Under&Over

Keep the gaps under & over public toilet doors for safeguarding

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

Why do we have a gap under public toilet doors? For health and safety
Why do we get rid of the gap when toilets are mixed sex? For privacy
What are we getting rid of by doing that? Health and Safety

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@TheAsphaltPoet @jk_rowling At its most serious, it can be a life and death issue. Schools have a duty of care to all their pupils, which include those with medical conditions.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@Shellzzybellz @TheGreenParty @rachelmillward I have been researching toilet safety for years and have lots of data and evidence. It’s about health and safety.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@Shellzzybellz @TheGreenParty @rachelmillward The picture is from my initial research focused on school toilets and the problems with private, mixed sex cubicles.

The pic could also be a woman or man. It was a young woman I saved who was luckily in a single sex design, so I could see she was having a medical emergency.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@salltweets In toilet design terms, it’s a war on everyone at their most vulnerable. In the UK only single sex toilets in a single sex environment can have door gaps. This design save lives.
Are your new ‘50% unisex’ loos a private design? What about strokes, seizures, hypos,heart conditions

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@akuareindorf @NadiaWhittomeMP Thank you for pointing this out.
If there is no single sex environment for toilets, there’s no designs that are permitted to have door gaps.
If there are no door gaps, there’s reduced safeguarding for occupants at their most vulnerable.
The design of the left would be obsolete

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@TheAsphaltPoet @blablafishcakes That’s an American design. UK floor-door gaps are 10-15cm, then space above the door. We don’t have the side gaps either.
Toilet door gaps are for ventilation, cleaning, supervision in medical emergencies and prevention of misuse. They are only allowed in a single sex environment

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@Baroness_Nichol Single sex cubicle toilets are easier to rescue people from, because they can have door gaps so the occupant can be seen and heard. Mixed sex designs have to be private rooms so it takes longer to assess the rescue area. These private designs need individual visual audio alarms.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@blablafishcakes There are similarities to toilet design, which I research. With toilets, the Building Safety Regulator says that only single sex toilets within a single sex environment can have door gaps. For obvious reasons.
Gaps are for ventilation, cleaning, supervision and to prevent misuse

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@SusannaRustin Thank you for this. I research health and safety in different designs of toilet provision.

Single sex toilets within a single sex environment are permitted (by HSE/BSR) to have door gaps. They are safest.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@BarbaraRich_law @LoudBonnet @missedith01 @Abouterf197543 @BarbicanCentre At the time of W(H,S&W) 1992 leg., BS6465 discussed the advantages of gaps above and below cubicle doors: for ventilation, cleaning, supervision, and prevention of misuse. For cubicles within a room in: schools, offices, factories, public buildings and public conveniences.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@BarbaraRich_law @LoudBonnet @missedith01 @Abouterf197543 @BarbicanCentre There is no regulated design called ‘gender neutral’. There is a universal design (in the past called unisex) which is a self contained room opening into main circulation space. Cubicles are only to open to a single sex environment. This looks like a repurposed single sex design.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@LoudBonnet ‘Gender neutral toilets with cubicles’ is not in keeping with building control. A mixed sex toilet should be in a separate room.

Approved Document T (2024) reaffirms cubicle doors should only open into single-sex toilet accommodation.

This would fail for new builds/refurbs.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@MiaJaneWest77 @LibDems @EdwardJDavey That’s why a mixed sex environment has to have private toilet rooms.
But no door gaps advantageous for ventilation, or easier thorough cleaning, or supervision of medical emergencies or the prevention of misuse.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@RoseWorthesee @BBCr4today Thankyou. We saved young woman in a nightclub toilet who had choked on vomit. We hoisted our friend over the top, who pushed the body out the way and opened the door from the inside. We cleared her mouth, put her on her side, and whacked her back til she starting breathing again.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@SquidCynical @BBCr4today Yes, universal design has to be a room that is floor to ceiling in privacy. The BSR/HSE has told me that type C and type D can have door gaps. These are the single sex cubicle and the single sex ambulant cubicle. Cubicle doors should only open into single-sex toilet accommodation

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@KirstieMAllsopp Here for H&S in toilets. The HSE/BSR state only single sex toilets in a single sex environment can have door gaps in non-domestic design. If anyone is thinking of refurbishing toilet suites: remember door gaps for medical emergencies, cleaning, ventilation, prevention of misuse.

[Under&Over @KeepToiletsSafe]

@JeanHatchet @Shelly205377757 @marksandspencer Changing cubicles being ‘floor to ceiling’ have the similar health and safety disadvantages to non-domestic toilets. It is best they have a gaps above and below the door to alert people to medical emergencies, or potential misuse, for ventilation and for cleaning.