U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division Coordination and Review Section P. O. Box 66118 Washington, DC 20035-6118 OCT 18 1993 Mr. William F. Carroll Executive Director Portable Sanitation Association International 7800 Metro Parkway, Suite 104 Bloomington, Minnesota 55425 Dear Mr. Carroll: This is in response to your letter to the Civil Rights Division concerning portable restroom facilities and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA authorizes the Department of Justice to provide technical assistance to entities that are subject to the Act. This letter provides informal guidance to assist you in understanding how the ADA may apply to you. However, this technical assistance does not constitute a determination by the Department of Justice of your rights or responsibilities under the ADA and does not constitute a binding determination by the Department of Justice. Under section 4.1.2(6) of the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG), at least five percent of single user portable toilets clustered at a single location must be accessible. In order to be accessible under the ADA, these toilets must comply with either section 4.22 (Toilet Rooms) or 4.23 (Bathrooms, Bathing Facilities, and Shower Rooms) of ADAAG. If you feel that the portable toilets that you manufacture are accessible although they do not comply with either section 4.22 or 4.23 of ADAAG and you believe the standards should be modified to permit your design, then you should contact the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, as that is the Federal agency responsible for drafting and amending ADAAG. You should also be aware that section 2.2 of ADAAG (Equivalent Facilitation) states that: "Departures from particular technical and scoping requirements of this guideline 01-02646 - 2 - by the use of other designs and technologies are permitted where the alternative designs and technologies used will provide substantially equivalent or greater access to and usability of the facility." Thus, if your design provides equivalent facilitation, use of your portable toilets as accessible facilities may be permitted under the ADA. The Department of Justice does not grant grace periods for enforcement of the ADA, and accessible portable toilets should have been made available where portable toilets were provided as of the effective date of the Act. However, you should note that it would be the public accommodation, commercial facility, or public entity utilizing a noncomplying toilet that would be liable for violating the ADA (rather than the manufacturer of the toilet). I hope this information has been helpful to you. Sincerely, Stewart B. Oneglia Chief Coordination and Review Section Civil Rights Division 01-02647 PORTABLE SANITATION ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL 7800 METRO PARKWAY, SUITE 104 BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTA 55425 1-800-822-3020 . (612) 854-8300 FAX: (612) 854-7560 June 16, 1993 Mr. John Wodatch Chief, Public Access Division Civil Rights Division U.S. Department of Justice PO Box 66738 Washington, DC 20035-6738 Dear Sir, The mission of the Portable Sanitation Association International (PSAI) is "To expand and improve portable sanitation services and facilities worldwide and to be recognized as the preeminent authority within our industry." In the spirit of our mission statement, members of our industry have been providing the disabled with accessible portable restroom facilities prior to the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of July 26, 1990. On May 21, 1993 a delegation of members from our industry, including manufacturers of portable restrooms and portable sanitation service company operators, met with representatives of the Access Board in Washington. DC. Based on the outcome of this meeting there are no portable restrooms currently being utilized by the disabled community that are in compliance with Title III of the ADA. This is not to say that, in the opinion of the Portable Sanitation Association International, portable sanitation facilities currently in use by the disabled are not adequate to meet their needs. Portability, clear floor/ground space, transportation and set-up are the reasons existing accessible portable restroom facilities were designed and why they have been used for twenty years without objection. However, based on the ADA requirements and recommendations from the Access Board, the manufacturers are in the process of reviewing the ADA standards to develop portable sanitation facilities that will meet the requirements of the ADA. The problem in existence now is when the portable sanitation service companies are asked to provide a portable accessible restroom that meets the ADA requirements they are unable to do so, because they do not exist. 01-02648 Page 2 The Portable Sanitation Association International requests that the manufacturers of portable restroom facilities be granted a 24 month research and development period to provide the disabled accessible portable restrooms that meet the requirements of the ADA. In addition we request that the portable restroom service companies receive grandfathering to allow continued use of the accessible portable restrooms currently being utilized in their rental fleet. This period of time should be long enough to allow these companies to change their existing equipment to the new equipment through normal attrition of their current fleet. As you can understand, this issue is time sensitive and needs to be resolved as quickly as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact me regarding this matter. Sincerely, William F. Carroll Executive Director WC/SW 01-02649