In The DfE non statutory School output specification School-specific brief: mainstream schools, some of the questions the school rep has to answer:
>if the school requires single sex or unisex toilets
>if the school has a specific requirement (with justifiable reasons) to not have the standard floor to ceiling cubicle systems
>What is the School’s ethos on supervision/privacy
Which means a school has to justify toilet door/partition gaps. In a school of around 1200 pupils there be around a dozen pupils that may sometimes have seizures, several more that have hypos and those with heart conditions. There will be those that have a one off seizure due to fever or drugs, girls who faint due to endometriosis and heavy periods or miscarriage. Many autoimmune and neurological conditions start in adolescence so many will be undiagnosed. There will be pupils that self harm in toilets. Girls who need toilet paper passing to them because of heavy periods.
If you are a teacher for several years all the above will not be news so I am at a loss as to why this was done. It goes against a wonderful government scheme that ensured all schools have a defibrillator because it is recognised pupils collapse and they have a chance of saving a life if used quickly enough.
However, the DfE have told me they do not hold risk assessments or equality impact statements for their designs in their department. They could not give me them.
Luckily it’s ‘guidance’. Many schools do not follow it.
Schools’ reasons to use these full height systems is often given as ‘inclusivity’. The DfE reason given for full height cubicles was because of phone cameras. This will be boys taking photos of girls because the toilets were mixed sex. Now what is happening is that boys are setting up hidden cameras in these mixed sex toilets instead because they are allowed to be there and it’s private. Teachers can’t tell who and how many are in the toilet cubicles and what they are doing. Boys have done revolting things to sanitary bins and free sanitary items which girls would never do.
Back to this judgement.
The judge doesn’t have to look very far from the location in this case to find lots of instances of toilet misuse and design problems in the workplace. I wonder what an inquiry will say about the poor man in the Edinburgh Council office toilets who died. I don’t know what the toilet design was in the Scottish Parliament where the MP put in a hidden camera but I would be more surprised if it wasn’t a floor to ceiling one. Hidden cameras are commonplace now and a private unisex space with vents for the mechanical ventilation needed, dryers, sinks to hide them is ideal.
Male behaviour is dictating non-domestic toilet design. It negatively affects the health and safety of the medically vulnerable, children and women the most.