July 2014

Seasonal businesses often face some serious facility and restroom challenges. Whether it’s a restaurant in a tourist location, a ski resort, a beach, or even a nuclear power plant, areas that have to plan for an especially busy time of year can face some interesting restroom trailer needs.Portable Restroom Trailers has provided long term restroom rentals for beaches and restaurants to handle a high number of seasonal visitors. We have also provided construction companies with portable restrooms to handle large construction crews.A new client has handled their enormous seasonal needs in a very impressive way. Entergy Corporation owns and operates power plants across the country and is one of the nation’s leading nuclear generators. Its 14,000 employees deliver power to over 2.8 million utility customers.For four months out of the year, Entergy’s nuclear plant in Lycoming, NY hires an additional 1,100 employees. That’s a huge number of temporary employees to provide facilities for! Building a facility big enough to support that large of a team for only four months out of the year would be a huge expense.To handle the additional workforce, Entergy sets up a “trailer city” with temporary offices, vendors, medical trailers, and restroom trailers. By renting the trailers needed to put together this “city” Entergy is able to have the most up to date facilities every year so their employees are comfortable and they don’t end up with a gigantic building that loses value.For their employee’s restroom needs, they rented an Executive 8-10 station restroom trailer. It is ideal for accommodating the 1,100 employees the plant will be adding to its workforce.In previous years, Entergy has used an older model restroom trailer that had certainly seen better days. Now, for the 15 weeks they’ll need it, the employees will have one of the newest models available.Whether accommodating a slightly bigger seasonal crowd or adding a thousand people to your team, a restroom trailer is a great way to support your facility’s restroom needs without the trouble of building additional permanent facilities.

Last week we wrote about the company, Water Saver, that is having some interesting restroom related news. We told you about the story from the perspective of the employees. Now, we’re explaining it from the employer’s perspective.The employees at Water Saver are given breaks that total one hour; however, suspected cell phone use in the restroom is increasing the amount of time employees spend in the restrooms since cell phones aren’t allowed on the factory floor. Because of these suspicions, the company installed a swipe card system last winter that tracked how much time each employee spent in the restroom. The swipe system showed that time in the restroom exceeded the allotted break time by 60 minutes every 10 days, which means employees were spending an additional 6 minutes in the restroom every day.The management of Water Saver is very upset about this. They feel that one hour of breaks should be more than enough for employees to do everything that they need to do. They have observed that the excessive breaks are cutting into production time. The CEO, Steven Kersten, stated that 120 hours were lost in the month of May due to the extensive amount of time spent in the restrooms. For safety purposes cell phones are not allowed on the factory floor and management believes that employees are spending the excessive time in the bathroom in order to use their cell phones and not for restroom needs.Steven Kersten has also expressed that it’s unfair to the other employees. He was recorded saying that it’s not fair to the employees that come in and work for the full 7 and a half hour days to have their neighbor not working and just using the restroom to use their phones. As a result, Water Saver has created a reward system to entice employees to not use the restroom during work hours. Employees can earn $1 a day, up to $20 a month, in gift cards for every day they don’t use the restroom outside of the allotted break time. Only time will tell if this solution will work.At Portable Restroom Trailers our goal is to provide quality solutions and convenience for everyone. We have Industrial Grade restroom trailers that are perfect for factory settings like this one. They are larger than the average trailer to accommodate a substantial number of employees. The Industrial trailers are also made extra durable to withstand all conditions. Because they are portable, they can be moved closer to buildings or to an area without nearby restrooms for the convenience of employees. They are also cost effective and budget friendly which is important to employers.Do you think Water Saver’s management has a reasonable concern? What do you think of the solution to try to prevent lost time?

Water Saver Faucet Company is located Chicago and has been in the public eye due to what employees are calling “bathroom harassment”. The company building is a factory that makes faucets for kitchens and restrooms. The company’s employees are given breaks that total one hour; however, expected cell phone use in the restroom was increasing the amount time spent in the restrooms. Because of these suspicions, the company installed a swipe card system last winter that tracked how long each employee is in the restroom for. The swipe system showed that time in the restroom exceeded the break time by 60 minutes every 10 days which means employees were spending an additional 6 minutes in the restroom every day.The factory employees claim that management has a spreadsheet showing how long every employee is in the restroom for and that disciplinary punishment has been made, including verbal warnings and suspension in some cases. Because of the intensity of the situation union representatives have gotten involved. Union reps say this is an invasion of privacy. The invasion of privacy is especially pertinent because there have been meetings between employees and human resources where employees have to explain what they were doing in the restroom.Another argument the union reps are making is that the 140 employees aren’t given sick days. If an employee is sick but is the main source of income for his/her family then he/she must go into work. This obviously creates a conflict with this new policy because when people are sick they have a tendency to use the bathroom more than the average person. Also, our bodies don’t work on cue so sometimes restrooms need to be used at inconvenient times and it is wrong to not let employees use the restroom when this happens. Water intake is also a major factor in how often someone needs to use the restroom. Ultimately union reps claim that this is an inappropriate policy because of the privacy issue and the fact that there are too many factors.At Portable Restroom Trailers we want employees to feel comfortable in their work environment. We feel that adequate restrooms should be provided to employees so that they feel comfortable and clean. That’s why we have Industrial Grade trailers which provide more restroom units, as well as safety and comfort to appeal to both employees and employers. While we can’t tell either side what to do, we can still provide quality restroom trailers as a facility solution.Tell us, what do you think about the swipe card system?

Last week Portable Restroom Trailers provided restrooms for the Alpha Kappa Alpha 66th Boule. As we mentioned in our article before the AKA Boule, this is a biennial meeting of more than 11,000 members of the national sorority. The event was held in Charlotte, NC, July 12-18.Since the event, Alpha Kappa Alpha has received great recognition for all of the amazing philanthropic work they did during the week-long conference. Some of the work during the event involved raising awareness for many global issues including panels of activists and youth summits. The events tackled voter rights, racism, African-American youth issues, and other serious concerns. Not afraid to get their hands dirty, the sisters of AKA also engaged in several volunteer projects. (And afterwards they had restroom trailers with full hot water sinks to wash their hands.) At Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, AKA planted 35 trees as part of a beautification project. For their Stop Hunger Now Service Project, they packaged 100,000 meals for the International Stop Hunger Now campaign.Anna Kate Davis, AKA’s conference chair, said they chose Charlotte because they feel it is ready for a conference of this size. The Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority sees this as another example of Charlotte’s growing reputation as a top location to host conventions.The Charlotte Convention Center had the challenge of serving dinner for 10,450 people, the largest dinner ever served in North Carolina. The meal took over 800 people to serve and used 1,000 square feet of conveyor belts to move each plate through the process.To handle the large volume of attendees comfortably, Portable Restroom Trailers was called on to provide additional restroom trailers for the thousands of guests. Portable restrooms are a great way to add additional restroom units to a venue that may not be designed for an event as large as yours.With an office in Belmont, NC Portable Restroom Trailers was perfectly positioned to support Charlotte. This truly shows that Charlotte can handle an event of any size.Being so tied into the North Carolina community we are proud to see Charlotte get continued recognition as a top-tier city for conventions and visitors. We are also proud to have been involved with Alpha Kappa Alpha and everything they accomplished last week.

America’s pastime of baseball is a game with a long, rich history and a passionate fan base. One of the best parts of seeing a game is getting to experience it in one of the beautiful stadiums across the country.Unfortunately, for many ball parks, it can be difficult to keep up with the enormous crowds the games attract. Many park restroom facilities are strained to support the number of people that attend each game. Giving fans a comfortable and enjoyable game day experience is one of the biggest priorities of ball park owners.[caption id="attachment_10098" align="alignright" width="321"] To further appeal to the look and feel of the stadium, the organization gave the restroom trailer a custom paint job on the exterior to match the team’s colors.[/caption]Portable Restroom Trailers recently had the opportunity to help one of America’s ball parks by providing a restroom trailer to supplement the stadium’s existing restroom facilities. The restroom trailer will permanently fill a need for additional restrooms in the stadium parking lot.For stadiums or other buildings that are expanding faster than they can build, buying restroom trailers is an excellent, cost-effective option. Most professional baseball teams have had to build newer, updated stadiums to fill a growing fan base, but none of them can be expected to build a new stadium every year, or even every decade.We were able to work with the northwestern team to find a used portable restroom that was a good fit for them. Since their visitors are primarily men, we chose a restroom trailer with 9 stations for men and 2 for women. The trailer they purchased also happened to be one used at The Masters tournament, another predominately male event.Especially on hot summer days (the kind perfect for a ball game) no one wants to have to deal with a porta-potty. By providing their guests with a comfortable, safe restroom facility, they were able to make sure everyone enjoys the game, as well as extend the life of their ball park.Portable Restroom Trailers is proud to continue to support sporting events nationally and internationally. Other professional sports we have aided include PGA, LPGA, Kentucky Derby, NASCAR and several national marathons.We wish the MLB and its fans a great rest of the season!

One Step Summer Camp is a kid’s camp located on Lake Geneva in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. It’s a little extra special: this camp is for children battling cancer. The concept of this camp is that just because a child has cancer doesn’t mean that he or she can’t get the same childhood experiences and memories that other kids have. The summer camp has many different programs ranging from standard summer camp to a camp that focuses on water sports or even one that focuses on adventuring. The programs are for children from seven years old to nineteen years old so that everyone has the opportunity to make friends and have fun with other kids that understand what they are going through.As summer camps are starting this month one hundred more kids have signed up for the camp and more kids means more restroom needs. With the influx of campers the camp decided to purchase two more restroom trailers from Portable Restroom Trailers. They have purchased an 8 unit shower combo trailer and a 12ft ADA trailer. The trailers provide a clean, safe and comfortable restroom for both the campers and the counselors. The shower trailer has toilets as well as showers. Because the camp is on a lake the shower trailer is the perfect choice because it gives the kids a private place to rinse of after a fun filled day of activities.The camp also bought a smaller ADA compliant trailer. Our ADA restroom trailers provide the same amenities as all our other restroom trailers with an added bonus of being handicap accessible. The ADA trailers have a no slip ramp and the restroom is large enough for a full 360 degree rotation of a wheelchair. These features provide a safe portable restroom for the kids that may be in a wheelchair or the kids that have limitations because of certain cancers.Imagine knowing that your kids have the benefit of a great summer camp, a clean, safe, private and comfortable restroom, and they are at a lake! We are proud to help a camp that has such a great mission. Keep it up One Step Summer camp!