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STRANIERIINITALIA.IT| Respect workers' right to a loo break, says TUC |
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“Give Us a (Loo) Break” report calls for better toilet facilities for UK employees
12th March 2010: The TUC has asked employers not to penalise staff for using the toilet in work time, and to provide their employees with clean, modern lavatories. It has also called for a change in the law to bring workplace loos into the 21st century. Back in 2003 when the TUC first launched its Gotta Go campaign, research revealed that across the UK many workers had no access to toilets or had to use dirty, poorly maintained ones. Others were docked pay for needing to use the loo, and had to ask if they could be excused to spend a penny. Six years on it seems the situation has barely changed. A new TUC report “Give Us a (Loo) Break” says that toilet breaks are not a luxury, but a basic human need, and employers who don't provide staff with toilet facilities are breaking the law. It finds examples of staff having to put their hands up to use the toilet, record the number of times they nip to the loo each day or travel a mile to pee.  The TUC report is critical of employers who still believe that employees should go to the loo in their own time. Others plan work schedules that take no account of toilet breaks or allow a work culture to develop where use of the toilet whenever a worker requires it is frowned upon. “Give Us a (Loo) Break” says that some workers have no easy access to the toilet - it notes a female firefighter who had to change her tampons in the back of a fire engine while her male colleagues stood guard outside. As a result of union pressure, a number of brigades have now introduced mobile welfare vehicles which have separate women and men's toilets. Other staff are based in workplaces where the toilets are closed at night, or have given up their own time and come in at the weekend to replenish the soap and paper towels in their poorly stocked loos. Not being able to use the toilet when nature calls can cause real health problems, warns the report. Conditions including digestive and urinary tract problems can develop into more serious health issues, and individuals on certain medications may need to go more often than usual. Working in the cold can be another cause of more frequent loo use, and women who are menstruating, pregnant or menopausal need to take a trip to the toilet more often than they would normally. Similarly, call centre workers are encouraged to drink lots of water to limit the strain on their voices, but discouraged from taking too many toilet breaks, says the report. TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O'Grady said: “Employers shouldn't be mean and penny pinching over their employees' need to use the loo. They should trust staff and let them take a few minutes away from their work if they need to go. “Dickensian attitudes to toilet breaks have no place in the modern workplace. Employees should be free to go to the toilet in work time, and not have to raise their hands for permission as if they were back in school, or have their employers keep notes on how long or how often they go for. And when staff do get the loo, they have the right to expect clean, well-ventilated facilities.” One of the recent examples uncovered by the TUC of poor employer attitudes to toilet breaks is that of Sally, a traffic warden employed by a local authority in the North West. Every time Sally wants to go to the toilet she has to inform her base and record it in her pocket book. Not unreasonably, Sally isn't happy that the number of times she uses the toilet are being recorded and believes that the wardens should be able to run to the loo whenever they need to. She says that as a more mature lady, she sometimes needs to use the toilet quite frequently and is embarrassed that her colleagues not only know this but also see it as a source of amusement. When they're out and about the traffic wardens are only meant to use the toilets in council or other public buildings, and Sally says this can cause real problems, especially on a Sunday when all the council buildings are closed. “Give Us a (Loo) Break” urges the Health and Safety Executive and local authority inspectors to ensure that employers are complying with their obligations under UK safety laws and are providing suitable, sufficient and accessible toilets and washing facilities that are clean, well ventilated, lit and stocked with soap and towels. It also calls for a change in the law so that employees can go to the toilet whenever they need to - so long as they are not endangering the safety of their colleagues, and in work rather than their own time. |