If you own a business and are responsible for designing its restroom, then there are several things that you need to consider.
One of the most obvious considerations should be safety.
If your business’s restroom poses a risk to the health of those that use it, then not only could somebody hurt themselves because of you, but you could also be taken to court and sued for negligence.
Another thing to bear in mind is practicality.
If your business’s restroom is impractical, you could actually put customers off of doing business with you.
This article will delve further into this subject, offering a few tips you can use to design your business’s restroom:
Safety Bars
Safety bars are an absolute necessity if you want your business’s restroom to be safe for the people that use it.
This is especially true if your business is frequented by older people, who may have mobility issues.
You can easily install grab bars in every toilet cubicle and by urinals.
Safety bars can be used by people to support themselves or stop themselves from falling.
Make sure that if you do install safety bars that you sanitize them several times a day.
Maximising Space
Another thing that requires serious consideration is your restroom’s space. If your business’s restroom is cramped, restroom users will have to push past each other.
Being that we are in the middle of a pandemic that’s showing no signs of slowing, this would be extremely dangerous.
If you cannot provide enough space for restroom users to freely move around without bumping into each other, then you should make your restroom single-use only.
A spacious bathroom is not only comfortable, but it is also very safe and will prevent people from becoming sick.
Cubicle Privacy
Cubicle privacy is something else that requires a lot of thought. Thankfully, with the help of cubicle manufacturers, cubicle privacy is not that much of a problem.
As long as you have money to invest, acquiring cubicles that allow for privacy should not be difficult at all.
When you are buying cubicles with privacy in mind, buy ones that are tall so that people cannot look over, and ones that do not have gaps underneath the doors.
Gaps underneath cubicles doors can make people feel very uncomfortable.
They are also dangerous and encourage theft. If somebody places their bag on the floor, a thief can easily reach under and take it.
Proper Sanitation
When you are designing your business’s restroom, think about how easy your design will be to clean.
Bathrooms need to be cleaned several times a day.
If you include strangely shaped appliances, deep sinks, and large toilets, you complicate and prolong the cleaning process.
Make sure to keep your bathroom as efficient as possible, for this reason.
Read the reviews of each product you are considering buying so that you can figure out what other people have to say about them.
Sanitation is very important, especially when you consider the ongoing pandemic.
Make sure to also include soap dispensers and antibacterial hand gel dispensers.
Touchless Entry
If you have a lot of money to invest, then you could consider investing in touchless entry/exit doors.
One of the most uncomfortable parts of using a public restroom is after you have washed your hands, having to touch the door handle to get out, knowing that at least one person who hasn’t washed their hands has touched it.
Touchless entry doors simply require you to put your hand in front of it to open.
They have built-in motion scanners that activate when they detect a person’s hand.
These doors can be very expensive but are well worth it if you care about your customer’s safety.
Smart Devices
While on the subject of touchless entry, let’s touch upon smart devices in general.
Smart devices are a great investment for your business’s restroom.
Smart devices can be expensive, however, so they are not suited to everybody. Some devices that you should invest in include:
- Smart sinks are, like touchless entry doors, motion-activated. Nobody much likes having to touch a soaking wet sink handle after other people have touched it.
- Smart hand dryers are also motion detected, eliminating the need for people to press buttons to activate them. This promotes cleanliness and hygiene.
- Smart toilets, which first rose to popularity in Japan, are extremely popular, and very effective. These toilets are also very clean. While expensive, they are a fantastic investment.
If you are designing a commercial restroom, then there are a lot of things for you to consider.
The most important element of designing a restroom is planning.
If you don’t take time to plan out each element of your restroom, then they will be neither practical nor safe.