A workplace has one toilet, a small sink and a kettle in the corner. Is that enough? The answer depends on how many people use the premises, the work they do, who needs access and whether the facilities remain usable throughout every shift. Workplace welfare facilities are not optional extras: they are part of the basic conditions needed for safe, healthy work.
Start with the workplace, workforce and pattern of use
The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 apply to most workplaces and require suitable and sufficient welfare provision. HSE groups this around toilets and washing, drinking water, clothing storage and changing, and somewhere to rest and eat meals. The assessment should reflect the people actually present—not only the number on the payroll.
Count workers on the busiest shift, visitors who work at the premises, shared occupiers and foreseeable contractors. Consider opening hours, gender, disability, pregnancy or nursing, dirty or wet work, PPE, food-contamination risks and whether facilities are locked, distant or routinely out of service. A theoretically available washroom is not adequate if the route is inaccessible or production arrangements prevent people using it.
HSE also states that visiting delivery drivers must have access to welfare facilities at premises they visit as part of their work. A sign saying ‘staff only’ is not a reliable control if it leaves a visiting worker without reasonable toilet and washing access.
HSE: workplace facilities overview ↗ · HSE: Workplace Regulations guidance (L24) ↗
Provide enough toilets and washbasins
Sanitary conveniences must be suitable, sufficient and readily accessible. They should be clean, orderly, lit and ventilated. Separate facilities should be provided for men and women unless each toilet is in a separate room with a door that can be secured from inside. Provision must also be suitable for disabled workers, including agreed reasonable adjustments where needed.
HSE's baseline table for mixed use or women-only facilities gives one toilet and one washbasin for 1–5 people; two of each for 6–25; three for 26–50; four for 51–75; and five for 76–100. For men-only facilities, HSE provides a separate toilet-and-urinal table. Numbers are a starting point: layout, peak demand and the time needed to reach the facilities still matter.
Washing facilities should be near every toilet and any required changing rooms. They need clean hot and cold—or warm—water, soap or another suitable cleaning agent, and a way to dry hands. Basins must be large enough for hands and, where necessary, forearms. Showers may be needed where the work is particularly dirty or there is a health reason.
HSE: toilets and washing facilities ↗ · Regulation 20: sanitary conveniences ↗ · Regulation 21: washing facilities ↗
Make drinking water genuinely available
Employers must provide an adequate supply of wholesome drinking water that is readily accessible. Provide suitable cups or drinking vessels unless people can drink easily from a water jet. Mark the supply where this is necessary to prevent confusion with water that is not safe to drink.
Adequacy is not only about having a tap somewhere on site. Consider the number of people, work rate, temperature, shift length and travel time to the supply. In a warm warehouse, workshop or outdoor operation, locate water so employees can use it without unreasonable delay and keep a contingency for a supply failure.
Do not position drinking points where contamination is foreseeable. Keep dispensers, reusable containers and outlets clean, and include them in the workplace inspection and maintenance system. Where stored water is used, manage turnover and hygiene rather than assuming a sealed-looking container remains suitable indefinitely.
Regulation 22: drinking water ↗ · Related guide: workplace temperature →
Separate work clothing from personal clothing where needed
Suitable storage is required for clothing that is not worn during work and for special work clothing that is not taken home. Where necessary to protect health or prevent damage, keep work clothing separate from personal items. Provide drying arrangements so wet clothing does not remain damp in a closed locker.
Changing facilities are required where people must wear special clothing and cannot reasonably be expected to change elsewhere for reasons of health or propriety. They should offer suitable privacy, seating and secure storage, with separate facilities—or separate use—for men and women where necessary.
For work involving hazardous substances, biological contamination or heavy soiling, welfare arrangements should connect with the COSHH assessment and laundering controls. Taking contaminated overalls home or storing them beside clean clothing can move the exposure beyond the task itself.
Regulation 23: clothing accommodation ↗ · Regulation 24: changing facilities ↗ · Related guide: COSHH assessment →
Provide a clean place to rest and eat
Suitable and sufficient rest facilities must be readily accessible. Where meals are regularly eaten at work, provide suitable eating facilities. If food could otherwise be contaminated, workers need a clean area separated from the hazard, with appropriate washing arrangements nearby.
The space should have enough suitable seating and remain usable during the busiest break. HSE guidance also identifies a means of heating food or water for hot drinks. A desk beside dusty production, a vehicle cab used between deliveries or an overcrowded locker room may not provide a suitable rest-and-meal space.
Pregnant workers and nursing mothers require suitable rest facilities. Depending on the circumstances, this may mean a private room where someone can lie down. Consider accessibility, comfort, privacy and safe arrangements for expressing and storing milk where relevant, rather than treating the general canteen as the automatic answer.
Check capacity, access and contamination controls in the real workplace.
HR + SAFETY can review workplace welfare arrangements alongside your site inspection, risk assessments and maintenance responsibilities.
Discuss a workplace welfare reviewTemporary, remote and shared sites still need a plan
At temporary or remote workplaces, provide flushing toilets and running water so far as reasonably practicable. If that is not possible, suitable alternatives can include chemical toilets and water containers. HSE says public toilets should be a last resort—not the default because they are cheaper when better on-site provision is reasonably practicable.
Agree responsibility in shared premises: who cleans, stocks, unlocks, inspects and repairs each facility? The employer should verify the arrangement rather than assume the landlord or principal contractor has dealt with it. Record faults and provide a temporary alternative when a breakdown materially reduces provision.
Construction sites are subject to specific welfare requirements under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 rather than the general Workplace Regulations. Other excluded or specialist workplaces can also have separate rules, so identify the correct regime before relying on this general checklist.
HSE: welfare at work guidance ↗ · CDM 2015 Schedule 2: construction welfare ↗
Workplace welfare facilities checklist
Legal requirements and official guidance were checked on 25 September 2026. Industry-specific duties can add to or replace parts of this general regime, so confirm the applicable rules for construction sites, ships, mines and other specialist workplaces.
- Count everyone expected to use the facilities on the busiest shift.
- Check that toilets and washbasins meet HSE's baseline numbers and are readily accessible.
- Provide disability access and reasonable adjustments for individual workers.
- Keep toilets ventilated, lit, clean, lockable and properly stocked.
- Provide warm running water, soap and effective hand drying.
- Add showers where dirty work or health risks make them necessary.
- Keep wholesome drinking water accessible and protected from contamination.
- Provide suitable storage, drying and changing arrangements for work clothing.
- Separate clean and contaminated clothing where the risk requires it.
- Provide a clean, sufficient rest and meal area for every operating period.
- Make suitable rest provision for pregnant workers and nursing mothers.
- Give visiting drivers reasonable toilet and washing access.
- Name who cleans, inspects, restocks and escalates defects.
- Reassess after workforce, shift, layout or work-activity changes.
Welfare provision must work in practice, not merely exist on a floor plan. Size it for peak use, make it accessible, separate contamination where needed and maintain it through every shift.
This guide provides general information for UK employers. It is not legal advice and should not replace advice based on the facts of a specific matter.