HEALTH AND SANITATION 29
Restroom Users : ‘ More Privacy , Please ’
By
Mike Flenniken
SURVEY INDICATES PEOPLE WOULD PREFER LESS EXPOSURE WHEN USING PUBLIC RESTROOMS
Do you still feel somewhat exposed even when you ’ ve locked the door in a public restroom stall ?
You are not alone .
An online survey of more than 1 000 US adults found the 70 % of respondents feel that public restroom stalls lack sufficient ‘ coverage ’, with 58 % indicating they would prefer the gaps around the stall doors and walls be eliminated .
Bradley Corporation ’ s annual Health Handwash Survey questioned 1 003 adults from around the country , split nearly evenly between men and women . They were asked about their hand-washing habits , concerns about seasonal viruses and their use of public restrooms .
Taking the desire for more privacy one step further , 45 % want the stall doors to extend all the way to the floor .
However , doing so would make it more difficult for many to be able to immediately detect whether someone is in the stall , as 74 % of respondents say they look under the door to determine whether it is occupied .
Not to worry ; there ’ s a solution for that . Nearly everybody — 96 % of those surveyed — agrees that the best fix / remedy would be to place visual indicators on stall doors to show whether they are occupied .
Standard for Water Closets and Urinal Partitions . The standard lists three types of privacy ratings : Type A includes partitions with doors that prevent visual observation and provides security of the user ; Type B includes partitions that minimise visual observation ; and Type C is for urinal partitions that prevent visual observation from adjacent users .
• Type A requires the bottom edge of the partition , including the door , to be less than or equal to 10 centimetres inches off the floor and the top edge greater than or equal to 2.1m above the finished floor . The doors must lock from the inside and the device shall be readily distinguishable as locked from the outside .
• For Type B , that number is 41cm at the bottom and 1.75m at the top , with a maximum of a 1.5cm gap between the edge of the door and the partition wall . The doors shall be lockable from the inside of the partition enclosure .
• Type C calls for the bottom of the partition to be a maximum of 30cm above the floor , the top to be at least 1.5m from the floor , and the partition to extend at least 30cm from the wall . In this instance the UPC goes further than Z124 , which only calls for 40cm above the floor .
Privacy-related issues were just one of the survey ’ s topics . Participants were also asked about germ avoidance and their hand-washing habits .
David Viola , IAPMO CEO
In the spirit of the sharing of unique experiences that shape the plumbing industries in our respective nations , the following essay was a runner-up in IAPMO ’ s 2023 annual Scholarship Essay Competition . First introduced in 2009 and open to any student actively enrolled in a high school , community college , trade school , four-year accredited college or university or working in an apprentice program , the competition has elicited entries from all over the world . Written by Seanna Kryger of George Brown College in Toronto , Ontario , Canada , it is the next in a regular series of similar articles that will run in this magazine .
Dave Viola IAPMO CEO
Also , don ’ t you hate when you there are multiple empty bathroom stalls in a row , you purposely choose one on the end , and then the next person selects the one in the middle ?
Again , you have company , though not as much as before .
The survey found that 35 % of respondents become annoyed when someone chooses the stall next to theirs even though others are available , and 40 % said they select the stall farthest from the entrance .
Privacy and security are addressed in plumbing codes such as IAPMO ’ s Uniform Plumbing Code ( UPC ).
The 2024 Uniform Plumbing Code ( UPC ) follows the guidelines laid out in IAPMO / ANSI / CAN Z124.10-2022
Image byHelloDavidPradoPelucha from Freepik
Some people report feeling ‘ exposed ’
February 2025 Volume 30 I Number 12 www . plumbingafrica . co . za