Management of public health risks associated with sanitation provision at construction sites and mobile, temporary or remote worksites

Overview

There are a number of situations where people may have to work where no permanent toilet facilities are available. These situations could include:

• Construction Sites
• Roadside clean ups, road works or road maintenance works
• Tree planting or other natural resource management work
• Archaeological digs
• Geological surveys or other mining exploration related work
• Fruit picking/Seasonal farm work

Where permanent facilities are not available and temporary toilets are not provided, workers face public health risks associated with either reducing fluid intake to reduce the need to use the toilet or choosing inappropriate places to go to the toilet.

The provision of toilets is important for ensuring workers have a healthy workplace with adequate employment options. Maintenance of the toilets provided is also of importance to ensure that the waste is adequately removed and the risk of contact with human waste is reduced.

Historically the requirement to provide a toilet in situations where no permanent facilities are available has been through the Health (Construction Work) Regulations 1973 and Part 3 of the Health (Temporary Sanitary Conveniences) Regulations 1997. The implementation of the Public Health Act 2016 necessitates the repeal and possible replacement of these regulations.

Review of the current WA legislative environment indicates that many of the requirements of these regulations are also covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 and the WA Code of Practice for Workplace Amenities and Facilities 2002 and continued regulation by the DOH may not be required.

The Department of Health is seeking stakeholder feedback on options investigated to manage public health risks associated with sanitation provision and maintenance at construction sites and mobile, temporary or remote worksites in Western Australia into the future.

Why your views matter

The Department of Health review identified Option D as their preferred option for ensuring management of the public health risks associated with sanitation provision on construction sites and mobile, temporary or remote worksites.

This consultation has been created to allow for the WA Department of Health to engage the community and key stakeholders on their preferred option and how the management of public health risks associated with sanitation provision on construction sites and mobile, temporary or remote worksites should occur in the future. 

Stakeholder consultation promotes transparency, improves design and ensures risk are identified and managed early. It also allows for innovative ideas to be proposed for consideration.

This consultation provide an opportunity for industry and the public to raise issues, concerns and opportunities about the proposed options and provide advice on how the proposed guideline will affect them, their business or working experience.  This consultation contains a series of questions related to the proposals. You do not have to comment on all the questions, and can focus on those areas that are important to you. You are also welcome to provide additional feedback that may not be related to any of the questions. Please explain the reasons behind your suggestions, and where possible evidence to support your views (such as statistics), estimates of any costs that may relate to the proposal, and examples of solutions.

What happens next

Information provided will be collated into a publically available report on the Department of Health website.

Please note, that because your feedback forms part of a public consultation process, the Government may quote from your comments in future publications. If you prefer your name and organisation to remain confidential, please indicate that in your submission. As submissions made in response to this paper will be subject to Freedom of Information requests in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 1992, please do not include any personal or confidential information that you do not wish to become available to the public.

The Department will use the information gathered from this review as part of their submission to the Better Regulation Unit and for determining the support for the options considered going forward.

Stakeholders will be emailed a stakeholder consultation summary paper.