Commercial Washroom Hygiene Checklist for 2026

For business owners and facilities managers, ensuring your organisation’s washrooms are in order is an essential task for the start of the year. A poorly maintained washroom can damage employee morale, reduce customer trust, and risk regulatory compliance. This washroom hygiene guide serves as a practical checklist to help you meet regulatory requirements and provide a clean, welcoming environment for both staff and customers.

Legal Compliance

✔️ Compliance with Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992

• Employers must provide “suitable and sufficient sanitary conveniences”.
• The HSE guidance INDG293 requires employers to provide appropriate toilet and washing facilities for employees.
• This includes “a means of disposing of sanitary dressings”.

✔️ Complaince with the Environmental Protection Act 1990

• Prohibits the unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment, or disposal of waste.
• Establishes a duty of care for businesses and individuals handling waste.
• Sanitary waste must be handled properly and disposed of using the proper licenses, permits, and documentation.

✔️ Appropriate workplace facilities

• Facilities must be suitable for all workers, including those with disabilities.
• This includes “reasonable adjustments for workers with disabilities, for example, a worker with prostate cancer”.
• Washrooms should be clean, well-ventilated, and equipped with adequate handwashing facilities.

Adequate toilet and handwasrhing facilities are not only a legal requirement, but are also vital to the comfort, wellbeing, and confidence of employees and customers.

Washroom Hygiene Essentials

✔️ Facilities are clean, hygienic, and fully stocked

✔️ Adequate handwashing facilities, including:

• Sinks with running water.
• Hygienic hand-drying solutions.

Our automatic, no-touch dryers deliver high-speed drying in 8 – 10 seconds while using low-energy technology to reduce environmental impact.

✔️ Fully stocked soap dispensers

Discover our robust, non-drip dispensers, available with liquid, foam, or antibacterial soap.

Effective handwashing is essential for maintaining hygiene and preventing the spread of germs. Thorough hand washing remains one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of colds and flu.

✔️ Hand sanitiser stations in areas where soap and water are unavailable

Our dispensers contain gel with 70% alcohol content.

✔️ Toilet seat and surface sanitisation options

• Toilet seat sanitisers improve personal hygiene and increase confidence in the venue.

View our options, available in white or chrome-effect finishes.

These essentials form the foundation of a clean, hygienic washroom. This will help to minimise the spread of germs and improve the overall user experience.

Feminine Hygiene

✔️ Sanitary bins in all cubicles

Our units provide a safe, hygienic, and cost-effective way of disposing of sanitary waste.

✔️ Professional waste disposal service

Providing period-friendly toilets is essential to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment. For women, sanitary bins are not just commonplace, they are considered to be an essential.

✔️ Sanitary product vending machines

Cathedral Hygiene’s units offer brand leading products, including Tampax and Always.

Vending machines ensure that your customers and staff always have access to essential feminine hygiene products when they need them.

Gent’s Washrooms

✔️ Urinal maintenance, including sanitisers, urinal screens, and water management systems

Our urinal sanitisers reduce the build-up of uric salt and limescale, leaving urinals smelling clean and fresh.

Urinal screens are rubber mats with a scented core that sit within the urinal and trap debris such as chewing gum, paper, and other refuse.

✔️ Male sanitary bins for disposal of incontinence pads

✔️ Clear signage to show where facilities are available

It is a common misconception that bins are only required in women’s bathrooms, however access to adequate sanitary facilities is essential for men’s bathrooms too. Many men rely on incontinence products due to medical conditions such as prostate cancer, so providing appropriate facilities in all washrooms is essential.

Air Care

✔️ Adequate ventilation

✔️ A fresh fragrance, using:

• Automatic air fresheners

Our aerosol-based air fresheners offer long-lasting fragrances with rotating scent options to prevent fragrance fatigue.

• Propellant-free air fresheners

Our V-Air is an environmentally friendly solution to keeps your workplace smelling clean and fresh.

A pleasant-smelling washroom plays a crucial role in creating a positive impression, influencing both customer perceptions and employee morale.

✔️ Professional air cleaning units

Our air cleaning units neutralise malodours to create an outdoor fresh atmosphere.

Maintaining good Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) is essential for supporting a comfortable and productive environment in an organisation.

Baby Changing Facilities for Customer-Facing Businesses

✔️ Baby changing units

We offer both horizontal and vertical wall-mounted units that fold out for convenience.

✔️ Nappy bins

Our nappy bins feature rotating openings to prevent malodours from escaping.

✔️ Surface sanitisers

• Allow parents and carers to disinfect surfaces before use, increasing confidence and comfort in your facilities.

✔️ Facilities available in both male and female washrooms or accessible bathrooms

If your business is customer-facing and you expect families with young children to use your facilities, providing baby changing amenities for all parents and carers – regardless of gender – is essential to presenting a caring, family-friendly image.

Servicing and Maintenance Schedules

✔️ Professional, consistent servicing by a washroom hygiene provider

• Bins are emptied on a fixed schedule.
• Cathedral Hygiene’s sanitary disposal service ensures that bins are emptied at least every four weeks (13 services per year).
• Consumables such as soap and air fresheners remain fully stocked.

✔️ Documented evidence, including service slips and waste transfer notes

• Waste transfer notes confirm that offensive waste is disposed of safely, hygienically, and in compliance with regulations.

✔️ Compliance with environmental and waste regulations

A dedicated service provider gives you peace of mind that your washroom hygiene needs are being taken care of. Services are carried out with minimum disruption to your business and solutions can be specially tailored to your needs. This allows you to focus on your business without worrying about overflowing bins or empty dispensers.

Environmental Responsibility

✔️ Reduce water usage through urinal water management systems

We can install a water manager for your business that uses a valve and sensor system to regulate water flow efficiently.

✔️ Energy-efficient hand dryers

• High-speed hand dryers consume less energy and reduce paper waste compared to paper towels.

✔️ Correct disposal of non-biodegradable waste

A ‘convential’ menstrual pad contains up to 90% plastic and does not break down easily. Therefore it is important that they are disposed of correctly to reduce environmental impact. Feminine hygiene products such as tampons or pads should never be flushed, yet they are one of the most frequently flushed items. They should always be disposed of in a bin, preferably a discreet, hygienic sanitary bin with a lid, that is serviced by a licensed waste carrier.

Final Checks

✔️ Is your washroom fully compliant with regulations?

✔️ Are you meeting accessibility requirements?

✔️ Do you have a contracted provider with documented servicing?

✔️ Are your facilities consistently hygienic and clean?

✔️ Have you considered the environmental impact of your washroom?

Create a Better Experience for Employees and Visitors

Meeting washroom regulations don’t need to be complex or time-consuming. One of our friendly team members will work with you to ensure you have the complete range of workplace washroom solutions, tailored to your business needs.

Speak to our team today and get complete peace of mind.