Toilet facilities on the job

[oscar21]

Whats everyone's take on this, turned up today to start a re-wire and yet again there wasn't any toilet on the job so we ring the builder and he wasn't interested, we offered to pay for a portaloo if he gets it dropped off but he said tough, you either go home or go to a shop.

So obviously we packed everything up and left the job, we've now brought forward our next job and are starting it tomorrow so even if he relents and gets a toilet we can't do anything for 3 or 4 weeks and that's if we even want to go back.

I just don't get it, why would someone want to go to all the trouble of finding someone else, getting them to re-price it, waiting for them to have an available slot and still have the possibility that they won't start without a toilet anyway. Or they could just pay £28 per week and have toilet facilities on the job. Its madness.

 

[LukeD]

There are laws about toilets and requirement when x plus on site etc ?

15 years ago we rolled up on behalf of a world Famous interior designer .To Do a large project . Everything from £1300 a roll wallpaper in some rooms and seriously valuable antique lights etc etc . Kitchen was also been re painted (Cabinets ) and new stone etc . Clients living in during works . Day one... The lady announces no one is to use any toilet or eat or drink within the property . Now , This designer has a team to work out all the contracts etc , site visits etc .Yet no one had mentioned the "use of facilities " during long working days etc . She expected vehicles to be parked on the road and not the drive etc etc . Lucky the designer 'Held rank" and could have easily moved the teams onto another job same day for most . She was "told" to make a toilet available and allow vehicles on site . The idea that things like this are not mentioned and planned before hand is madness and can lead to arguments .

 

[oscar21]

Like I say, it doesn't have to be a state of the art toilet, we just want something, its alright ----ing in a grid for a while but if there are half a dozen of you it still stinks after a few days and you also have to be wary of the neighbours catching you with your old chap out, its not a lot to ask, and I would have thought a lot easier to implement that getting another tradesperson in.

The good thing about our job is you cant get sacked, if you don't like a job or the client doesn't like you you simply pack your tools up and move onto the next job, you don't have to worry about your P45 or going to the jobcentre etc, its just another day another job.

 

[Vortigern]

I never do a no. 2 on site, especially domestic. I have always been taught that is not on. Yet I have seen some persons using a sink for a cockle-doodle-doo (rhymes with!) There are some animals on site sometimes. No bladder control, just don't feel the need during the working day.

 

[rewireIT]

By law you have to have a toilet on site. For men AND women, separately.

 

[pc1966]

By law you have to have a toilet on site. For men AND women, separately.

Unisex is fine, just not women having to run the urinal gauntlet.

 

[rewireIT]

Unisex is fine, just not women having to run the urinal gauntlet.

You can have unisex but there has to be a provision for separate toilets somewhere in the workplace. I worked at a school once that was threatened by H&S executive because there was a unisex bog on one floor that the female staff all complained about. They said as long as there's female/male only toilets elsewhere on the site, the school was legally allowed to do it.

 

[James]

There are laws about toilets and requirement when x plus on site etc ?

15 years ago we rolled up on behalf of a world Famous interior designer .To Do a large project . Everything from £1300 a roll wallpaper in some rooms and seriously valuable antique lights etc etc . Kitchen was also been re painted (Cabinets ) and new stone etc . Clients living in during works . Day one... The lady announces no one is to use any toilet or eat or drink within the property . Now , This designer has a team to work out all the contracts etc , site visits etc .Yet no one had mentioned the "use of facilities " during long working days etc . She expected vehicles to be parked on the road and not the drive etc etc . Lucky the designer 'Held rank" and could have easily moved the teams onto another job same day for most . She was "told" to make a toilet available and allow vehicles on site . The idea that things like this are not mentioned and planned before hand is madness and can lead to arguments .

the other alternative that would comply with the lady's wishes would obviously end up with 15 tradespersons lining up to have a pee in her rose bush just outside the window of the summer room whilst she has breakfast!!
if that didn't change her attitude, then get the plumber to balance a toilet seat on a pile of bricks just outside the dining room or adjacent to the front door.
"don't worry maam, we will shovel it up at the end of the day!!!"

 

[pc1966]

We recently were getting quotes for a long security fence and most of the companies asked if welfare was available before quoting, so looks like they would factor in hiring something if we did not have it for thier staff to use as needed.

 

[davesparks]

Welfare at work - Guidance for employers on welfare provisions

This leaflet gives simple, practical guidance to employers on the provision of welfare facilities for employees.

www.hse.gov.uk

Have a look at tjsi to see what your employer is required to provide for welfare facilities.
Basically it is toilet, wash basin, hot and cold water, a means of heating food and/or water
A chemical toilet and altenative hand cleaners are acceptable alternatives.

It is your employers reposibility to provide these things, not their customer.
However your employers contract with your customer may stipulate that the customer is to provide welfare facilities.

 

[ipf]

Is this thread cr*p or am I just getting p*ssed off with it....?

 

[oscar21]

Just had a text message off him saying how ridiculous we were today for demanding a toilet and that no-one else had a problem with going in the garden or to Mcdonalds for a dump. What he fails to realise is he pays everyone else by the day, we are on a price and there is two weeks work first fixing. there are three of us and if we all need the toilet once a day that's an hour each lost, maybe we wont need it every day but I'll bet a lack of a toilet would cost us £200 a week, thats way more than the portaloo cost.

If you want to keep the tradespeople happy that work for you sometimes you have to bite the bullet and do something you don't agree with. He seems to think the only reason I do the job is to make him loads of money. I'm so glad I'm getting on a bit in life now and don't want for much, I'm more than happy to potter about at home nowadays if a job isn't to my liking and there is no way I would ever submit to anyone so they got their own way no matter what the circumstances.

Also I just don't get on a job that is about £80k how you cant factor in the £28/wk cost of a toilet. He is obviously one of the people who cut every corner going just so he can maximise every penny. good luck to him but he will just end up with the alky tradesmen eventually like every other big time charley builder I've met over the years.

 

[freddo]

Sounds like time to walk away...

For a couple of years we worked as part of a project upgrading phone masts, installing the PSUs. For obvious reasons no toilets there, all the job info packs had the address of the local Mc D or services to use the w.c. No peeing in the bushes allowed! I had no interest driving 30 minutes for a leak so since then the van has had a camper toilet in it and a heated hand wash station. I did have a 12V microwave but no room for it now, just as well as it drew 55amps.

 

[nicebutdim]

Never ideal not having facilites on site and peeing in the back garden isn't great

Sounds like time to walk away...

For a couple of years we worked as part of a project upgrading phone masts, installing the PSUs. For obvious reasons no toilets there, all the job info packs had the address of the local Mc D or services to use the w.c. No peeing in the bushes allowed! I had no interest driving 30 minutes for a leak so since then the van has had a camper toilet in it and a heated hand wash station. I did have a 12V microwave but no room for it now, just as well as it drew 55amps.

This made me think about facilities on sites and I've never been able to fathom why painters turn up with a range of kitchen appliances. Rare for them to not have a kettle and I've met several who lug a microwave to every job. A few sandwiches and a thermal cup filled with coffee always seemed perfectly adequate to me.

 

[freddo]

Indeed, the microwave got little use!

 

[oscar21]

Indeed, the microwave got little use!

I dont get all this cook your own food, bring sandwiches/flask etc to work every day. I've tried it all and it just doesn't pay. You still stop for lunch whether you eat your own sandwiches or go to a shop and eat them so there isn't any time saved, usually you call in at a shop on the way to the wholesalers so its not even a special journey. Yes it saves money and with todays prices you could probably save £5 a day making them but it took me about 15 minutes every morning to make the sandwiches, fill a flask etc. It was such a waste of time that I would have gladly paid someone that £5 to make them for me.
And the amount of times that I came home with a full flask because I was too busy in the day to drink it meant that it either went down the drain or I had 4 cups of coffee in the evening and was then wide awake all night, total waste of time in my opinion.