Toilet and handwashing facilities

PF18 Toilet ratio

Criteria

The service has at least 1 toilet for every 1 to 15 persons. Persons are defined as children aged 2 and older and teaching staff that count towards the required adult:child ratio.

Rationale/intent

To ensure at least 1 toilet is provided for those present at the service. The reference to children aged 2:

• recognises that, around this age, children are starting to interact with toilets – sole use of potties does not provide opportunities for this learning experience
• ensures services licensed exclusively for under 2-year-olds are not disadvantaged by having to provide more toilets than would be of use for under 2-year-olds.

Guidance

The number of toilets needed for centres is calculated as follows:

The maximum number of children on the licence certificate minus the maximum number of children under 2 (if any), plus the maximum number of adults required to meet adult to child ratios, divided by 15.

Example

An all-day centre is licensed for 25 children, including up to 5 children under the age of 2. A maximum of 3 staff are required to meet adult to child ratios (2 for the older children, and 1 for the under 2s).

25 (max licensed numbers) − 5 (under 2s) + 3 (adults) = 23 (people counting towards toilet ratio requirements)

23 ÷ 15 = 1.53

Always round up to the nearest number. Therefore, this centre needs a total of 2 toilets to meet this criterion.

Things to consider

You may want to consider the needs of children when they are toilet training. Often young children cannot wait to go to the toilet.

PF19 Handwashing facilities ratio

Criteria

There is at least 1 tap delivering warm water (over an individual or shared handbasin) for every 15 persons (or part thereof) at the service (that is to say, children attending and adults counting towards the required adult:child ratio).

Rationale/intent

To ensure that minimum handwashing facilities are provided for children and adults, and to encourage handwashing by children.

Guidance

Services must provide at least 1 tap delivering warm water (over an individual or shared hand basin) for every 15 persons (or part thereof) – for both children and adults to meet the required adult to child ratio.

Some district health boards (DHBs) have their own specific requirements. You will need to contact your local DHB for clarification.

Things to consider

The following are some measures centres might want to consider implementing to meet this ratio:

• Providing long stainless-steel troughs that have 3 or 4 warm water taps can be easier for 3 or 4 children to use, and easier to clean and manage soap spills than 3 or 4 individual sinks.
• It can be helpful to have additional handwash facilities in main play areas. If children can easily wash hands after messy play, supervision is eased and congestion in the bathroom reduced. It can also be very handy to reduce congestion in the bathroom area before mealtimes. Whether this is suitable will depend on the service’s overall layout, arrangement of groups and children’s age ranges.
• Additional handwashing facilities can also be provided in the kitchen setting, particularly if you are serving food.

PF20 Toilet and handwashing facilities

Criteria

§ Toilet and associated handwashing/drying facilities intended for use by children are:

• designed and located to allow children capable of independent toileting to access them safely without adult help and
• adequately separated from areas of the service used for play or food preparation to prevent the spread of infection.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to uphold hygienic practices by ensuring that the design/location of toilet/handwashing facilities encourages their use by children.

The criterion is underpinned by the belief that independence in children is valued.

Guidance

Ideally, toilet and handwashing facilities should be close to play areas (that is, not down long corridors) to make access for children as easy as possible.

If there is a door to the area where the toilets and handwashing facilities are, this must be able to be independently opened by children.

Adequate supervision is important. Depending on the layout of the centre, a high viewing window into the bathroom area may ensure privacy for children but allows for discreet supervision.

Refer to the guidance for PF21 Hand drying facilities (below).

Things to consider

Toilets

• Using child-sized toilets prevents the need for a step. This may make them safer to use (minimises hazards) and encourages children to toilet because it is much easier for them.
• It is a good idea to locate the nappy changing area close to a toilet, so that children who are beginning to toilet train can easily use the toilets when they get their nappies changed.

Handwashing

• Use hand basins or a trough. If the height of hand basins or a trough is between 550 and 600mm from the floor for older children, and 450 to 500mm from the floor for young children, they are likely to be easily reached. (If children need to use steps, the bathroom area will have unnecessary clutter and hazards.) Consider the age range of children who will attend.
• Consider in particular the style of the tap, as children bend over the hand basins often to wash hands.
• Use taps that turn themselves off, with a very easy lever for children to operate. Taps of this type prevent water from being left on and are available from most plumbing outlets.
• When using taps that ‘turn’, it is a good idea to ask the plumber to limit the amount of ‘turn’ to 180 degrees. This will ensure that children don’t keep turning a tap the wrong way in an effort to turn it off – eventually giving up.
• Providing liquid soap is recommended because it reduces the spread of infection. It should be easily accessible for each child using handwashing facilities.

PF21 Hand drying facilities

Criteria

§ There is means of drying hands for children and adults that prevents the spread of infection.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to uphold hygienic practices by ensuring that hand drying facilities are adequate.

Guidance

There are a number of ways children can dry their hands, but some are more hygienic and easier to use than others. Viruses and bacteria spread easily from one child to another when they share the same towel. Getting hands dry is important. Damp hands create damp surfaces, which encourages survival of bacteria, viruses and organisms like Giardia.

Recommended options include the following.

Disposable paper towels

For most centres, the best option is paper towels. There is a cost involved, but they have several advantages:

• They are easy to use.
• They do not spread infections.
• They are easy to replace.
• They can be used for other cleaning purposes.

Individual towels

If you can organise a good system for each child to have their own towel, then individual towels can be good. The trouble is, towels usually get mixed up, and they also take up a lot of space.

PF22 Toilet privacy

Criteria

§ At least 1 of the toilets for use by children is designed to provide them with some sense of privacy.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to uphold children's wellbeing by ensuring that some consideration is given to the need for privacy by some children, due to cultural or individual differences. The criterion also aims to prevent service providers from designing toilet areas purely from a cost-driven perspective.

Guidance

Toilet design is important for children’s sense of wellbeing in a centre. ‘Open plan’ toilets are easy to supervise, but they do not provide children with a sense of privacy, and sometimes will mean children try to avoid going to the toilet. Some children have a much higher need for privacy than others due to cultural or individual differences, and this should be respected.

A balance is required between a child’s right to privacy and ensuring sufficient supervision so a child can be helped if required.

Centres will have different preferences around privacy and toilet doors, and some building authorities will require toilet doors, while others will not. It is a matter of balancing children’s need for privacy with adequate supervision and hygiene. It is suggested that you talk to your local building authority and health protection officer (HPO) to clarify their interpretations of the relevant legislation.

The requirement for a toilet that provides ‘some sense of privacy’ can be met in a variety of ways, but ‘line of sight’ is a good way to assess whether a toilet offers a child with some sense of privacy. Half-height doors (about 1.1m high from the floor) are an option that will allow you to supervise while still giving children a sense of privacy.

When considering a specific toilet for privacy, ‘line of sight’ can be applied in 2 ways.

Line of sight from the door

• When standing in the doorway, do you have direct sight of the child on the toilet?
• Is the child within view of adjacent areas when the bathroom door is open?

Line of sight from those using bathroom facilities

• Is the child able to be seen directly by children using the other toilets?
• Which way do children face when using the hand basin? Are they in front of the child or to the side of the child?
• What is the proximity of the hand basin to the toilet?
• Is there anything about the design that offers the child some sense of privacy (for example, a partition or children facing away from the cubicle while handwashing)?

The following diagram provides an example of how ‘line of sight’ can be used. Please note that the following assessments are provided as a guide only.

As all bathrooms are set up differently, it is important to work alongside licensing staff to meet this requirement.

PF23 Adult toilet

Criteria

Ø There is a toilet suitable for adults to use.

Rationale/intent

The criterion aims to ensure that adequate toilet provision is made for adults attending the service, thus upholding the wellbeing of children by reducing the possibility of inappropriate adult use of the children's facilities.

Guidance

Toilets for adults need to be full-sized, and able to be made private when being used.

The centre may choose to have all toilets available to children and adults, or designate one for adults and others for children – because this criterion relates only to the total number of toilets needed according to the number of people at the centre; it does not dictate how individual centres choose to use them.