In April 1999, we wrote, "things are starting to move" in getting a federal sanitation standard implemented that would require employers to provide toilet and hand-washing facilities on virtually every construction job site.

Well, things stopped. And federal law continues to treat construction workers as third-class citizens.

Stephen Cooper, executive director, safety and health for the Iron Workers International Union and co-chairman of the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health, said he is still confident that a national sanitation standard will be adopted by OSHA, but he has no idea about a timetable. Twenty months ago, he fully expected that such a standard would be adopted by the end of 1999 at the latest.

"There's no reason a standard couldn't be out by now," Cooper said earlier this month. "It p----- us all off. We've been bugging OSHA every time we meet. But their attitude seems to be that it's not a priority because it doesn't save lives."

Currently, OHSA does have a portable toilet-per-worker ratio on job sites. But the standard for requiring portable toilets is ill-defined on job sites where there are only a handful of workers. And there are no provisions at all for providing any hand-washing facilities on construction sites.

And throw this into the mix: a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) representative said "unbelievable as it may be," there are still employers "who have toilet facilities for their employees but are unwilling to let their employees take time out to use them."

The OSHA advisory committee in the last two years has proposed to OSHA that employers should be required to provide toilet facilities on an "as-needed basis," and then inspect, clean and maintain the facilities.

The committee has also recommended that the federal standard be changed to require hot running water "where practical," or allow for the use of germicidal gel as a substitute.

"One guy at NIOSH was arguing that the gel could be an irritant to the hands," Cooper said. "I said I don't give a damn about the irritation. That gel is better than nothing. Hell, Exxon gas stations are putting that gel on the side of their gas pumps. And we can't put them on the side of a portajohn?"

The sanitation standard has several obstacles to pass before it can see the light of day. The standard seems to have been put on the back-burner as OSHA wrestles with controversial ergonomics regulations. In addition, the George W. Bush administration is headed for Washington, D.C., and he has pledged to reduce, not increase, government regulation. And Cooper, the sanitation standard's biggest booster, is retiring at the end of this year.

As a result, the best course of action to improve sanitation on job sites would be to do what unions were set up to do: take care of business in the collective bargaining process. Proper sanitation standards can be written into collective bargaining agreements, and employees and employers can come up with the best solution for everyone.

"They wonder why we can't get good people in the trades," Cooper said, "when they expect our people to go behind their car in three feet of snow and pee. Those are Third-World conditions."