Issue link: http://psai.uberflip.com/i/1377370
ASSOCIATIONINSIGHT Portable Sanitation Association International News BIWEEKLY EDITION MAY 26, 2021 Page 4 Improved Standards for Portable Sanitations in ISO Standard…continued from page 2 Continued on page 5 Infectious diseases caused by a lack of sanitary facilities and poor hygiene are a serious problem. Mobile sanitary facilities can, however, provide a quick and uncomplicated remedy, especially if there is no access to permanently installed toilet facilities. What would your alternative be on a beach, fitness park, forest hiking trail, etc.? Mobile toilets must be used to prevent the spread of diseases and protect the environment. These sanitary facilities can usefully complement the existing network and close gaps in basic sanitation. You make an important contribution to maintaining health. The advantage of these mobile toilets is that they can be used flexibly as a temporary or seasonal facility. In particular, there is no need to build permanent toilet facilities where they are only needed temporarily. At the same time, the groundwater and the fauna and flora are protected from the entry of untreated wastewater. In Germany, the DIN standard EN16194 regulates minimum quality requirements for the number of booths required for public events. This ensures hygiene standards in places where there are no permanently installed sanitary facilities." Her proposed change to the language? "Delete the sentence." Giern officially represented Germany when she responded, and her words were supported by others in Europe. According to Sebastian Ortiz from Spain, who represented IPSO—the International Portable Sanitation Observatory—Giern's words reflected the agreement of his organization and its members as well. Imperfect Progress Following Giern's intervention, the drafting committee at ISO made changes to the proposed document text. While an improvement, the alterations were still some distance from language that was desirable. It read: "Chemical toilets should be open or closed depending to the risk assessment result." There were challenges with this text. First, it still suggested there might be instances when it was simply "too risky" to have portable restrooms open to the public. Second, it also failed to propose a less risky alternative that would not have created more public health problems than it solved if portable restrooms were not available where users needed them. Third, the language did not address who would be responsible for the proposed risk assessment or what criteria they would be using. More needed to be done. In the next iteration, IPSO proposed several language changes for the new standard including: • differentiating between requirements for "permanent infrastructure toilets and temporary infrastructure toilets" in use for tourists. • requiring a cleaning and disinfection plan that involved cleaning and pumping in the morning of each day, as well as additional cleaning throughout the day. • providing enough units to prevent long lines and allow for users to distance from one another • providing units operated by foot pumps Sandra Giern hosted the PSAI at BDE offices in Germany in 2015 where the organizations discussed topics of mutual interest. Sebastian Ortiz