5 Reasons to Equip Your Guard Shack with a Restroom

You might need a guard shack with restroom to keep your security force functioning at its best. It’s true. Why? Well, it’s not glamorous, but the fact is that everybody has to use the bathroom sometimes. Even your security guards, your parking lot attendants, and other similar workers who might be using the guard booth as their center of activity. In the modern world, a restroom is an expected comfort on the job.

You don’t believe it? You think a guardhouse with toilet is a frivolous expense that you don’t need to bother with, because there’s a restroom someplace nearby? Well you may want to think again, because the fact is that buying a booth for your security guards that has a bathroom installed in it can save you time, money, and headaches later.

In fact, following are 5 reasons why you need a prefab guardhouse with a restroom:

• Having a clean restroom available to your employees within their security booth is simply the professional, modern, tactful thing to do. You need give your guards a clean, safe, well-equipped place to answer the call of nature. And remember that in the United States, OSHA laws require employees to be able to take bathroom breaks as needed.
• A well-equipped, modern restroom adds to employee satisfaction. Today's security guards are expected to always be on duty, but to help them do their job well they need to have basic creature comforts, and this sometimes includes a bathroom.
• Including a restroom in your guard booth ensures that the booth is not unmanned for long periods of time. You do not want your guard to have leave the booth to manage their body, particularly if the guard shack is located far from a well-equipped restroom. Imagine a booth that sits even a football field away from the nearest bathroom; it can easily take the guard 20 minutes to walk to the bathroom, do what they need to do, then walk back. That is 20 minutes where your booth is empty and your property not properly secured.

When you think about what is a guard shack, and you realize your guards need to be comfortable and able to do an optimal job, having a prefab restroom for them to use is key.

Having a restroom in your booth can be especially valuable if you have just one guard on duty at a time, whom you do not want leaving their post unattended as they walk to their restroom break. Similarly, it can be useful if you have more than one guard, but they are located on very different parts of the property where to have one cover for another would simply leave another zone unattended.

And what about communications systems and security monitoring? What use is video monitoring equipment if your guard is gone for 25 minutes on a restroom run and not there to monitor the video?

If you have a guardhouse with a built-in restroom, the guard could be gone just 2 or 3 minutes while they are actually in the restroom – that’s up to 90% less time spent away!

• It’s so easy to get and maintain a guardhouse with a built-in toilet booth, there’s simply no reason not to. There are many guard booths available, with built in restrooms from reputable suppliers that can be delivered to your site quickly. We are not talking about a guard outhouse with restroom, some small and dingy port-a-potty type toilet. We are talking about nice, clean, modern, well-equipped, full restrooms that you just hook up to your running water and drain pipes.
• A restroom in a guard shack can be used for other employees, and even as a customer service for patrons, if you want. That means you can get double duty, and make even more people happy, all by ordering a prefab guard booth that includes a restroom.

Maybe You Don’t Need a Restroom

As you can see, there are valid, business reasons – as well as humanitarian reasons – to purchase a guard booth where one of the specifications is a preinstalled restroom. But then again, are there reasons why you don’t need to invest in a restroom? Of course there are; everything has pros and cons.

Here are a few reasons NOT to choose a guard shack with a restroom:

• They are more expensive than a shack without a restroom. While guard shacks come in a variety of sizes, the entire portable building will need to be larger if it is to include a bathroom, and therefore pricier. Though to be honest, it’s not that much more expensive.
• A bathroom takes up space that could otherwise be used for storage or more staff. Depending on what your needs are, whether space is at a premium, you may or may not want to dedicate space to a bathroom. In addition, a restroom increases the outside footprint of the building, meaning you need more space to install the booth.
• Restrooms are not always required by law. For example, while OSHA does require that employees have easy access to bathrooms, OSHA does make provisions that employees who are working in an area that is not normally used or a mobile workforce do not have to have toilets on site as long as they have reasonable transportation to a bathroom that is not too far away.

A Bit more to Think About

Hopefully, the above pros and cons have helped you decide if you need a restroom in your guard shack. But if you are still unsure, consider the following:

• Many companies opt to add bathrooms in their shacks. Guardian Booth, for example, has delivered guard booths with pre-installed restrooms to construction sites, a water treatment facility, and a raceway!
• Most booths with restrooms hook right into the water and sewer services on site. Laws in your area may require that a licensed plumber make the connection, but they are easy to make yourself if allowed.
• When your booth is manned is something to consider. Is your guard booth manned overnight? This might mean that it is harder for employees to take bathroom breaks without a prefab restroom because the buildings that they might otherwise enter to use the facilities are locked.

Of course, guard shacks with a restroom come in all shapes, sizes, colors, styles, doors, windows, accessories and more. Though usually a 6 foot by 8 foot both is the minimum size you will want if you are including a restroom.

Most guard booths with prefabricated restrooms are intended to be relatively permanent installations. This is because they need to be hooked up to plumbing systems. There needs to be a water supply line through either an existing well system or municipal water services to feed water into the sink and the toilet filling tank. Then, there needs to be a drainpipe to drain the sink water and the toilet water, draining it either into municipal sewers or a pre-built, onsite septic system.

These plumbing systems can be designed with quick disconnects beneath the unit to allow for infrequent relocation. Other options can be explored, based on need, including an electrically powered incinerating toilet or a composting toilet, but these are generally intended for very remote areas where there are no systems available and are meant for very light use only. Traditional plumbing connections are recommended.

Most guard booths with prefab restrooms arrive with the plumbing fully assembled and ready to connect. This means the toilet, sink, and all accessories are already installed, with open pipes hanging down from the building, ready for connection. Booths with restroom typically include toilet, sink, light, toilet paper holder, and towel bar.

Guard booths with restrooms can be ordered in a variety of colors. They can include various windows, doors, lighting, and more. You are limited only by your needs, imagination, and budget.

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