Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 25th April 2024 Issue no. 1111
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I was chatting to the British Toilet Association's Ray Martin at the London Cleaning Show in the Spring and he reminded me that the Association was celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. As someone who'd been a flag flyer for the public toilet movement for many years, I was delighted to serve on the original Council and far from 'knowing it all', I learnt a lot about the technicalities involved in designing appropriate facilities and keeping them safe and hygienic whilst complying with regulations, as well as the extra problems faced by the disabled and the elderly. It didn't take me long to realise that we were facing a huge battle in not only trying to improve public toilet provision for all but also in persuading local authorities that there are important benefits to be had from providing decent public toilets around the clock and that any benefits of permanently closing facilities and selling them to housing developers are short-lived.
Congratulations to the BTA then for all the good work it's continued to do over the last couple of decades!
My interest in toilets is obviously well known, since news of a new design of toilet seat has come at me from all angles this week and I posted a link on our Facebook page a couple of days ago while I investigated it. If you haven't come across the news yet, you can read more below, but in a nutshell, it's regarding a toilet seat that has been designed to slope downwards at an angle with a view to both improving the health of the user along with reducing the cost to employers of paying staff to misuse the toilet during working hours, by making the process more uncomfortable. When I say 'misuse' I don't mean graffiti and other vandalism but am referring to those who use their toilet breaks to sit and text friends and family, surf the Web or spend time on social media.
I've had a long chat with Ray Martin about some obvious benefits of the design that escaped me at first glance and will be running an article on the concept in January. In the meantime, I'd love to know what you think about it!
This is our last issue of Cleanzine before the holidays so let me wish you a safe and enjoyable Christmas and New Year. We'll be back on 9th January.
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Yours,
19th December 2019