Portable Sanitation Association International

ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT Portable Sanitation Association International News BIWEEKLY EDITION NOVEMBER 11, 2020 Page 9 Continued on page 22 Standards for a New Age in Portable Sanitation By Karleen Kos, PSAI's Executive Director "Here's something to consider. Have you ever seen a headline that says, 'Psychic Wins the Lottery'?" — Jay Leno Every five years the Portable Sanitation Association International (PSAI) is responsible for updating three American National Standards (ANSs) that pertain to our industry. The documents cover: • sanitation in places of employment, • non-sewered waste disposal systems, and • sanitation in fields and temporary labor camps. In reality, it takes input from many audiences to get standards right. The PSAI's role is to coordinate the process of gaining input and turning it into draft language. But our job doesn't end there. We cannot just declare that our preferred words and guidelines must be accepted by everyone. So, the PSAI also coordinates a process of voting and appeals to help ensure everyone with a direct and material interest is heard. Why does this matter to you? How does it make you money? Well, these standards provide support when you encourage customers to get the optimal number of restroom units, hand wash sinks, and service calls for their sites. The standards inform changes to federal and state rules, and they become the go-to resource when circumstances change. Like this year for example. Since Spring 2020, the portable sanitation industry has been seen in a different light. We are essential. We are more valued and, in general, we are being listened to more often. Who saw that coming as a back-handed blessing in the midst of a dreadful pandemic? Finally, people are seeing the value in hand washing. Finally, they are starting to "get" that a portable unit can be a decent, respected alternative to a sewered toilet if the cabin is tended more frequently. (Why anyone ever thought that hand washing wasn't important or that a portable unit needed to be minded any less often than restrooms with plumbing is still a mystery to me, but I digress.) In June the PSAI issued guidelines for portable sanitation on job sites during the time of COVID-19. Those recommendations call for more hand wash stations, more pumping, and more wipe downs than exist in any current standard or regulation. The big question now is: How should these temporary guidelines affect the more enduring standards I mentioned above? Should the established standards language remain once COVID-19 passes? Or should standards reflect the lessons this pandemic has taught us about hand washing, pumping, wipe downs, and more? You undoubtedly have ideas on this. So please get involved with updating the standards. You can: • Apply to be a part of the consensus body. This group includes people and entities directly and materially affected by the standards.

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