As the rest of our world continues to modernize, the humble bathroom will soon be joining in. Bathrooms have certainly seen some upgrades over the past decades, the most common in public bathrooms being motion sensor technology. And while the public washrooms of the future will continue to focus on sanitation, there is also great focus on sustainability, safety and accessibility.
Optimizing Cleanliness
Regardless of your business, the washroom is the one room in the building that will be used by everyone from employees, to customers, to delivery people and even sometimes a stranger. In this sense, the bathroom definitely shakes hands with all kinds of people. In order to maintain a clean and healthy workplace, keeping the bathroom sanitary should always be a top priority. In the past decade, we’ve seen how public bathrooms have undergone the motion-sensor transformation, where toilets, sinks, soap dispensers and hand dryers are all touchless as a means of keeping things sanitary.
Continually fine-tuning these technologies and applying them in all public washrooms – from offices to daycares to gyms – certainly helps eliminate the spread of germs. And sanitation isn’t only about germs. Keeping a clean bathroom also means one void of destruction and vandalism. The use of liquid resistant paints, or coats of paint that turn walls into easy-to-clean surfaces will certainly help maintain the clean environment. Furthermore, ensuring that your business maintains these washrooms with regular cleanings and check-ins will only help keep the sanitation up.
Mother Earth Comes First
As with everything in the 21st century, the focus on sustainability is an important one, and this should be a priority even for the washroom. So how do you create a sustainable washroom?
One of the main focuses needs to be water efficiency. By having controls on faucets and flushes, water consumption can go down drastically. Installing high-efficiency toilets, toilets that can detect whether or a full or partial flush is required, are a great way to help reduce water consumption and keep a sanitary environment. And sustainability doesn’t stop at water consumption. As a responsible business owner, the products that are used in the bathrooms, such as soap, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper, should be sustainable too. Furthermore, using motion-sensor dispensers for these products will also reduce waste, as the sensors will dole out the proper amount needed for each use.
A Neutral Space
Finally, when thinking about the bathroom of the future, it is essential to consider that because these rooms are used by everyone, that they are made accessible to everyone. Ensuring that your business has at least one washroom that considers differently abled individuals is important as a business owner, as inclusion or lack thereof reflects on you and your ethos.
Furthermore, because the washroom is meant to be for everyone, eliminating gender assigned washrooms creates a more inclusive environment as well. Lastly, when thinking about a safety, bathrooms of the future will be equipped with virtual assistants that will monitor the amount of time spent in the washroom, can detect motion (or lack thereof) and even if some personal item has been forgotten!
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Since businesses are always looking toward the future, isn’t it time they took their bathrooms into the future with them?