What does the plumbing code ask of a West Loop crew?
Chicago's code is direct. Nobody may start construction, alteration or repair of a building without sufficient toilet facilities for employees, which can be water closets, chemical closets, privies or approved incinerators, and the minimum is at least one per 30 employees or fraction of 30. A crew of 31 needs two.
OSHA's 29 CFR 1926.51(c) is stated differently. With 20 or fewer workers, one toilet. With more than 20, one toilet seat and one urinal per 40 workers, and with 200 or more, per 50 workers. Toilets must be reachable in under 10 minutes, and an unsanitary toilet does not count. Where the city and OSHA numbers differ, the stricter one governs, and the project's permit office should confirm which that is.
On private property, nonsewer facilities must be kept sanitary, serviced, and at least 5 feet from property lines. The servicing is the provider's work. If the unit looks full or is damaged, report it to the provider; do not try to move or empty it. The construction site toilets page shows how an order is usually built.
How do the tall buildings change the count?
At 43 stories, 900 West Randolph is the sort of project the code's vertical rule was written for: in a multi-story building, no floor may be more than four stories from a story with toilet facilities. A crew working on the upper floors cannot rely on a unit at the curb, so the question for a provider is not only how many, but where and on which levels.
That is a planning conversation, and it is best had early. Tell the call line the building height, the stage of construction, the crew size at peak and where trucks can reach. A provider to serve your event can then say what it can do. Read high-rise construction toilets for how the four-story rule plays out.
Marathon weekend and landmark blocks: what else lands here?
The Chicago Marathon course covers 29 neighborhoods, and the West Loop is one of them. The 47th running had a record 53,000 runners, start and finish are in Grant Park, and 20 aid stations one to two miles apart each have standard and ADA portable toilets. A business or building along the course may want its own units for staff or guests on race morning, and marathon and race toilets covers that.
Because the market district carries Chicago Landmark status, anyone staging a site or event on a designated property should ask the project's permit office whether that affects where units can sit. We do not know the answer for your address and will not guess.
What should you have ready before you call about a West Loop site?
The West Loop splits across two ZIPs, 60607 and 60661, and the streets in between range from landmark market blocks to river-edge office parcels. Know which one your address falls in, but expect the provider to ask for more than a ZIP code: the building's height, the stage of construction, the crew size at its peak, and the spot where a truck can stop.
Add the hours the site works, and say whether the work will run through the cold months. January in Chicago averages about 25.2 F, and a long residential build on Randolph or nearby will see several winters. Ask the provider how it plans servicing when the weather changes.
Finally, name the person who confirms compliance. The code figures above are quoted from the city and from OSHA, but the permit office is the party that decides what your project needs. A provider to serve your event will help you match the order to what that office says. The long-term portable toilet rental page covers what to expect from a rental that runs for months.
