It’s important to do what you can to prevent porta potty vandalism, especially if you are renting porta potties and do not own them. Not only do vandalized porta potties reflect badly on your company or event, but people may even bring lawsuits against you and your company. Taking preventative measures to stave off vandals and addressing instances of vandalism protect your company or event’s reputation and can save you significant trouble and money.
Here is what you need to know about common instances of porta potty vandalism and what you can do to prevent porta potty vandalism from occurring.
Common Types Of Porta Potty Vandalism
In an ideal world, people would be respectful of other people’s property, especially necessary facilities to seeing to natural needs. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Porta potties are often subjected to vandalism such as:
- Tip overs
- Graffiti
- Fire/burning/melting plastic
- Blowing up/explosives/fireworks
Why It’s Important To Prevent Porta Potty Vandalism
People associate vandalized porta potties with your company, so if someone has graffitied vulgar words or images on the porta potties you rent, people will assume that you don’t care enough to remove them, and think negatively about your event, park, or company.
While painted porta potties aren’t pleasant to use, people can still use them. Tipped over or burned porta potties on the other hand, are another story. You’ll need to clean up the mess safely and appropriately and get replacement porta potties.
This can impact workflow, especially in areas that are required to have porta potties or other bathroom facilities nearby, like construction sites, according to OSHA regulations.
Avoid A Lawsuit
You may find people bringing a lawsuit against you if your porta potties are vandalized with offensive images and messages and you do nothing to either prevent it or remove it.
Take the 1998 case against Foster Wheeler Constructors for racial and sexual harassment for a $1.3 million dollar settlement. Racist and sexist graffiti was found and the company was held liable for it.
By ensuring that you take measures to prevent porta potty vandalism and that you address any vandalism that occurs quickly, you can prevent the likelihood of someone bringing a similar lawsuit against you and your company.
What You Can Do To Prevent Porta Potty Vandalism
Fortunately, there are multiple things that you can do in order to prevent porta potty vandalism from occurring. Some of the steps that you can take are as follows.
#1. Stake Them Down
Staking them down and placing them strategically prevents people from tipping them over.
Consider the terrain. You want to put them somewhere dry and level, as sloped or wet ground or curbs makes it easier for people to tip them over.
#2. Put Them In A Well-Lit Area Or Near Cameras
Putting porta potties in a well-lit area can deter vandalism, as people don’t want to get caught in the act. So too can putting the porta potties near surveillance cameras. Plus, putting porta potties near cameras gives you video proof of any culprits who do try to vandalize them.
#3. Fence Them In
Fencing in job sites prevents vandalism, theft, destruction of work, and more. If people can’t easily access the porta potties, they are less likely to try to vandalize them.
#4. Lock Them At Night
Locking porta potties at night can prevent people can vandalizing the interior of them, as most vandalism happens at night. This does not prevent vandalism on the exterior, though. You would need to take other measures to prevent this.
#5. Talk To Your Employees
To prevent porta potty vandalism, don’t just think about random miscreants. Your own employees may be responsible for instances of vandalism. Sometimes, vandalism is from workers who are either angry or who think that they are being funny.
Reminding them that everyone uses the porta potties, that the porta potties are rentals and ergo someone else’s property, and how the things they write/paint could hurt others can make them more mindful of their actions.
#6. Put Them In A Central Space
Putting porta potties in a central space where there are lots of people at the event can prevent porta potty vandalism like graffiti, tip-overs, and blown-up bathrooms.
#7. Guard Them
Position some staff around the porta potties to keep an eye out for vandals and to help people know where the bathrooms are and to keep them clean and functional. If there is graffiti or pencil or markers on the inside, people can let your staff know and they can clean it up promptly.
These are some of the ways you can prevent porta potty vandalism from occurring.
Canyon View Dumpsters & Toilets is here with porta potty rentals to meet your needs, whether you need to rent them for a work site or an event. Contact us today to learn more about our porta potty rentals.
