracks
Positioning restrooms in secure areas has the added benefit of deterring vandals from spraying graffiti on units, destroying equipment, or tipping it over. Graffiti is an eyesore, and you might be held liable for any damage to the unit. It would be best if you tried to place portable bathrooms in well-lit areas with security cameras aimed at them as an extra precaution.
Large Construction Sites Benefit From Restroom Trailers
Even if you find the best location for porta-potties, you may experience long lines as employees wait to use the restroom on large projects. When many people are waiting for the bathroom, it reduces the total number of people actively working. Prolonged breaks can quickly push back a project’s schedule when they start to add up.
Installing portable bathroom trailers at your construction site is a terrific way to increase efficiency while avoiding the dangers of long lineups. Restroom trailers are a cost-effective solution that allows multiple individuals to use the facility simultaneously, reducing wait times and preventing congestion.
Specialized Equipment for Elevated Placement
The bulk of the preceding advice focused on placing units on flat ground or working across one or two levels. However, many construction sites take place on high-rises, with few available portable restroom options. Fortunately, there are specially-constructed units that can function on elevated structures.
Rent and Place PolyLift Units
Renting PolyLift portable toilets allows employees on high-rise construction sites to use the restroom at any elevation. The design of these units makes it simple to lift and lower them using a crane or elevator. They’re also compact enough to navigate through doorways and freight elevators.
Knowing how to position portable restrooms at construction sites helps boost productivity and keep workers safe. When placing units, keep the above points in mind to ensure you’re making the best choices possible.
Floods Royal Flush provides the best bathroom trailer rentals in the Chicago and Northern Illinois area, ensuring that employees and guests have access to a luxurious restroom experience. We also offer a comprehensive selection of porta-potties, hand washing stations, holding tanks, and more. Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.