Having a toilet at work shouldn't be news, but in the construction industry it is

Toilets and sanitary disposal bins should be a given at work, but many women in the construction industry are having to leave a job to go to the loo.

Temperley Homes director Carly Dewey has been in the construction industry for more than 20 years and said basic facilities for women "should be the norm".

"It would be nice if it was not even a conversation,"

Ms Dewey said.

"We make up half the population. We should be in construction."

The builder said she organises male and female toilets with serviced sanitary disposal bins on all her building sites.

"It is male-dominated, so people probably only think about the boys, and also the cost, because essentially we have to pay for two toilets plus the sanitary bins, but to us it's just another job cost," Ms Dewey said.

She said the extra facilities were about $150 a week to hire, with a little extra for servicing and transporting the sanitary bins.

But she said it was a small price compared to the cost of losing a worker's time.

"The cost of having labour leave to have to go to the bathroom and come back versus the cost of having a toilet here. I think it's a no-brainer to have a toilet to serve the girls,"

she said.

She said she understood it was easier for commercial construction employers to provide more facilities "but residential is hard because often the margins are smaller and there are smaller crews".

'Lucky if you get a portaloo'

Not every site gets it right, according to electrician Lainey Morgan, who has worked across residential and commercial jobs in Canberra.

"I'm finding that there is a lot more sanitation, like sanitary products provided, which is great, especially on some sites," she said.

"But [for] others you're lucky if you get a portaloo."

She said inadequate facilities had a direct impact on her work.

"I think it affects productivity. I find if there aren't adequate facilities on site, then I'm usually having to go and find public facilities off site," Ms Morgan said.

"You're having to drive somewhere else and then come back … it's a big disruption to workflow."

Ms Morgan said the problem was not confined to residential builds, and came down to individual businesses rather than the sector as a whole.

Speaking up as an apprentice

Ms Morgan said the bigger issue was often cultural, particularly for early-career women in construction.

She recalled being the only woman on some of her first sites as an apprentice.

"Unless I had personally said something, which can be really intimidating to speak up about, then there would just be no facilities," she said.

"I think there's still a very big culture in apprentices not being able to speak up about stuff like this.

"They're almost like criticised for discussing something like basic needs."

Ms Morgan and Ms Dewey said they wanted to see facilities become an automatic part of setting up a site, rather than something women had to request.

"Less needing women to start the conversation about something that is healthcare and is a necessity and something that's basic hygiene," Ms Morgan said.

What does the law say?

Worksafe ACT has a code that legally requires employers to provide toilets and washing facilities that are clean, safe, maintained and accessible to all workers.

ACT Work Health and Safety Commissioner Jacqueline Agius said inspectors had substantiated some confronting accounts from workers.

"We have heard stories of people who have nowhere to dispose of their sanitary products, and wrap them up in toilet paper, put them in their pockets and carry them around for the whole day until they get home,"

she said.

"We've heard stories of people not being able to change their sanitary products, not having a suitable and private place to do that."

She said poorly maintained portable toilets were a particular problem on residential construction sites.

"Particularly in residential construction in new builds, the portaloos — they're not maintained, and so they can get really grotty and pretty filthy, and no one's going to use those,"

Ms Agius said.

But she said the problem was not limited to construction and the regulator had received complaints across a range of industries over the past 12 months.

She said inadequate facilities could also mean something as basic as being unable to wash your hands.

Ms Agius said where inspectors found a workplace falling short, the businesses were given a legal directive to fix it.

Cultural shift underway

Master Builders ACT chief executive Anna Neelagama said improving facilities for women would help grow the female workforce in construction.

"A big focus for us is improving the number of women participating in the construction workforce,"

Ms Neelagama said.

"So obviously having appropriate sanitation facilities is a key part of that."

Ms Neelagama pointed to the organisation's Level the Site program, which she said supported employers to promote gender-inclusive workplace culture.

"[It] works with employers to look at the whole workplace experience, including making sure you do have those sanitation facilities, because it's safer and more productive," she said.