Flush Toilets on Construction Sites

Construction companies will soon be required by law to bring in flush toilets for job sites in British Columbia with 25 workers or more, the premier said Monday.

Last week, the union representing 40,000 construction workers in B.C. launched a campaign calling on the province to make flush toilets mandatory on construction sites. It said the chemical toilets currently in place at many sites are “unsanitary” and “undignified.”

“I sometimes hold it in for 11 hours because the porta-potties are so bad,” insulator Lindsay Sangster said in a news release. Ironworker Peter White described the toilets as “degrading” and “dehumanizing.”

B.C. Building Trades had asked construction companies to provide toilets and hand-washing facilities connected to sewer systems or portable units with running water on sites with more than 25 workers.

On Monday, Premier David Eby granted them their wish.

“If we want people to work in the trades, if we want to show people that this is a great way to support your family and build your community, the basic ability to go to a bathroom that doesn’t stink, that isn’t a mess, where you can flush a toilet, is a basic requirement for a decent job site,” Eby said at a union convention in Victoria, announcing that the province intends to bring in a legal requirement for flush toilets.

The announcement received a standing ovation from attendees at the event.

Further details about the legislation have not been made public.

“We are excited about the premier’s responsiveness to this important issue,” Brynn Bourke, executive director of the B.C. Building Trades Council, said in a news release Monday.

“With the premier’s help, construction workers across the province will have markedly better sanitary conditions on site. They’ll also be given the dignity they deserve at work.”

The article reprinted from the CBC for social media sharing. cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/construction-sites-toilets-1.6998273