B.C. to require flush toilets on construction sites with more than 25 workers

The B.C. government is moving to legally require flush toilets on construction sites with more than 25 workers.

The move, announced Monday, comes less than a week after the BC Building Trades, a union representing more than 40,000 workers, called on the province to mandate the facilities.

“If we want people to work in the trades, if we want to show people that this is a great way to support your family and build your community, the basic ability to go to a bathroom that doesn’t stink, that isn’t a mess, where you can flush a toilet is a basic requirement for a decent job site,” B.C. Premier David Eby told the union at its convention in Victoria.

4:21 B.C. construction unions demand flushing toilets on work sites

Details of the plan have yet to be announced, but in a media release the union hailed the province for acting.

“With the Premier’s help, construction workers across the province will have markedly better sanitary conditions on site,” BC Building Trades Council executive director Brynne Bourke said. “They’ll also be given the dignity they deserve at work.”

The union said it had been pushing for flush toilets on construction sites since the COVID-19 pandemic revealed major health and safety concerns.

It pointed to Quebec, which implemented similar regulations in 2015, as a potential road map.

It says other industries, including film and tourism, have figured out how to provide mobile and sanitary toilet facilities in a cost-effective way, and that the construction industry should be no different.