S.I. No. 32/1959 - Office Premises (Sanitary Conveniences) Regulations, 1959.

S.I. No. 32 of 1959.

OFFICE PREMISES (SANITARY CONVENIENCES) REGULATIONS, 1959.

I, SEÁN F. LEMASS, Minister for Industry and Commerce, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by subsection (2) of section 13 of the Office Premises Act, 1958 (No. 3 of 1958), after consultation with the Minister for Health and having referred the proposals to which effect is given by the following regulations to the Advisory Council, hereby make the following regulations :

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Office Premises (Sanitary Conveniences) Regulations, 1959.

(2) These Regulations shall come into operation on the 1st day of September, 1959.

2. (1) Subject to paragraph (2) of this Regulation, in every office in which males are employed there shall be provided at least one suitable sanitary convenience (not being a convenience suitable merely as a urinal) for every twenty-five males.

(2) If the number of males employed in any such office exceeds one hundred and sufficient urinal accommodation is also provided, it shall be sufficient if there is provided one such convenience as aforesaid for every twenty-five males up the first one hundred and one for every forty males thereafter.

3. In every office in which females are employed there shall be provided, if the number of females employed is—

(a) forty-five or less, at least one suitable sanitary convenience for every fifteen females,

(b) more than forty-five, at least one suitable sanitary convenience, for every fifteen females up to the first forty-five and at least one for every twenty-five females thereafter.

4. In calculating the number of sanitary conveniences to be provided under these Regulations, any odd number of persons less than fifteen, twenty-five or forty shall be reckoned, as the case may be, as fifteen, twenty-five or forty.

5. (1) The sanitary conveniences shall be ventilated directly to the outer atmosphere or by means of a suitable and effective method of mechanical ventilation.

(2) Effective provision shall be made for lighting the sanitary conveniences.

(3) Every sanitary convenience (other than a convenience suitable merely as a urinal) shall be under cover and so partitioned off as to secure privacy and shall have a proper door and fastenings.

(4) Every urinal shall be under cover and shall be so placed or so screened as not to be visible from other parts of the office where persons work or pass.

(5) Where a piped water supply is available, all sanitary conveniences shall be individually flushed water closets, except urinals which shall have suitable flushing arrangements.

(6) The sanitary conveniences shall not communicate with any room in which persons are employed except through an intervening ventilated space.

6. (1) The sanitary conveniences shall be so placed as to be conveniently accessible to the persons employed at all times while they are in the office.

(2) In the case of an office which is, or is part of, a multi-storey building, the sanitary conveniences shall not be deemed to be conveniently accessible to the persons employed if the conveniences are situated at a greater distance than one floor above or below the place at which the persons who have recourse to them are normally employed, unless there is a passenger lift continuously available during working hours which may be used by them for the purpose of proceeding to and from the floor on which the conveniences are situated.

7. Where persons of both sexes are employed (except in the case of an office where the only persons employed and having the use of the sanitary conveniences are members of the same family)—

(a) the sanitary conveniences shall afford separate accommodation for persons of each sex ; and

(b) the sanitary conveniences for each sex shall be indicated by a suitable notice.

GIVEN under my Official Seal, this 28th day of February, 1959.

(Signed) SEÁN F. LEMASS,

Minister for Industry and Commerce.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

The purpose of this Order is to prescribe a standard of sanitary conveniences in offices.