The Ontario government says they’re “working for workers” by making washrooms on construction sites clean, safe, and private in the hopes of making the skilled trades more accessible to women.

Labour minister Monte McNaughton announced in London, Ont., Wednesday that he is proposing to amend rules about bathrooms on construction sites so that the government will now require at least one women-only toilet on large construction sites.

McNaughton is set to announce Wednesday that he is proposing to amend rules about bathrooms on construction sites to make them cleaner, safer and provide some for women only

Additionally, he said the ministry is pushing Ontario to further improve portable washrooms as a whole by requiring them to be private and completely enclosed and have adequate lighting as well as hand sanitizer as running water is not reasonably possible. The number of toilets will also be doubled on most jobsites.

Some portable toilets are only about three-quarters of an adult’s height with no roof, McNaughton said. Those would be banned.

It would also extend the good-repair requirement to urinals and cleanup facilities, such as stations with sinks.

Keeping toilets in a state of good repair is already required under current rules, but McNaughton said that “clearly, that’s not happening.”

The news follows a Ministry of Labour bathroom inspection blitz last month at more than 1,800 construction sites. It found 244 violations, the most common being no toilets provided, a lack of privacy, or a lack of cleaning; “40 per cent of the violations were for not having washrooms or toilets on site,” McNaughton stated.

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