Advantage Good Agricultural Practices Manual

2.3 Toilet and Hand Washing Facilities

If clean, well-stocked and properly functioning toilet and hand washing facilities are not available, workers, visitors and customers can cause contamination.

This Good Agricultural Practice applies to:

Farms where milk, eggs, honey, fruit or vegetables are produced. It does not include personal residence facilities.

What needs to be done

Make sure workers, visitors and customers have easy access to clean,well-stocked, properly functioning toilet and hand washing facilities.

How to do it

Number of toilet and hand washing facilities

• When determining the number of toilets and hand washing facilities to have on site, take into consideration the
  • Number of workers
  • Capacity of the toilet (for portable toilets).
• Consider a general rule of thumb of 1 toilet per 25 workers.
• Consider using portable toilet and hand washing facilities if permanent facilities are not feasible or are not available.

Location

• Locate a sufficient number of toilet and hand washing facilities in areas where they can be easily accessed (within 400 metres of a work site or as the farm landscape allows) but where they do not pose a risk of food contamination (e.g. away from a water source or harvesting, handling, storage, packaging or shipping areas).

Maintenance

• Make sure toilet and hand washing facilities are properly designed, constructed, maintained and ventilated, and kept clean. For more information, refer to 5.1 Cleaning and Sanitizing and in this manual 2.2 Drainage and Sewage Systems
• Stock toilet and hand washing facilities with adequate supplies of soap, potable water, hand sanitizing lotions or wipes, toilet paper and single use towels. Check facilities frequently to make sure they are well stocked.
• Provide durable and cleanable waste containers. Collect and dispose of trash regularly so it doesn't become a contamination hazard.
• When sanitation facilities are serviced, take precautions to ensure that waste does not drain into fields or run off into a water source.
• Consider what to do in the event of a spill from a portable toilet to prevent cross-contamination of food or production areas.

In case of emergency

Prepare a list of plumbers and/or portable toilet and hand washing facility rental companies in case there is a need for emergency repair or replacement of the facilities.

Records to keep

Toilet and Hand Washing Facilities Cleaning Record. We have provided a record template for your use in the Training and Support Tools section. A printable version is also available.

If you need an audit

Be prepared for the auditor to:

• Observe whether a sufficient number of toilets and hand washing facilities are available
• Observe whether portable toilet and hand washing facilities are easily accessed and do not pose a risk of contamination
• Observe whether toilet and hand washing facilities are adequately stocked and clean
• Possibly review Toilet and Hand Washing Facilities Cleaning Records
  
  

Laws and regulations that apply

There are few laws that impact on food safety requiring toilet facilities and hand washing areas in agricultural production. Generally, these requirements are laid out in laws regarding the processing of meat, fish and other food products, including egg-grading stations, which are outside the scope of this document.

The Food Premises Regulations under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 562-Food Premises Regulations specify requirements for toilet facilities and hand washing areas. However, s. 3 provides that farms selling only their own farm products in the form of honey, maple syrup or unprocessed fruit, vegetables or grains are exempt from the requirements of s. 20 (1) (b) and (c) and s. 68-82 of the act, which detail requirements for sanitary facilities and other items, where they meet the following requirements:

• Only single-service articles are used.
• A supply of single-use commercially packaged moist hand towelettes is provided for the personal hygiene of the employees.
• The eating or drinking area, if it exists, does not exceed 56 square metres.

Did you know?

Providing clean and readily accessible toilet and hand washing facilities is as important to on-farm food safety as is training workers on proper hand washing techniques.

Proceed to 2.4 Farm Building Pest Management