Portable Toilet Etiquette: Pumping and Cleaning

Toilet Etiquette: If at first you don’t succeed, keep flushing!

You wouldn’t leave your house toilet in a disgraceful state, but what about the toilet on your work site? With so many different trades using it, whose responsibility is it to keep the site toilet clean and hygienic?

The law requires that employers provide adequate amenities for staff at any workplace – including the building site. At the very least employers need to ensure that their workers, contractors and visitors to site have access to clean toilets, drinking water, hand washing facilities and access to a clean area for eating. These are all basic amenities required in any work situation.

When it comes to portable toilet facilities,  Aim Hire can supply you with a modern freshwater flush chemical toilet, complete with hand basin, non-skid floors and an ergonomic design for comfort and safety. We ensure our toilets are installed onsite securely to prevent them toppling over or becoming unstable. All Aim Hire toilets come with a lockable door, ventilation and are delivered with an adequate supply of toilet paper. We also deliver all our portable toilets freshly cleaned and serviced – but who is responsible for the ongoing upkeep and maintenance of your portable toilet?

Building employers need to understand and analyse their workplace conditions. The number of trades on site for instance will influence the number of toilets required and the regularity of a toilet clean and service. It is up to the site supervisor to ensure toilet amenities are maintained in a condition that meets employee needs for basic health, welfare, privacy and dignity. This means worksite toilets need to be hygienic, safe and secure at all times. In fact, evidence shows that when workers are unable to access a toilet or don’t want to use a toilet facility because of the state it is kept in, they are less likely to drink fluids. Fluid intake is extremely important to the human condition and a lack of fluid or dehydration can lead to all sorts of health problems including bladder and kidney disease, incontinence and heat stroke in the warmer months.

WorkSafe Victoria stipulates that builders should ensure portable toilets are checked daily and cleaned as required.  In addition to regular cleaning and maintenance, toilets must also be serviced regularly ‑ and this is where we come in. Aim Hire’s on-site servicing includes:

• Checking pumps and components for effective operation and repairing any defects;
• Adding treatment chemicals to the sewage storage tank;
• Refilling the holding tank with water;
• Replacing toilet paper; and
• Cleaning and disinfecting the internal compartment of the portable toilet.

WorkSafe guidelines recommend sewage tanks should be pumped out at a frequency that minimises odour production and ensures the waste tank is unlikely to exceed 50 per cent of the tank’s useable capacity before the next scheduled service. Aim Hire toilets have large 390 litre waste holding tanks that take about 650 flushes. Unlike some of the imported style of portable toilets, they don’t need to be pumped monthly. In fact, we believe disturbing the waste tank unnecessarily is what leads to odour production. So while cleaning and servicing is essential, pumping should be done on an as needs basis.

Aim Hire is on-call to service and/or pump out your portable toilet on request. Simply call our operations team on 9720 4455 or book  a regular service when you start the hire. With regular servicing the result is not only a clean and hygienic site toilet, but a much happier and healthier worksite. Regular rostered servicing takes away the hassle of having to call for a service and the worry of breaking Worksafe Guidelines. Aim Hire will simply turn up at your building site on a regular rostered basis, clean your loo, replenish water and chemicals and replace toilet paper. Our service technicians will then date stamp the facility for your next scheduled service.

Regular servicing keeps your subbies healthy, happy and hygienic on your work site. And don’t underestimate the importance of a healthy workforce; it almost inevitably leads to a more productive and efficient work environment too!