What to Know About Job Site Sanitation in Alberta

Understanding Alberta’s waste management and sanitary regulations will keep your work site safer, cleaner, and healthier. The province’s rules and regulations provide guidance and standards for a wide variety of topics, including but not limited to waste management and requirements for portable toilets and handwashing stations.

Here, we’ll provide you with everything you need to know about jobsite sanitation so you can not only follow Alberta’s regulations, but also provide your workers with a clean and healthy place to work.

Disclaimer: This article is informational; always consult current OHS and municipal requirements.

Key Takeaways

• Job site sanitation keeps working environments clean and keeps workers safe.
• Portable toilets, handwash stations, and waste management are all crucial to meeting Alberta’s jobsite sanitation requirements.
• Understanding Alberta’s jobsite sanitation regulations in advance will keep your site healthy and hygienic.

What Is Job Site Sanitation?

Job site sanitation refers to the cleanliness or hygiene of construction sites or other work sites. It’s aimed at increasing the health and safety of workers, minimizing their exposure to contaminants, unsanitary conditions, and hazardous materials. 

Employers are required to provide easily accessible job site sanitation facilities for all workers. This includes clean drinking water, toilets, waste bins, and washing facilities.

What Does Job Site Sanitation Involve?

Job site sanitation requires the workers to be provided with the following facilities in order to comply with OHS regulations:

• Fresh water that is safe to drink and meets the quality standards established by the Minister of National Health and Welfare. Any water sources that are not safe for drinking must be labelled as such.
• Toilet facilities must be provided for all workers.
• Washing stations are required at all job sites.
• Waste Bins are also required.

Why Is Job Site Sanitation Important?

The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) provides occupational health and safety standards that cover everything from workplace bathroom laws in Canada to waste management. To comply with these standards, employers must keep the workplace clean, sanitary, and in good repair to eliminate risks to workers’ safety and health.

In addition to meeting these regulations, other benefits of proper job site sanitation include:

• Healthy environment: Keeping your job site clean and organized is important. Having a designated area for waste is helpful. Regular removal by sanitation workers is also necessary. This promotes a healthy environment.
• Employee contentment: Accommodate brief bathroom breaks by providing a sufficient number of portable toilets on-site. Not only is this convenient, but it also helps employees finish their work on time.
• Enhanced productivity: Happy employees are more productive. Having an adequate supply of toilets, washing stations, and potable water makes for a more pleasant working situation.

What Are Alberta’s Rules for Waste Management & Sanitation?

In Alberta, waste management and sanitation rules are governed by the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act. It’s certainly not necessary for anyone to understand every detail, and there are many areas that won’t apply to most people or job sites. 

The EPEA does have detailed rules and regulations for waste management, though, and applies to the collection, transportation, processing, treatment, and disposal of waste.

Much of the responsibility for the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act falls on Alberta Environment and Parks, which is concerned with the management of:

• Hazardous waste and recyclables in the province
• Landfill and composting facilities
• Waste facilities
• Waste reduction and recycling

What Are the Sanitation Requirements on Job Sites?

Portable Toilet Requirements

The Occupational Health and Safety Code requires anyone running a work site of any kind in Alberta to provide toilets for workers. Fortunately, the requirements are straightforward to understand.

Here is the minimum number of toilets required for each sex:

# of Workers	# of Toilets
1-10	Minimum of 1
11-25	Minimum of 2
26-50	Minimum of 3
51-75	Minimum of 4
76-100	Minimum of 5
<100	6 plus 1 for each additional 30 workers

Use our Portable Toilet Calculator to get the exact number for your job site.

Water & Drainage Requirements

This is outlined in Section 358 of the Occupational Health and Safety Code, but there are three main rules that should be understood about Alberta’s requirements for water and drainage on work sites:

• If a job site is connected to a municipal water main or sanitary drainage system, the toilets on the site need to be connected to that system.
• If there is no municipal water system available, toilets should be connected to a septic tank.
• Toilets on a job site should be regularly maintained and emptied to avoid overflowing and the resulting unsanitary conditions.

Hand Cleaning Facilities

Workers need to be able to wash their hands. That’s pretty straightforward, and Section 359 of the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Code offers clear guidance for how many handwashing stations are required on a job site.

• Provide at least 1 handwashing facility wherever toilets are provided, plus at least 1 additional handwashing facility for every 2 toilets.
• Circular wash fountains are permitted instead of wash basins or handwashing stations. Every 500 millimetres of the fountain’s circumference counts as one wash basin.

Read our Portable Sink Guide for more information.

Waste Water & Waste Disposal Protocols

When it comes to wastewater and waste management in Alberta, it’s important to understand that the regulations in the province aren’t just about providing workers on a site with safe and healthy conditions. The regulations are also meant to ensure that the public at large is kept safe and can comfortably enjoy their environment.

Having a pile of garbage that smells foul lying around, for example, would be considered a nuisance, and Alberta’s regulations seek to prevent that. The same could be said about an unclean portable toilet or a contaminated puddle.

Nuisance & General Sanitation Regulations

Whether intentional or not, anything that interferes with the public or private right to enjoyment of property is defined as a nuisance, and Alberta has clearly defined nuisance and general sanitation guidelines.

Toilets 

There are a few key things to understand about the nuisance regulations for toilets:

• It’s required that toilets be located and maintained in a way that no nuisance is created.
• They’re in good working order and are maintained in a clean and sanitary condition.
• They are protected in a way that prevents vermin from accessing them.

Handwashing Stations

• Handwashing stations must be on or adjacent to the location of an event or site.
• Soap and running water are provided at the handwashing stations.
• There are enough handwashing stations for staff or event guests.
• Air dryers or single-use towels are available.

Waste Storage & Removal

• Garbage or waste should be kept in a flyproof and waterproof container until collected.
• Containers should be made of metal or another “substantial and impervious material.”
• There must be enough waste bins to meet the needs of the event, and they should be located in a way that provides easy access.
• Garbage will be removed in a timely manner.

What Best Practices Will Help Your Job Site Comply with Sanitation Regulations?

While there are extensive regulations in Alberta for waste management, toilets, and handwashing stations (among many other things), they are rooted in common-sense approaches to keeping workers and workspaces healthy, clean, and sanitary. 

There are a few key things you can do to ensure compliance:

Regular Maintenance for Toilets & Handwashing Stations

FenceLine Rentals Ltd. has clean, durable portable toilets and handwashing stations available, built to stand up to Alberta’s harsh climate. We offer customizable cleaning schedules, 24/7 emergency service, and on-site pump-outs, cleanings, and restockings to ensure you’ll meet all of Alberta’s regulatory standards.

Proper Waste Disposal

Whether it’s an event or a job site, having the right waste bins and a waste management plan that accounts for waste generation, waste diversion, and waste disposal will ensure you avoid creating a nuisance or a mess on your job site or at your event. It’s important to work with a licensed waste management company that can handle the collection, transportation, and disposal of waste on your site.

Employee Training

Having employees who understand workplace safety and sanitation regulations can help ensure that your job site or event is safe and meets Alberta’s standards. 

Companies like ESafetyFirst and WorkSite Safety offer many different courses to help make job sites safer. At the same time, the Alberta Construction Safety Association has a wide range of courses, including one specifically on Alberta Occupational Health and Safety Legislation Awareness. 

Your Job Site Health & Safety Checklist

Now that you know about the health and safety requirements for portable toilets and sinks in Alberta, here’s a checklist to make sure your event or job site meets them:

Do You Have Enough Washrooms?

Job sites vary in size, which means while 1 toilet may be fine for up to 10 workers, if you have more workers, you’ll need more toilets. If you have workers of both sexes on your job site in Edmonton, Calgary, or elsewhere, you’ll need to ensure you have separate toilets for each.

Employers are required to provide toilet facilities for all workers. If no sanitary sewer facilities are available at a particular job site, privies, chemical toilets, recirculating toilets, or combustion toilets must be provided.

Following these toilet requirements will help your site meet regulations and keep your workers comfortable.

Use our Portable Toilet Calculator.

Have You Secured Enough Handwashing Stations?

Handwashing stations shouldn’t be an afterthought. They’re a vital part of keeping an event and job site clean and sanitary.

FenceLine Rentals Ltd. offers four different portable handwashing stations that will meet the requirements of any job site or event. They are built with durable materials that ensure the sinks will continue to function even during the darkest, coldest days of the Alberta winter.

FenceLine’s portable sinks don’t require plumbing and come with quick mounts for soap, towels, and hand sanitizer.

Do You Have a Maintenance Plan?

Regulations in Alberta require that if a toilet is a self-contained unit, like a portable toilet, it needs to be emptied and serviced at regular intervals to ensure the unit does not overflow. Whether you’re an employer operating a job site or an organizer of an outdoor event, it’s important to have a plan.

When you rent one of FenceLine’s portable toilets, you will experience customizable cleaning schedules and on-site pump-outs, cleanings, and restockings.

Securing portable toilets isn’t enough. You also need to ensure they remain sanitary and clean for the duration of your event or that work is being done on your job site.

Do You Have Cleaning Equipment?

Keeping your portable toilets clean and appealing to use for workers is critical, and there are a number of things you can do to make sure they look, feel, and smell the way they should. 

Regular cleaning and maintenance is the most important thing, but ensuring you have enough hygiene products can also help. Some products on the market will help control the odour that can make using a portable toilet unappealing. Most of these products feature biocides, dyes, fragrances, and surfactants. Our team at FenceLine Rentals Ltd. will be happy to offer recommendations.

Do You Have a Waste Management Plan?

Having litter and garbage scattered around a job site can create an unsanitary environment. If the area around a portable toilet is unclean, why would anyone believe that the portable toilet itself is well-maintained?

Making sure you have the right waste bins and recycling bins will help you maintain a clean appearance and will encourage guests at your event or workers at your job site to be respectful of the facility.

Keep Your Job Site Sanitary with FenceLine

Job site sanitation is vital to keeping work environments healthy and hygienic. Fortunately, working with FenceLine Rentals can help you fulfill all of your obligations in Alberta, whether it’s with state-of-the-art portable toilets, handwash stations, or meeting your waste management needs.

For more information about how we can help on your job site, call us at (782)825-5060 in Edmonton or (587)864-5607 in Calgary.

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