Not many things surprise me after researching toilets for a few years. Some of the pictures I have seen (that cleaners have to deal with) make you realise why so many public toilets have closed.
Firstly, we need toilets. Too many are closed down due to misuse. An academic coined the phrase ‘sex, drugs and rockin the bowl’ (as well as filling the toilet bowl up with loo paper and setting fire to it, vandalising the bowl to create a flood is a ‘laugh’). There are thousands of incidents of people weeing and defecating in streets and fields due to no toilet provision.
We need clean and safe toilets. The best designs for these are single sex designs. Toilets should be well ventilated so natural ventilation is more desirable, as is a natural light source which helps if the lights go out. Water, preferably warm, and soap for washing hands. A flush that works. Floors and cubicle walls that are non porous and can be scrubbed and bleachy water thrown over them. Handy if there’s a drain in the floor so everything can be soaked and mopped down. Gaps (of up to 15cm) at the bottom of doors and partitions to facilitate cleaning and ventilation. Space above doors and partitions, which are 180cm to 200cm tall after the floor to door gap.
Paper towels are better than hand dryers for hygiene reasons, unless cleaners are fastidious with cleaning and changing filters. A bin for hand towels needs to be provided.
As people sometimes collapse in toilets, the doors need to open from the outside and there to be a mechanism to open the door outwards (either changing the hinge or taking the door off). Toilets need to be separate sex so men do not use the gaps for voyeurism on women.
Tall ceilings can be useful as there’s a lot of air space above the door and partitions and window placement can be high up. Tall ceilings facilitate ventilation and prevents people placing cameras in ceiling vents etc. Hidden cameras are a big problem and cubicles should be as plain inside as possible so a camera can be identified easily eg. No air fresheners. If the cubicle door or lock breaks, people can be rescued over the top of the doors/partitions.
Hooks are good. There should be two placed at heights depicted in British Standards BS6465. Sometimes anti-ligature hooks maybe better. BS6465 has the dimensions and placement of toilet cubicles and rooms, based on health and safety knowledge eg. Contrasting colours for visually impaired people. I want the toilet positioned after the sanitary bin is taken into account. There needs to be twice as many units for women to achieve equity.
Doors that rest in the open position, so that when you enter the single sex washroom you can see who’s in the room with you. It prevents men hiding in the toilets.
The basins should not be communal troughs as they are embarrassing if you have blood on your hands. Individual sinks with taps that don’t splash and are set so that you do not have to lean over and get water over yourself. Sinks at different heights for children.
CCTV is retrospective but a clear shot of people entering and exiting may put some men off or enable them to be captured. If there’s a walkway rather than an outer door to the washroom, this creates good opportunity for CCTV.
I could go on for several pages…..
A lot of this isn’t new and is covered in BS6465.
We need designs that stop people having sex, doing drugs, vandalising toilets and putting hidden cameras in them. So that toilets are safe and clean for sanitation.
Sofas, wallpaper, carpets, floor-to-ceiling enclosed cubicles or rooms are not so good for health and safety. What may appear to be a very boring simple design can be a good ‘experience’.