How Many Toilets Does a Harvest Crew Need?
One toilet for every 20 workers. That is the farm rule, and most growers around here know it. The part that doubles the count is the second rule: you need separate men's and women's units. So a crew of 15 men and one woman needs two toilets, not one. That second rule annoys farmers every year, and it is not changing.
Harvest is our busiest season. Grand Junction moves more tall bush blueberries than anywhere in the world, and September pulls crews into the blueberries, the apples in Bangor and Hartford, and the cucumbers headed for the brine plants in Decatur. Every one of those crews needs units, and the farms that call in August get first pick of the fleet.
Twenty workers per unit is also about the practical limit, not just the legal one. Past 20 people a unit gets rough fast. One farm we serve runs about 25 units and has us clean three times a week through harvest, because a full picking crew fills them that fast. Standard is once a week on the route, and we scale up when the crew does.
If your crews handle fresh fruit, put a wash station next to the units. If your buyer audits your field setup, tell us what they want to see and we will match it.
We put a calculator on the farm requirements page. Put in your crew and it tells you the unit count. Or skip it and call (269) 434-6385 with a head count, and we will have the units in the field before the crew shows up.
What Michigan actually requires
One unit for every 20 workers, and separate men's and women's units. The second rule is the one people miss, because it is not a headcount rule. Fifteen men and one woman is still two toilets, since you need one of each regardless of how lopsided the crew is.
There is also a distance rule. The units have to be reasonably close to where the crew is actually working, not parked at the barn a half mile away, and hand washing has to be there with them.
Why 20 is also a practical number
Past 20 regular users a unit goes downhill fast no matter how often anybody cleans it. If your crew is at 22 and you are thinking about squeaking by with one, you are choosing a unit nobody will want to use by Wednesday.
How often they get cleaned
Weekly on the route is standard, included with every monthly rental. During harvest that is not always enough. We have one farm running about 25 units where we clean three times a week straight through the season, because the crews are hard on them.
Extra cleanings are $50 each. If your crew is running hard, tell us at the start of the season rather than after the complaints, and we will build it into the route.
The sink question
Field rules want hand washing with the units. Two different things get called the same name here: a standalone sink that sets next to the unit, and a unit with a sink built inside it that people around here still call a gap unit. The requirement now wants the sink mounted on the outside rather than inside.
Tell us what your produce buyer or auditor expects to see and we will send the setup that matches it. The details are on the farm requirements page.