Okay. It's Saturday and this story caught my attention so of course I felt other people might find it interesting.
Far be it for me to criticize anyone or country for aiming to be clean when it comes to toilet hygeine. When using a public wash room, cleanliness is the by-word in as far as I'm concerned.
In an effort towards cleaner bathrooms in Beijing, China, everything is taken into consideration, even the flies. The insect - not the zipper... Officials there have stipulated that public toilets may have no more than two flies buzzing around. Not one. Not three but two flies. The new rules also set standards for odors.
This got me thinking as to how to notify flies and other flying insects that there is a limit on how many of them can hang/fly around the toilets. Also, how or who is going to verify and count them? What happens to the excess flies? There are also rules published by the commission of city administration covering cleaning and training for attendants so one (me) presumes that said attendants will oversee that there will be only two flies per toilet.
An unnamed official from the commission told local media that the guidelines on flies were meant for easy monitoring. Presumably, excess flies will be reprimanded or something. They could get one of those electronic insect zappers, which would simplify the task.
There is no information as to whether failing washrooms will be punished and if so, how. Hopefully, flies can count.
Showing posts with label public bathrooms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public bathrooms. Show all posts
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Cleaning up on toilet etiquette
For most of us a bathroom serves as a utilitarian tool in which to perform certain bodily functions and then we depart. It doesn't rate as a primary focus in as far as the surrounding utilities are concerned. On the other hand using a public bathroom can be a somewhat daunting experience especially when cleanliness is an issue. In some coutries, bathroom etiquette plays an important role in society. Take Singapore for example, who recently launched the public campaign, LOO or Let's Observe Ourselves, in an effort to clean up its public bathroom image. Taking those three words at face value and given the subject being bathrooms... but I digress. Anyway...
Having 30,000 public washrooms, the city-state is making a conservative effort to make 70% of them 'three-star-clean' by the year 2013. In a survey conducted by the Restroom Association (Singapore), only 500 of their toilets overall were up to standards that include working facilities (presumably referring to toilets that flush and/or don't over-flow), lack of visible trash and odor and the presence of hand soap and toilet paper or hand dryer. Speaking/writing of electric hand-dryers, why is it that so many public washrooms use hand dryers that make a lot of noise but have barely any air, hot or cold, to dry hands? It's easier to use toilet paper that ends up sticking to wet hands but again I digress.
RAS President, Tan Puay Hoon, told reporters at a press conference that in Singapore culture, toilets indicate how civilized the population is. Actually, the state of toilets anywhere and everywhere says something about a given society. In visiting various countries in Europe, I've come across facilities that include a drain in the middle of a tiled floor to relieve oneself. The first assumption was that the toilet had been removed for whatever reason but then after checking with the owner of said bathroom it appears that one squats and... You get the picture.
The RAS rates toilets from three to five stars depending on the quality of the facilities. For example, a four star toilet would have a diaper-changing place or urinal for children, whereas a five-star rating would have eco-friendly features like water-saving taps.
To call attention to its 3-year blueprint on public restroom and a public awareness program, the RAS launched LOO@Heartlands -- the first coffee shop with a five-star toilet. The RAS said it would also distribute packets of pocket paper with restroom how-to etiquette messages to toilet users during peak hours at shops nearby.
The RAS was founded in 1998 as a non-profit organization and says it is dedicated to promoting the cleanliness, design and functionality of public toilets in Singapore.
The LOO Campaign began in 2008. The RAS has also conducted the Happy Toilet School education program and is a founding member of the World Toilet Organization and the Keep Singapore Beautiful Movement.
When it comes to bathrooms, Singapore wants to be flushing with pride. Don't we all?
Having 30,000 public washrooms, the city-state is making a conservative effort to make 70% of them 'three-star-clean' by the year 2013. In a survey conducted by the Restroom Association (Singapore), only 500 of their toilets overall were up to standards that include working facilities (presumably referring to toilets that flush and/or don't over-flow), lack of visible trash and odor and the presence of hand soap and toilet paper or hand dryer. Speaking/writing of electric hand-dryers, why is it that so many public washrooms use hand dryers that make a lot of noise but have barely any air, hot or cold, to dry hands? It's easier to use toilet paper that ends up sticking to wet hands but again I digress.
RAS President, Tan Puay Hoon, told reporters at a press conference that in Singapore culture, toilets indicate how civilized the population is. Actually, the state of toilets anywhere and everywhere says something about a given society. In visiting various countries in Europe, I've come across facilities that include a drain in the middle of a tiled floor to relieve oneself. The first assumption was that the toilet had been removed for whatever reason but then after checking with the owner of said bathroom it appears that one squats and... You get the picture.
The RAS rates toilets from three to five stars depending on the quality of the facilities. For example, a four star toilet would have a diaper-changing place or urinal for children, whereas a five-star rating would have eco-friendly features like water-saving taps.
To call attention to its 3-year blueprint on public restroom and a public awareness program, the RAS launched LOO@Heartlands -- the first coffee shop with a five-star toilet. The RAS said it would also distribute packets of pocket paper with restroom how-to etiquette messages to toilet users during peak hours at shops nearby.
The RAS was founded in 1998 as a non-profit organization and says it is dedicated to promoting the cleanliness, design and functionality of public toilets in Singapore.
The LOO Campaign began in 2008. The RAS has also conducted the Happy Toilet School education program and is a founding member of the World Toilet Organization and the Keep Singapore Beautiful Movement.
When it comes to bathrooms, Singapore wants to be flushing with pride. Don't we all?
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
TOILET EQUALITY OF THE SEXES
Being that November 19th, World Toilet Day, is almost upon (or beneath) us, couldn't help but note this news item. After all - using the toilet is part of our daily life. Right?
Seems that public bathrooms are an uncommon source of controversy with experts arguing over how their usage can avoid discrimination by class or sex.
Actually I have to confess it never entered my mind as to using the toilet being a discriminating act but then go know...
"In the USA, but also in many other parts of the world - including India ... issues having to do with human waste are taboo from public discussion. It is a last frontier," said Harvey Molotch, a professor of cultural analysis at New York University (NYU).
To be honest it's not a topic most likely many of us think about. Write about, however...
At a conference in New York City organised by NYU and the New York Architecture Centre, architects, sociologists, designers, activists, health officials and city leaders have gathered to discuss how the toilets of the future might be overhauled, and debate the potential civic and social effects.
The conference also saw the premiere of the film "Q2P", written and directed by India's Paromita Vohra.
The documentary, filmed in Mumbai with its title an abbreviation of "queue to pee," takes a long look - 55 minutes worth - at public facilities. The film depicts who uses public toilets including sexual, social and even caste nuances.
One (me) wonders the methodology used and who actually held the camera and whether or not said person(s) entered the hallowed internal world of the bathroom and/or stall.
The conference, "Outing the water closet," according to NYU, aims to reconsider and rebuild the public toilet.
Oh? Now bathrooms are being..."outed"? What were they before one wonders...
Parallel to the gathering in New York, some 170 delegates from dozens of countries were attending in India another international conference on access to bathrooms.
Non-governmental groups such as the German Toilet Organisation were to press their campaign for a universal right to clean lavatories, especially for women.
"Access to appropriate sanitation is a human right," reads one of the group's slogans. "It's time to break the 'toilet taboo'."
"This silence disables everyone to some degree, but particularly certain groups - women most clearly," Mr Molotch said of the taboos on discussing the issue in some countries.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081379.htm
Seems that public bathrooms are an uncommon source of controversy with experts arguing over how their usage can avoid discrimination by class or sex.
Actually I have to confess it never entered my mind as to using the toilet being a discriminating act but then go know...
"In the USA, but also in many other parts of the world - including India ... issues having to do with human waste are taboo from public discussion. It is a last frontier," said Harvey Molotch, a professor of cultural analysis at New York University (NYU).
To be honest it's not a topic most likely many of us think about. Write about, however...
At a conference in New York City organised by NYU and the New York Architecture Centre, architects, sociologists, designers, activists, health officials and city leaders have gathered to discuss how the toilets of the future might be overhauled, and debate the potential civic and social effects.
The conference also saw the premiere of the film "Q2P", written and directed by India's Paromita Vohra.
The documentary, filmed in Mumbai with its title an abbreviation of "queue to pee," takes a long look - 55 minutes worth - at public facilities. The film depicts who uses public toilets including sexual, social and even caste nuances.
One (me) wonders the methodology used and who actually held the camera and whether or not said person(s) entered the hallowed internal world of the bathroom and/or stall.
The conference, "Outing the water closet," according to NYU, aims to reconsider and rebuild the public toilet.
Oh? Now bathrooms are being..."outed"? What were they before one wonders...
Parallel to the gathering in New York, some 170 delegates from dozens of countries were attending in India another international conference on access to bathrooms.
Non-governmental groups such as the German Toilet Organisation were to press their campaign for a universal right to clean lavatories, especially for women.
"Access to appropriate sanitation is a human right," reads one of the group's slogans. "It's time to break the 'toilet taboo'."
"This silence disables everyone to some degree, but particularly certain groups - women most clearly," Mr Molotch said of the taboos on discussing the issue in some countries.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/05/2081379.htm
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