In Victoria, employers have a legal obligation to provide their workers with certain amenities, include a place to safely store personal belongings, a suitable area for dining and adequate toilet and washing facilities. It's often more difficult for construction site owners to offer certain facilities, but temporary or portable toilet hire is a common addition to most modern construction sites. If you need to install portable toilets on a Victorian construction site, learn how you can make sure the facilities are safe and hygienic to use.

Your legal obligations

Construction site owners must provide workers with adequate toilet facilities. If your workers aren't easily able to use a toilet, you could run afoul of the 1985 Occupational Health and Safety Act. The most severe penalties under the Act arise when employers fail to provide or maintain a safe working environment. In extreme cases, you could face imprisonment for up to five years. As such, it's important to make sure you make adequate provision for every aspect of your workers' welfare.

Placing portable toilets

A portable toilet supplier can work with construction site managers to help choose a good place to install temporary facilities. While a portable toilet is not as sturdy or robust as a permanent installation, you need to make sure that your employees are not at risk at any time.

To maintain privacy and hygiene, you must consider several factors. These include:

• A convenient location that all workers can easily reach
• Sound construction, lined walls and waterproof facilities
• Adequate lighting and ventilation
• Hinged toilet seats and lids
• A door your employees can lock from the inside
• Adequate drainage

You cannot simply set up these conditions when you first install the portable toilet and consider the job done. As an employer, you must also make sure that the facilities meet these standards during the entire time they are available to your employees. This obligation applies to the supply of other items too, including toilet paper.

Sharing facilities with other sites

In many cases, your workers may work next to other construction sites. The law permits construction site owners to collaborate and offer shared facilities, as this can help manage costs. It is also sometimes easier to share one site than it is to find multiple adequate places to install portable toilets.

Conditions that shared facilities must meet are the same as those of individual sites. Additionally, you must show evidence that the site owners have a clear agreement for the use of shared facilities, or you must show that the same company manages all the sharing sites. Furthermore, you must make sure that you offer at least one toilet per 10 workers across the combined sites.

Cleaning and maintenance

Construction site managers must set up a rigorous cleaning and maintenance schedule to keep portable toilets hygienic. In many cases, a portable toilet supplier will also offer a contracted cleaning service, but it is up to the employer to make sure suitable arrangements are in place.

The supplier will normally manage all on-site servicing routines. These routines include checking the pumps, repairing defects, refilling the holding tank and rinsing and emptying sewage storage tanks.

Site managers must make sure that the supplier pumps out the tanks often enough to stop bad smells building up. Ideally, the waste tank should never become more than 50 percent full, and official guidelines suggest that owners pump out the tanks every two weeks, particularly in warm weather.

Moving portable toilets

Site managers should try not to move portable toilets unless it is strictly necessary. The toilet bowls in these facilities aren't normally watertight, so transportation poses a health risk to workers and the public.

According to WorkSafe Victoria, you shouldn't move a portable toilet with a capacity of less than 220 litres unless the volume in the tank is less than 20 litres. For toilets with a larger capacity, don't move the unit unless the tank capacity is at ten per cent or less.

Many construction workers rely on portable toilets during the working day, and Australian employers must make sure they offer employees adequate facilities. If you need to install portable toilets, make sure your facilities meet the required standard, or you could face legal action.