Get Flushed Campaign

Posted on April 22, 2021 11:39 am

In conjunction with the BC Building Trades, we have developed a campaign to provide wash cars on construction sites and move away from the current industry trend of porta-potty usage.

There is nothing more important to us than your health, safety and well-being.

Membership in IBEW 993 means you earn a livable wage, have a robust benefit plan and can access services like individual and family counselling when you need to. It means that you are building a pension to help sustain the lifestyle you desire in retirement. And it also means you have a staunch and committed advocate representing your interests within our industry.

That’s why we have launched a campaign to correct a glaring shortcoming in B.C.’s existing health and safety regulations, and that is the accepted sanitation practices in the construction industry. We are calling on the occupational health and safety regulators at WorkSafeBC to support flush toilets on construction sites. You can read our report to WorkSafeBC here: https://getflushed.ca/public/report.pdf

For too long, construction workers have been forced to use poorly maintained and poorly supplied portable toilets and inadequate washing facilities. It’s become an accepted aspect of working in our industry.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has not only highlighted the need for our regulators to protect the health and safety of the people doing the essential work of building and maintaining our province, is has demonstrated that the industry itself can change, can do better, and can keep workers safe.

In B.C., regulations already require that workers must have access to plumbed washrooms, and that they must be kept in clean and sanitary condition, except when plumbed facilities cannot be provided “because of the nature of the workplace.” Given the widespread availability and cost-effectiveness of trailered, plumbed washrooms, and the health and hygiene risks associated with portable toilets, we be-lieve that employers should not be automatically exempted from providing plumbed washrooms just because the workplace is a construction site.

You deserve better.

Add your voice to the campaign by visiting https://getflushed.ca/