Federal Workplace Washroom Rules — What Canada Labour Code Employers Must Do

If your organization is federally regulated — meaning you operate in sectors like banking, airlines, telecommunications, broadcasting, or federal government — your washroom compliance obligations come from a completely different source than Ontario’s Bill 190.

This is one of the most common sources of confusion for national employers: the assumption that Ontario’s washroom requirements apply to all employees in Ontario, regardless of sector. They don’t. Federally regulated employers operating in Ontario are subject to federal OHS requirements, not provincial OHSA requirements.

Here’s what that means in practice.

Who Is Federally Regulated?

The Canada Labour Code applies to workplaces in sectors under federal jurisdiction. These include:

• Banking and financial institutions (all Schedule I and II banks)

• Airlines and airports (including passenger and cargo operations)

• Telecommunications (telephone, internet, cable, satellite companies)

• Broadcasting (radio and television)

• Interprovincial and international transportation (rail, long-haul trucking, pipeline, marine)

• Federal Crown corporations (Canada Post, Via Rail, CBC/Radio-Canada, etc.)

• Federal government departments and agencies

• First Nations band councils and certain First Nations-operated businesses

If your organization operates in one of these sectors, your employees are federally regulated regardless of which province they’re physically located in. A bank branch in Toronto is federally regulated under the Canada Labour Code, not under Ontario’s OHSA.

The Federal Framework: Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations

For federally regulated employers, washroom facility requirements are set out in the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (COSH Regulations) under Part II of the Canada Labour Code. The COSH Regulations are administered by the federal Labour Program, not by provincial ministries of labour.

Under the COSH Regulations, federally regulated employers must provide sanitary facilities for workers, maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. Specific requirements include:

Minimum number of toilets: The COSH Regulations specify the minimum number of toilet fixtures required relative to the number of employees of each gender. The requirements scale by workforce size.

Sanitary conditions: Washrooms must be kept in a clean and sanitary condition. This is a substantive obligation — not just aesthetics but genuine hygiene standards.

Adequate supplies: Soap, toilet paper, and hand drying equipment must be provided and maintained.

Separate facilities: In most federally regulated workplaces, separate facilities must be provided for employees of different genders.

Accessibility: Where employees have disabilities requiring accommodation, washroom facilities must accommodate those needs.

Does Federal Law Require Documented Cleaning Records?

This is the critical question for federally regulated employers. The answer: not in the same specific way as Ontario’s O. Reg. 480/24.

The COSH Regulations require that washrooms be maintained in a clean and sanitary condition. They do not prescribe a specific requirement to post timestamped cleaning records and make them accessible to workers in the format Ontario has mandated.

What this means for federally regulated employers:

• You are not subject to Ontario’s Bill 190 record-posting requirement

• You are subject to a substantive obligation to maintain clean, sanitary washroom conditions under federal law

• If a federal labour inspection is conducted, the inspector can assess whether your washrooms are clean and sanitary — and you may want to be able to demonstrate that you have a cleaning program in place

• Maintaining cleaning records is still best practice, even though it’s not currently mandated in the same specific way federally

The substantive obligation — clean, sanitary washrooms — is the same in both frameworks. The documentation specifics differ.

Federal vs. Provincial: The Grey Areas

There are some situations where the boundary between federal and provincial OHS jurisdiction is genuinely complex:

Multi-employer worksites: If a federally regulated employer’s workers share a workplace with provincially regulated workers — a common scenario in office buildings — both federal and provincial OHS rules may apply in different ways to different workers in the same building. The washroom used by federal government employees in a shared office building creates a complex jurisdictional picture.

Contractors in federally regulated workplaces: A contractor working in a federally regulated workplace (e.g., a construction company building renovations in a bank branch) may be subject to either federal or provincial jurisdiction depending on the nature of their work and the contractual arrangements. This is an area where experienced counsel is worth consulting.

Provincially regulated tenants in federally regulated buildings: A building owned by a federal Crown corporation but occupied by provincial employers presents overlapping obligations.

The general rule: the OHS jurisdiction follows the employer, not the building. Workers employed by a federally regulated employer are subject to federal OHS requirements. Workers employed by a provincially regulated employer are subject to provincial OHS requirements.

Practical Compliance for Federally Regulated Employers

Even without the specific documentation mandate that Ontario employers face, federally regulated employers have strong operational and legal reasons to maintain documented washroom cleaning records:

Federal workplace health and safety inspections: Federal labour inspectors (called Health and Safety Officers under the Canada Labour Code) can inspect federally regulated workplaces. An inspection assessing washroom sanitation will go better if you can demonstrate that cleaning is happening on a defined schedule.

Workplace health and safety complaints: Workers have the right to file complaints about washroom sanitation under the Canada Labour Code. Being able to produce cleaning records supporting your response to a complaint is valuable.

Internal health and safety programs: Federally regulated employers with twenty or more employees are required to have a workplace health and safety program. Washroom cleaning documentation can appropriately be part of that program.

Employee relations: Workers in federally regulated workplaces have the same practical interest in clean washrooms as workers anywhere. Visible documentation of cleaning activity — whether or not it’s technically required — demonstrates commitment to a healthy workplace.

What Federally Regulated Employers Should Do

43. Confirm your regulatory status: If there is any ambiguity about whether your organization or particular employees are federally or provincially regulated, get legal confirmation. The distinction matters significantly for OHS compliance obligations.

44. Understand the COSH Regulations’ washroom requirements: Review the specific requirements for toilet facilities, sanitary conditions, and supply maintenance applicable to your workforce size.

45. Maintain a cleaning program and document it: Even without the Ontario-style posting requirement, maintaining a documented cleaning program is best practice and will support you in any inspection or complaint scenario.

46. Review your health and safety program: Ensure washroom cleanliness is addressed in your overall workplace health and safety program documentation.

47. Don’t assume provincial compliance covers you: If you have both federally and provincially regulated employees, the compliance obligations are separate. Complying with Ontario’s Bill 190 requirements for your Ontario employees does not automatically satisfy federal requirements for your federally regulated workers — and vice versa.

48. Monitor federal OHS developments: The federal Labour Program periodically updates the COSH Regulations and related guidance. If the federal government moves toward documentation requirements similar to Ontario’s, federally regulated employers will want early awareness.