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What is OSHA? The US government agency known as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) exists to assure safe and healthful working conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance. It is part of the US Department of Labor.

Why do the standards matter to the portable sanitation industry? Among the thousands of standards set by OSHA, several of them apply to general environmental controls and to sanitation in construction, fields, and labor camps. With rare exceptions, these standards have the force of law. Thus anyone subject to them who fails to adhere to the standards can be fined or otherwise held culpable.

Who creates and updates the standards? The US government is responsible for these standards. They sometimes change through an administrative rule process and sometimes change because legislation requires it. Each US state also has agencies that set and apply standards at the state level based on the requirements of federal OSHA standards.

Which standards are relevant to portable sanitation? The OSHA standards that are most relevant to portable sanitation are found in Title 29 in the Code of Federal Regulations (29CFR). They are highlighted below. The full text can be downloaded at www.osha.gov/law-regs.html.

Part 1910, Subpart J—General Environmental Controls, including Part 1910.141—Sanitation

Part 1915.88 OSHA Standards for Shipyard Employment: General Working Conditions—Sanitation

These sections of the OSHA regulations cover General Environmental Controls and Sanitation in places of employment. They require that:

• Toilet rooms provide privacy at all times• Toilet rooms be provided for each gender based on the number of

employees of that gender for whom the facilities are furnished. If therooms are occupied by no more than one person at a time, can be lockedfrom the inside, and contain at least one water closet; separate toiletrooms for each gender need not be provided

• Washing facilities, hand soap, and hand towels must be provided at oradjacent to each toilet facility. Hand washing facilities must be equippedwith either hot and cold or lukewarm running water

• Portable toilets are used only when it is not feasible to provide seweredtoilets. Portables must be vented and equipped, as necessary, with lighting

• The employer must establish and implement a schedule to ensure thateach sewered and portable toilet is maintained in a clean, sanitary, andserviceable condition

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION (OSHA)

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Part 1910.142 Temporary Labor Camps

This section of the OSHA regulations covers temporary labor camps. It requires “toilet facilities adequate for the capacity of the camp,” separated by gender, at a ratio of one toilet for every 15 persons. The adequate number of urinals is one unit, or 2 linear feet of trough, for every 25 men.

Part 1926.51 Construction

This section of the OSHA regulations covers safety and health regulations for construction. Employers on construction sites are subject to the provisions of 1910.141, with the following modification:

Part 1928.110 Field Sanitation

This section of the OSHA regulations covers any agricultural establishment where 11 or more employees are engaged in hand labor in a field. It prescribes:

• One toilet facility and one hand washing facility per 20 employees, or afraction thereof

• Toilet facilities must be adequately ventilated, screened, and haveself-closing doors that can be locked from the inside

1–15 1

16–35 2

36–55 3

56–80 4

81–110 5

111–150 6

Over 150 1 additional per 40 employees

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES MINIMUM NUMBER OF WATER CLOSETS

20 or fewer 1

20 or more [sic] 1 toilet seat and one urinal per 40 workers

200 or more 1 toilet seat and one urinal per 50 workers

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES REQUIRED FACILITIES

OSHA

OSHA exists to assure

safe and healthful

working conditions

for working men and

women by setting and

enforcing standards and

by providing training,

outreach, education, and

assistance.

OSHA

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• Toilet and hand washing facilities must be in proximity to one anotherand within .25 miles of the laborers in the field

• Toilet facilities must be operational and maintained in a clean andsanitary condition

• Hand washing facilities must be refilled with potable water

OSHA's Definition of Sanitary OSHA standards require that portable restrooms be “sanitary” None of the standards actually defines the term “sanitary” within the text itself. To get a sense of what OSHA means by the term “sanitary,” we have to dig a little deeper.

In a guidance letter from 2006, OSHA answers a related question. In that instance, an OSHA administrator with expertise in construction explained that a restroom on a construction site that is not sanitary is not considered “available” and therefore cannot be counted toward the OSHA-required minimums. Within the letter, OSHA references the PSAI’s ANSI-compliant standard Z4.3-1995 and noted:

“Under…the OSHA standard, if there were 20 employees, the employer would need to provide at least one toilet. Applying the ANSI [Z4.3] servicing schedule to a situation where one toilet has been provided for 20 employees, an employer that had the toilet serviced twice per week would likely be providing a toilet in a sanitary condition. Similarly, a toilet for 10 employees, if serviced once per week, would likely be provided in a sanitary condition.”

Similarly, in 2003 when the Department of Labor issued its final standards for sanitary toilets in coal mines, the accompanying supplementary information again referenced ANSI Z4.3-1995.

As you may infer from the document number, ANSI Z4.3-1995 is the 1995 version of the standard. It also does not specifically define the term “sanitary,” but does state the following:

“It shall be the responsibility of the employer to insure [sic] that all toilet rooms and facilities are maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. If toilet facilities are of the type that require periodic service, it shall be the responsibility of the employer to provide sufficient toilet facilities and servicing to prevent the stated capacity of those facilities from being exceeded; the employer shall also assure the ready access to the toilet facilities by the required servicing equipment.”

Where can I get more information or provide input on the OSHA standards concerning portable sanitation? Review the OSHA website at www.osha.gov. Copies of the OSHA standards and the plans specific to each state can also be downloaded there.

OSHA

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On the basis of OSHA’s guidance and the information in ANSI Z4.3-1995, a portable restroom operator can confidently take the following position related to keeping portable restrooms in “sanitary condition” as per OSHA and MSHA requirements:

• The number of restrooms provided must minimally meet OSHA’s 1:20 rule.• If servicing occurs at least twice a week under these conditions, the OSHA

standard for “sanitary condition” will likely be met.• If servicing will occur only weekly, units should be provided on the ANSI- standard basis of 1 unit per 10 workers.• A unit that is too full or otherwise too unkempt to use does not “count”

toward the required number of units.

With this in mind, it would benefit portable restroom operators to use decals such as the PSAI’s 1:10 worksite stickers to ensure you are visibly stating the capacity of the units. You can also use the above information to help you in sales and quality control conversations with contractors and other employers.

The ANSI Z4.3-1995 has undergone two revisions since OSHA provided the guidance above. In the current version, important terms are now defined as follows in ANSI/PSAI Z4.3-2016:

“Sanitary condition: […] that physical condition of working quarters which will tend to prevent the incidence and spread of disease.

Sanitize: To make free from dirt, infection, disease, etc., by cleaning it. To make something sanitary.”

Although neither OHSA nor MHSA has yet had occasion to quote from the updated standard Z4.3, we are working toward adoption of these definitions.

OSHA

OSHA guidance states that a restroom on a construction

site that is not sanitary is not considered “available”

and therefore cannot be counted toward the

OSHA-required minimums.