Office Toilet Cubicles: What You Need to Know
If you’re installing toilets and washing facilities for your employees, there are legal requirements to adhere to, to ensure adequate toilet facilities. British standards can include a minimum toilet ratio to person, separate rooms for males and females where possible and necessary sanitary appliances.
Read on to see how to care for your facilities, as well as additional ways to improve your spaces.
What are the regulations?
How many toilets per person do you need?
Employers must comply with government guidelines and provide enough toilets and washing facilities. The minimum amount depends on gender and the number of people using the sanitary facilities.
For female workers and mixed-use toilet facilities, employers must provide the following number of toilets and washbasins:
| Number of employees | Minimum amount of toilets | Number of washbasins |
| 1-5 | 1 | 1 |
| 6-25 | 2 | 2 |
| 26-50 | 3 | 3 |
| 51-75 | 4 | 4 |
| 76-100 | 5 | 5 |
While facilities for male toilets should accommodate the following:
| Number of employees | Minimum amount of toilets | Number of urinals |
| 1-15 | 1 | 1 |
| 16-30 | 2 | 1 |
| 31-45 | 2 | 2 |
| 46-60 | 3 | 2 |
| 61-75 | 3 | 3 |
| 76-90 | 4 | 3 |
| 91-100 | 4 | 4 |
What features should they include?
The Health and Safety Executive protects employees by regulating requirements for sufficient sanitary conveniences in the workplace. Washroom facilities are required to include the following features:
- soap
- clean running water
- toilet paper
- some form of hand drying method (like hand dryers or paper towels)
- a washing basin
- flushing toilets
- good ventilation
- appropriate lighting
Toilet and washing facilities should also include any agreed reasonable adjustments for any employees with disabilities. All facilities are required to be readily accessible places and must be kept in a clean and orderly condition.
Additionally, workplaces in the UK must provide separate facilities for men and women. Where this isn’t possible or facilities are unisex, cubicles must be able to be locked from the inside.
Easy ways to improve your office toilets
Regular maintenance
Implementing regular maintenance in your office washrooms improves the performance and reliability of your facilities while preventing larger, expensive repairs from occurring.
Hygiene
Taking good care of your toilet facilities and keeping them as clean as possible means staff can enjoy a safe environment while at work.
Additionally, by keeping products such as air fresheners and sanitary products in your toilet facilities, you can provide staff with a better experience while enhancing functionality.
By implementing hands-free fixtures like hand dryers and soap dispensers, you can also ameliorate your office toilets with better hygiene.
Aesthetics
Investing in your washroom design can completely elevate your space. Employers can enjoy full customisation by choosing from paints, tiles, lighting or new fixtures to transform the area. This vast amount of design flexibility means facilities can be redecorated within different budgets and timelines to suit your requirements.
Caring for your office toilets
If you’re looking for ways to improve your staff’s toilet facilities, M&P Fittings provides efficient solutions and hardware to suit an extensive range of needs. For more information, you can check out their commercial toilet facilities now or get in touch with one of their friendly experts.
