If you are organising an event you may be asking: how many toilets per person do I need. We look at the factors that affect how many portable toilets you will need.
How Many Toilets Per Person Do You Need?
Understanding how many toilets per person you need for an outdoor event is essential. If your event covers a large area, you will need more toilet facilities and sanitary appliances, ensuring guests remain safe and hygienic.
On average, you require 1 toilet for every 100 women at 1 toilet for every 425 men at your event. On top of this, you require one urinal unit for every 125 men. According to the British Standard of sanitary installations, you should not provide fewer toilets than required. Not only will this result in unhappy customers, but you can quickly spread disease and illness through improper toilet facilities.
Hiring portable toilets is essential for large events, festivals, business gatherings and more. There are many factors that you must consider when organising events and spending your budget, and how many portable toilets you need isn't always a straightforward answer.
What factors affect how many portable toilets you need?
Several factors affect how many toilers per person you need. All attendees' health, safety and welfare should be your priority, and there are minimum requirements regardless of the event size.
Depending on the number of female customers or visitors you expect at your event, you will require more toilets.
You need one portable toilet for every 100 women at the event, whereas male toilets can be placed and hired more sparingly.
For events longer than six hours, you will need more toilet cubicles and washroom facilities.
This could come in the form of customer toilets and staff toilets, depending on the nature of the event: but at least one WC (water closet) for every 400 men will be sufficient at longer events.
If you're serving refreshments, how many toilets do you need? As you can expect, if you start serving food and drinks (especially alcohol), you will require a higher number of toilets, especially for female visitors.
This goes for summer fetes, festivals and any other outdoor event, as when the human body ingests food and drink over time, it will need the toilet more frequently. This should be your first consideration.
For large events with increased toilet use, you will need a higher number of urinals and toilets for both men and women.
You don't want large queues and guests waiting for toilets, so the best thing to do is invest in more portable toilets for your premises, adding more for every additional 100 women.
Every outdoor event is different, from festivals, summer fetes, business parties and more.
While festivals and other non-domestic premises are the most recurring outdoor events that need portable toilets, you should consider investing in sanitary facilities for any outdoor event: especially when you know, there will be many people.
HOW MANY TOILETS ARE REQUIRED PER PERSON IN AN OFFICE?
The number of toilets required in an office space does have a minimum requirement, which is outlined by the Workplace Regulations 1992. Depending on your ratio of female to male workers, the minimum amount of toilets varies.
This workplace health, safety and welfare regulations are designed to keep customers, employees and organisers safe. Suitable and sanitary conveniences must be maintained for all attendees.
For example, you need one toilet and one washbasin for offices of 1-5 people. This increases to two toilets and two washbasins for 6-25 people. When employing 75-100 people, you need five toilets and five washbasins. On top of providing enough bathrooms for employees, you must also ensure your building has accessible toilet facilities for people with mobility issues, impairments and other access restrictions.
This is enforced under the Equality Act 2010. Ideally, make these toilets unisex, especially if they are accessible to both the public and your staff.
HOW MANY TOILETS ARE REQUIRED PER PERSON IN SHOPS AND SHOPPING CENTRES?
When assessing shops and shopping centres, there is also a minimum number of toilets expected for customers.
Shopping centres minimum provision of toilets should be one per 500 male customers and one per every 500 female customers.
These customer toilets are essential, along with space for changing rooms, baby changing spaces and more: especially when eating and drinking becomes a regular thing at the shopping centre.
A retail area in excess of 1000m2 should be adhering to the above rules.
For sports stadiums, the toilets are more likely to be used during intervals and half times. For this reason, you will need enough to battle the influx of users.
Two toilets for every 250 men and two for every 20 women is the minimum, but you will need more as most toilet use will happen simultaneously, and you don't want long queues.
How Many Toilets Are required Per Person in Schools or Educational Facilities?
In nurseries, there should be one toilet per 10 pupils or part thereof minimum provisions. When there are cleaning facilities present at a nursery (deep sinks, showers or baths), you should have 1 per 40 pupils. This increases to one per 15 pupils over five years of age.
With secondary schools, you should ensure the bathroom and urinals number remains consistent for every 20 male pupils at the school. Showers (where physical education provided) must be installed for 1 in every ten male students and 1 per every ten female students. There should be no more than 2/3 of boys appliances to be urinals at this stage.
School washrooms are expected to have one wash basin for every toilet installed, along with regular cleaning and servicing. Separate staff toilets and facilities in accordance with school building regulations should be adhered to, ensuring adequate inclusion of disabled toilets. Office washrooms and disabled toilets can be shared between disabled staff and disabled students, however.
How Many Toilets Are required Per Person in a Leisure Centre?
Any leisure centre with swimming pools must have two toilets for every 100 male users, with one toilet for five female pool users.
If installing showers, you need one shower for every ten men and one for every ten women. Of course, if there are more female customers than male customers, you install more toilets and facilities for them.
Male toilet provision should be half the females in leisure centres where urinals are not used.
If there is a food court present in the leisure centre, or anywhere serving food, you must have additional toilets for those customers.
The food courts minimum provision of sanitary appliances is two toilets for 150 men and two bathrooms for 30 women.
How Many Toilets Are required Per Person in a Public Building?
When discussing public buildings, the most common spaces requiring larger numbers of toilets are theatres, cinemas, stadiums, concert halls and the like.
You are expected to provide: two toilets for up to 250 male visitors and the same for every 250 females. For every additional 20 women, you should provide another toilet. Two urinals are the minimum for every 50 men, with one more installed for every additional fifty.
Entertainment venues minimum provisions should be adhered to, and these numbers increase when serving alcohol or food: meaning you need additional toilets and cleaning services. A nightclub's minimum provision is two toilets for every 150 males and two for every 25 females: the same as licensed pubs.
In assembly buildings where the minimum provision of sanitary appliances is not fluctuating throughout the day due to intervals (like museums, libraries and exhibition centres), you should have 1 toilet per 250 men and 2 for up to 40 females.
How Many Toilets Are required Per Person in a Religious Building?
For all religious buildings (churches, mosques, synagogues, gurdwaras and temples), you should have at least one unisex facility or toilet. If you have a large enough community, it's recommended to have separate facilities for both men and women, with disabled visitors also being considered.
The approved code of practice for ensuring the maintained health, safety and welfare should be followed in all similar buildings of worship: especially when you begin serving food and drinks, even if just for a short period.
How Many Toilets Are required Per Person in Guest Accommodation?
Depending on the size of your property, whether that's a hotel, bed and breakfast or guest house, you should provide one toilet for every 1-6 guests.
This increases to two toilets for 7-12 guests and three toilets for 13 and upward. Every toilet installed in the property should have a washbasin installed nearby.
If there are no urinals used at the property, you should guarantee WC numbers to be half of the total women's toilets.
The number of toilets and washbasins for mixed-use at properties varies on many different factors, so it's always worth conducting your research on the minimum numbers.
If you need more support on getting the right amount of portable toilets for your event or property, get in touch with our team today.
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