By Dorothy Wigmore
We all use them, usually several times a day. They should be clean, free of “bugs,” well-ventilated, free of hazards, accessible to all—and working. Too often, they’re not.
Whether for staff or students, school bathrooms should be included in a health and safety committee’s walk-through. Hazards in these spaces can spill over to affect other parts of the building and its occupants.
What are common bathroom hazards?
Maintenance is a big issue. Think dirty surfaces, broken doors and locks, inadequate or missing supplies, flooring problems or no water. Toilets or urinals don’t work or overflow. Sewers back up. Dampness and/or high humidity from water leaks can lead to mold and become a breeding ground for pests.
In addition, toxic chemicals from cleaning and disinfecting, pest control, perfumes, urinal and other air freshener plug-ins, and other sources are potential issues.
Water and air quality are key potential problems. School water must be tested for lead but other hazards, like forever chemicals, also may be present.
Then there are the germs found in bathroom air and on surfaces.
“Bathrooms are likely the number one place for disease transmission, not just in healthcare, but in schools and other workplaces,” says Barry Hunt, Executive Director of the Canadian Coalition for Community and Healthcare Infection Reduction (CHAIR). “You aerosolize everything all the time in the bathroom.”
These bioaerosols—invisible airborne liquid particles of micro-organisms, fragments, toxins and waste products from living things and viruses (e.g., influenza, SARS-CoV-2) —get into the air when people breath, talk, cough, etc., or flush toilets. They can settle on surfaces, where touching also leaves behind germs. Sinks also collect harmful biofilms.
Accessibility matters too, especially for those for whom bathrooms and/or stalls and urinals are impossible or difficult to enter or use.
Student bathrooms also have become a place where students harass and bully others, vape, use drugs, drink alcohol, or use as an escape for other reasons. This leads to potential hazards for monitors or staff expected to enforce the rules.
If you’re an outdoor worker, teaching in a temporary facility, or bus driver, too often it’s a question of where to find a bathroom, and if it’s usable. Women can face more obstacles than men. Lack of easy bathroom access leads to short- and long-term health hazards, some serious (e.g., affecting kidneys, gastrointestinal system) and problems for pregnant and menstruating women, or those with incontinence, irritable bowel syndrome or taking some medications.
And solutions are …?
There are legal requirements about layout, maintenance and cleanliness. The state Department of Education’s school building health and safety evaluation document focuses mostly on basics. Bathrooms must be working, with hot and cold (or tepid) running water, hand soap and something to dry hands. Stalls must have doors.
In addition, the code states, “Toilet facilities shall be available within a reasonable distance not more than one floor away and shall be equipped with an exterior operable window sash or mechanical exhaust ventilation.”
Despite that rule, windows do little to replace air with infectious particles or other hazards, and nothing to filter it. Ventilation is needed, with fresh air brought in and extracted continuously. Filters also are needed to deal with both airborne particles and gases or vapors from vaping, perfumes or urinal plug-in deodorizers.
Cleaning and disinfecting can be done with microfiber cloths and low- or non-toxic products. Air fresheners should be removed given their toxic ingredients.
A fascinating future for school bathrooms
Ventilation and filtration may not be needed in the future. For example, CHAIR promotes Engineered Infection Prevention (EIP), a system of materials, technology and automation designed to continuously reduce exposure to harmful microorganisms below the minimum infectious dose.
Bathroom retrofits include antimicrobial surfaces (e.g., copper), self-cleaning sinks and a system of automatic door closers combined with sensors that determine when the space is empty, so auto-UV disinfection devices can “zap” it. This disinfects much more effectively and frequently than traditional cleaning and disinfecting practices.
“Auto-UV will get rid of most of your problem (of bioaerosols); you don’t have to do much else with the ventilation because you’ve zapped everything in the air and on the surfaces,” Hunt says.
Copper and some other materials for surfaces are effective antimicrobials that continuously deactivate many viruses and bacteria. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has registered copper for this purpose.
What can committees do?
- Include bathrooms in membership health and safety surveys, and follow up on issues raised, including student behaviors, advocating for short-, medium- and long-term solutions.
- Investigate the use of cleaning and disinfecting products used in bathrooms, advocating for substitution with the least toxic methods.
- Like other health and safety issues, push to be brought into planning and purchasing processes in time to advocate for longer-term solutions, including UV disinfection and copper or other antimicrobial surfaces, especially when renovations/additions are planned.
- Work to get easy bathroom access for bus drivers and others without it.
Resources
ASHRAE
“ASHRAE publishes Standard 241, Control of infectious aerosols”
Canadian Coalition for Community and Healthcare Infection Reduction
New Jersey Department of Education
“Health and Safety Evaluation of School Buildings Checklist 2025-2026″
NJEA
“What’s in your water? Part 2: Getting things fixed, reducing toxins”
New Jersey Work Environment Council,
NJEA and Healthy Schools Network,