Public ‘toilet deserts’ in England: a growing health and safety risk for mobile workers

That’s according to Stu Drinkwater, founder of TAL, a platform which connects workers with venues providing access to toilets.

This week, analysis by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) showed that the number of public toilets in England has fallen, leaving just one public toilet for every 15,000 people.

It represents a 14 per cent decrease in the past decade, creating what RSPH describes as ‘toilet deserts.’

The number of public toilets in England has fallen, leaving just one public toilet for every 15,000 people. Photograph: iStock

While health leaders have warned that this is a risk to health – with half of people restricting their fluid intake when leaving the house – for workers, the problem is far more acute, says Drinkwater.

“The 14 per cent decline in public toilets is more than an inconvenience, it is a growing health and safety risk for the UK’s mobile workforce,” he told Safety Management magazine. 

“Millions of delivery drivers, engineers and field-based workers spend the majority of their day on the road, yet are expected to operate without reliable access to basic amenities. 

“In practice, this leads to workers restricting fluid intake, losing productive time searching for facilities, or being forced into unsafe and undignified alternatives. We are already seeing the consequences of this play out in public spaces.”

Under health and safety law, the duty to provide access to facilities including clean water, showers and toilets fall under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. 

Regulation 20 says that the dutyholder must provide “suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences (toilets) at readily accessible places.”

Thanks to campaigning by Truckers Toilets UK and others, these regulations were changed in 2017 to apply to places a driver delivers goods to, not just fixed places of work.

With the drastic decline in public provision, the employer's responsibility becomes more urgent to provide toilet access, such as via TAL Services which connects mobile workers to local welfare facilities using an app. Employers pay a small per-use fee, ensuring workers have reliable access while supporting local venues.

“Ultimately, this is not just a public infrastructure issue, it is a workforce welfare issue,” concludes Drinkwater. “Without practical solutions, we risk normalising conditions that would be unacceptable in any fixed workplace.”