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Ontario proposes bathroom upgrades to construction sites

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Changes are in the works to improve conditions of bathrooms on construction sites in Ontario, and that includes making them more inclusive.

“It’s long overdue,” said Alex Poulin who works as an electrical foreman in Ottawa.

“Some employers will go above and beyond and supply more washrooms, but others would do the strict minimum.”

Kathy Choquette has been an electrician for more than 30 years and says conditions aren’t always pleasant.

“The other side the guys had a urinal and there was a little toilet on the inside with half a door and you could see who was inside with a half a door so you could see who was in there. It was awful,” Choquette said, describing one site she worked on downtown.

“I wouldn’t use those I’d go across the street and use a Tim Hortons or whatever.”

Ontario’s labour minister is proposing to improve bathroom conditions on construction sites after a recent inspection at more than 1,800 construction sites found 244 violations.

Proposed changes include doubling the number of toilets, adequate lighting, hand sanitizer when there’s no running water, completely enclosed single toilets and at least one women’s only toilet.

Dreadful bathroom conditions have been a long battle for those in the skilled trades, including the Ottawa Construction Association.

“When COVID hit we were working with the Building Trades Council to create a gold standard for hygiene and these are some of the issues we flagged,” said president John DeVries.

Some construction sites in the capital already offer adequate bathrooms.

“We’re fortunate on the site we’re in right now, said Choquette. “We have trailers we have one side for women. We got one last week because we pushed for it.”

There are nearly 600,000 construction workers in Ontario, but only one in 10 are women. The province hopes these changes would make the skilled trades more accessible to women and improve the health and safety of workers.

If approved, the new rules for cleaner washrooms would come into effect July 1.

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