Manual of Naval Preventive Medicine
Chapter 1: Food Service Sanitation
VIII: Structural Requirements and Sanitary Controls

Department of the Navy
Bureau of Medicine and Surgery

1. Toilet Facilities

a. Toilet facilities must be conveniently located, adequate in number (see 29 CFR 1910.141(c)), and easily accessible to employees at all times. Installation will be as required by the DOD Construction Criteria Manual 4270.1-M or, in the case of afloat facilities, General Specifications for Ships of the U.S. Navy, Section 644f

b. Water closets and urinals must be designed for easy cleaning.

c. Toilet rooms must be completely enclosed and must have tight-fitting, self-closing, solid doors which are kept closed except during cleaning and maintenance, or as required to assist the handicapped

d. Toilet rooms must not open directly into food preparation areas.

e. Toilet facilities, including vestibules, must be kept clean, free of objectionable odors, and in good repair. Adequate quantities of toilet tissue, hand towels and other supplies must be provided at all times. Easily cleanable receptacles must be provided for waste materials and sanitary napkins; receptacles will be covered with self-closing lids.

f. The storage of food, equipment, utensils, and single-service articles in the toilet rooms or vestibules is prohibited.

2. Lavatory Facilities

a. Hand washing facilities must be conveniently located to permit use by employees in food preparation and utensil washing areas and located in, or immediately adjacent to, toilet rooms or toilet room vestibules.

b. Each hand washing facility must be designed to provide tempered water through a mixing valve or combination faucet.

c. Any self-closing, slow-closing or metering faucet must provide a flow of water for at least 15 seconds without the need to reactivate the faucet.

d. Steam mixing valves are prohibited at hand washing facilities.

e. Ample supplies of solid, powdered or liquid soap in appropriate dispensers and proper hand drying equipment such as disposable paper towels and hot air hand dryers must be provided. The use of single-service continuous cloth toweling is permitted provided it is dispensed from a cabinet that retracts all soiled toweling and bears the seal of the NSF or its equivalent. When disposable towels are used, a waste receptacle must be located at each hand washing facility or group of adjacent facilities.

f. Lavatories, soap dispensers, hand drying devices, and all other related facilities must be kept clean and in good repair.

g. In situations where food exposure is limited and hand washing facilities are net conveniently available, such as in some mobile or temporary food service facilities or at some vending machine locations, the installation medical authority may approve chemically treated towelettes or other appropriately dispensed disinfectants for hand washing.