Guide
Workplace washroom requirements: what the regulations actually say
Updated
The statutory requirements for a workplace washroom are shorter and plainer than most sales conversations suggest. They are worth reading in the original.
Sanitary conveniences
Regulation 20 of the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 requires that suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences shall be provided at readily accessible places. They are not suitable unless the rooms containing them are adequately ventilated and lit, they and the rooms containing them are kept in a clean and orderly condition, and separate rooms are provided for men and women except where each convenience is in a separate room whose door can be secured from inside (legislation.gov.uk: regulation 20).
Washing facilities
Regulation 21 requires suitable and sufficient washing facilities, including showers if required by the nature of the work or for health reasons, at readily accessible places. They are not suitable unless they (legislation.gov.uk: regulation 21):
- are provided in the immediate vicinity of every sanitary convenience, and in the vicinity of any changing rooms
- include a supply of clean hot and cold, or warm, water, running water so far as is practicable
- include soap or other suitable means of cleaning
- include towels or other suitable means of drying
- are in rooms that are sufficiently ventilated and lit
- are kept in a clean and orderly condition
- are separate for men and women, except in lockable single-occupancy rooms, and except where they are for washing hands, forearms and face only
What that means for a contract
Two practical consequences. First, soap and a means of drying are not optional extras: the regulation names them, so a consumables line is buying compliance, not convenience. Second, the regulation says towels or other suitable means of drying, which is why a hand dryer and a paper towel dispenser are both lawful answers and the choice between them is an operating cost and hygiene preference decision rather than a legal one.
Cleanliness is in the regulation itself
Both regulations require the facilities and the rooms containing them to be kept in a clean and orderly condition. A washroom service contract and a cleaning contract are different things, and the boundary between them is a common gap: servicing the units is not the same as cleaning the room. Check which of your two suppliers thinks it owns the floor.
Water hygiene is a separate duty
Legionella control is not a washroom services question, even where a provider offers to bundle it. The Health and Safety Executive's Approved Code of Practice and guidance L8, Legionnaires' disease: the control of legionella bacteria in water systems (fourth edition, 2013), gives ACOP status to risk assessment, the role of the appointed competent person known as the responsible person, and the control scheme (HSE: L8). If a washroom quote includes water hygiene, ask what specifically it covers and who holds the competence, because temperature readings alone do not discharge the duty.
These regulations apply to workplaces in Great Britain. Northern Ireland has its own equivalent regulations. Nothing here is legal advice: read the regulations in the original and take advice on your own premises.