Toilet rooms: fixture and transfer clearances

Chapter 6: Plumbing Elements and Facilities Toilet Rooms Is access required to a unisex family or gender-neutral toilet room that is provided in addition to accessible men’s and women’s rooms? Yes. Unisex toilet rooms must be accessible, including where they are provided in addition to multi-user toilet rooms. Where multiple single-user toilet rooms are clustered at one location, no more than half for each use are required to comply (§213.2, Ex. 4). How does the exception for clustered single user toilet rooms of the same type (no more than 50% at each cluster) apply when there is an odd number of toilet rooms? When there is an odd number of single user toilet rooms of the same type in a cluster, the number of accessible toilet rooms can be rounded up or down. Rounding up is recommended for better access and is otherwise required when fractions or remainders result in determining the number of facilities or elements required to comply (§104.2). However, rounding down is permitted in this instance because the exception for clustered single user toilet rooms states that “no more than 50 percent of the single user toilet rooms for each use at each cluster shall be required to comply” (§213.2, Ex. 4). Is there a maximum distance or separation that applies to toilet rooms within the same cluster? No maximum distance is specified, but clustered single user toilet rooms are those that are next to, or close to, one another. What is the impact of providing two unisex toilet rooms instead of a designated single-user men’s room and a designated single-user women’s room? If two unisex restrooms of the same type are clustered in one location, only one of the two is required to comply under the Standards (§213.2). If a single-user men’s room and a single- user women’s room are provided, both must comply even if clustered since they are different types. Can toilet rooms be designed for assisted instead of independent access? The Standards address independent accessibility and do not contain requirements for spaces and elements designed for assisted use. In medical care facilities, features for assisted use that conflict with the Standards can be provided in those toilet or bathing rooms serving patient bedrooms that are not required to comply with the Standards. Otherwise, any departure from the Standards, including those related to assisted use, must be based on the provision for “equivalent facilitation” (§103) which permits alternatives to specified requirements that provide substantially equivalent or greater accessibility and usability. 33