Bathrooms are a necessity in all public spaces, so it’s important that your business is keeping up to date with what is and isn’t allowed. You should make sure that the correct facilities are available, and correctly labelled on the door to meet the legal requirements.
But what are the rules when it comes to gender neutral bathroom requirements? Here, we’ll discuss the latest developments.
Are Gendered Bathrooms Required by Law?
As of July 4th 2022, the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has decided that all new buildings will be fitted with single-sex bathrooms, marked male and female. This is not to say that gender neutral bathrooms are not allowed, as businesses can still have these for those who want to use them. They must, however, also have single-sex bathrooms available.
Gender neutral bathrooms should be provided, if there is space in the building, but not at the expense of single-sex bathrooms. Disabled toilet provisions have not been affected by these changes, and are allowed to remain as unisex.
The Difference Between Gender Neutral and Unisex Toilets
While easily conflated, gender neutral facilities and unisex toilets are not the same thing. Gender neutral facilities are those in which the waiting and hand-washing areas are shared by all genders. The unisex toilet, therefore, is the locked cubicle within the gender neutral facility.
Unisex toilets also cover bathrooms assigned to all genders where the hand-washing facilities are inside the individual cubicles.
Do We Need to Increase the Number of Female Toilets?
The 2022 review of gendered bathroom spaces also called for an increased number of female toilets. Due to the use of urinals, male bathrooms tend to see a faster transition of people. For the same number of people to use a female facility, more toilets would need to be in place.
By adding more cubicles to female bathroom facilities, there is hope to minimise the wait time and length of queues.
What Signs Should I Use for Gender Neutral Bathrooms?
If you’re choosing to include gender neutral or unisex bathrooms at your business, you need to correctly label them with the right signage. Just as you need to signpost male, female, or disabled toilets, unisex toilets should be correctly signed, too.
Most people choose to use a white pictogram for this, depicting both of the classic male and female silhouettes on a dark blue background. However, you can also opt for a neutral ‘bathroom’ sign which negates using gendered imagery at all.
Stay Up to Date with Label Source
At Label Source, we provide all the health and safety signs you need to make sure your business is in order, including public area signs so that you can have the correct types and amount of bathrooms.
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