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Amenities

Meal areas
Toilets
Washing facilities
Drinking water
First aid

Meal areas

Principal contractors must ensure workers have reasonable access to a room or sheltered area to eat meals or take breaks. The area must:

present no health or safety risk
be hygienic
if there are 15 or more workers at the site, have adequate space, seating and facilities for washing and storing utensils, boiling water and storing food in a cool place.

Toilets

Principal contractors must ensure workers have reasonable access to toilets. Reasonable access for a workplace where civil construction work is performed would be a toilet in the workplace’s site compound boundaries. For other workplaces where construction work is performed, within the workplace’s site boundaries.

There must be 1 toilet available for each 15, or part number of workers.

A toilet connected to sewerage, a septic system, a pump-out holding tank storage type system ("connected") or a portable toilet is acceptable for a workplace with fewer than 15 workers. However, if the number of the workers increases and the toilet provided was portable, it must be replaced by a connected toilet within 2 weeks after the number of workers has increased.

A workplace with four or more levels must have a toilet on the ground and fourth floor and every third floor thereafter.

Toilets must:

be in a cubicle or room fitted with a door and located in a position that allows privacy
have fresh air
if used by female construction workers – be equipped with sanitary disposal facilities; and separated so that urinals are not visible
have an adequate supply of toilet paper.

Washing facilities

The principal contractor must ensure workers have access to washing facilities. The facilities must be separate from toilets if there are no separate toilet facilities for females. Examples of washing facilities include:

a hose at a housing construction site
a water container with a tap at a road construction site
wash basins provided with portable or connected toilets at a high rise building construction site.

Drinking water

Employers must ensure workers have access to drinking water that has been supplied by the principal contractor from a source other than toilet, hand or face washing facilities. Reasonable access for a housing construction site would be within 30 metres from where the work is being done and for a high rise building, access on the ground level and every second level of the building.

First aid

Employers must provide workers with reasonable access to appropriate and adequate first aid equipment.

A self-employed person is responsible for ensuring reasonable access to appropriate and adequate first aid equipment.

For more information on workplace amenities.

Last updated 22 July 2008

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