Hi

In the Welfare regs it states:

(2) Without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (1), washing facilities shall not be suitable unless—

(a)they are provided in the immediate vicinity of every sanitary convenience, whether or not provided elsewhere as well;

(b)they are provided in the vicinity of any changing rooms required by these Regulations, whether or not provided elsewhere as well;

The use of the work "vicinity" is interesting. "Immediate vicinity" I would suggest is within a few metres of the sanitary convenience, but how much further would "vicinity" be? 10m, 20m 50m more? There has to be a distance limit, but it would be interesting to see how that changes with perception

​​​​​​​Regards

Thank you. That clarifies "immediate vicinity", its the [non-immediate] vicinity where I am seeking perception

Comes down to site assessment given the definition is "in the area close to a place".

The room adjacent to a changing room or along a short corridor would be in the vicinity wheras heading out the door and across the car-park is not.

(a)they are provided in the immediate vicinity of every sanitary convenience, whether or not provided elsewhere as well;

Your answer on immediate addresses accidents in the toilet

(b)they are provided in the vicinity of any changing rooms required by these Regulations, whether or not provided elsewhere as well;

My answer was regarding the generality given you had addressed immediacy

Rather than taking a literal approach where we simply try work out the meaning of the words let’s have a go at a purposive approach, where we look at the aim of the piece of legislation.

This is linked to provision  of changing room and why does the law require changing rooms? It could be that when at work people get covered on muck which could be hazardous, you really want to be able to wash before changing out of your work clothes. The COSHH regs specifically  mention  hygiene provision  as a control. So if you decide that you need  a changing room you also need some where to wash that is as close as reasonably practical be otherwise it defeats the object having a changing room: Next door to the changing room then!

How far would you want people walking, using door handles and handrails etc and then just giving up on washing their hands  after using a toilet ?