ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

More than a fifth of UK employees of small to medium businesses are unhappy about the state of their workplace washrooms, according to a study.

And around 32 per cent claim their business has been negatively affected by low washroom standards.

More than half of those questioned in the Initial Washroom Hygiene study said they regularly had to wait to use a toilet cubicle at their office. This meant they wasted an average of almost seven minutes each week, equating to more than five hours a year.

Seven per cent said that as well as hitting staff morale, the state of their washrooms gave rise to comments from customers and clients. And three per cent said they had actually lost business because their washrooms were in such a bad state.

According to Health and Safety Executive guidelines from the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, the number of toilets provided by small businesses should increase in line with the number of staff. Any business with more than five employees must have at least two toilets available, increasing to a minimum of five for businesses with 76 to 100 employees.

Dr Peter Barratt of Initial Washroom Hygiene said: "It is essential for employers to provide their workers with sufficient numbers of toilet facilities and to ensure that these are clean and well presented. Failure to do so not only ignores their legal duty, but also turns a blind eye to the effect that this can have on both employees and customers."