What country are you from? I’ve never heard of anywhere that requires employers to provide a lunchroom. A lunch break, yes, but not a physical place to eat lunch. Would be interested in how that works for certain fields.
It needs to fit the people using it, needs tables and chairs so that everyone can sit, needs to be heated and ventilated and it can’t be too dark, dusty, noisy or dirty.
For construction work, they commonly use a construction trailer like this (wikimedia pic), or something a bit more permanent. If the entire job is less than 3 days, employees may be asked to eat lunch in their work van. That’s the entire job, not “2 days here, 2 days next door, 2 days one door over”, or “2 days for you specifically”. A bathroom must still be provided even if it’s a short job.
EDIT: I do workplace safety for a living. I wouldn’t say I’ve worked for every field ever, but I’m reasonably sure I could give a few examples if you have questions.
That’s really great. Had someone respond mentioning something similar is in place in Sweden.
My main question was how that works for trucking and field service work (plumbers, home inspectors, etc). Understandable if you don’t have the exact information. It was interesting enough to see it required generally, because we don’t even have that in the US (I checked Canada and the UK too).
For truckdrivers (and similar) there’s an exception that the cabin of the truck can be used as breakroom. It has to meet the same requirements though. Truckdrivers also can’t drive for more than 9 hours a day and 56 hours a week, and need a 45 minute break after 4,5 hours of driving. Generally, that mixes quite nicely with needing a place to sit and eat and go to the bathroom, since if you’re already required to not-drive, you might as well get out of the seat and eat something.
For people coming to a house, they generally fall under the “less than 3 days” rule, so they can either eat in their van, or (if they’re at a normal, decent person’s house) at the house. In practice, that probably doesn’t happen, and they eat while driving from job A to job B, which is technically not allowed, but nobody can actually check that. The employer is STILL required to provide a toilet though, which occasionally leads to hilarious clauses that require you (as a homeowner) to make your bathroom available to the painter/electrician/whatever, because that’s the easiest way for the company to guarantee a toilet is available.
Would be interested in how that works for certain fields.
Sweden, and it really doesn’t.
Plenty of people eating on the go just to keep the schedule smooth and costs down. That is not a lunch break and shouldn’t be counted as one, it’s normal paid time.
Employer’s that make a fuzzss:) about that tend to quickly shut up when their field workers suddenly start demanding break/lunch rooms, and even worse, access to a restroom. And they have a union to back it up too.
-“Just go to a truck stop”,
Sure, but the only time counted as a lunch break is from when you walk in and out, the travel there and back is normal paid time.
Mobile restroom toilet trailers for every single site is not cheap, and companies where this tango is smooth tend to succeed, and the ones making a fuzzssishouldprobablycorrectthatinmyautocorrect usually doesn’t
Wow, just looked it up and apparently not only are they required to provide a room, but the seats must have backrests and there must be places to store and heat food as well as a place to wash dishes?
That’s really fantastic. We don’t even have that in schools, and children are legally required to eat there.
You read my mind, because I was wondering how exactly that works for field service and transportation industries. Hopefully their union ensures they’re adequately compensated for the disparity.
(Also, not that you asked, and maybe things are different where you’re from, but where I’m from I believe the turn of phrase is “make a fuss”. It doesn’t really matter or interfere at all with understanding your comment, just thought I’d mention in case that’s relevant or helpful to know.)
What country are you from? I’ve never heard of anywhere that requires employers to provide a lunchroom. A lunch break, yes, but not a physical place to eat lunch. Would be interested in how that works for certain fields.
It’s a workplace safety requirement in the Netherlands: https://www.arboportaal.nl/onderwerpen/inrichting-werkvloer/speciale-ruimten (In dutch, but translations work fine).
It needs to fit the people using it, needs tables and chairs so that everyone can sit, needs to be heated and ventilated and it can’t be too dark, dusty, noisy or dirty.
For construction work, they commonly use a construction trailer like this (wikimedia pic), or something a bit more permanent. If the entire job is less than 3 days, employees may be asked to eat lunch in their work van. That’s the entire job, not “2 days here, 2 days next door, 2 days one door over”, or “2 days for you specifically”. A bathroom must still be provided even if it’s a short job.
EDIT: I do workplace safety for a living. I wouldn’t say I’ve worked for every field ever, but I’m reasonably sure I could give a few examples if you have questions.
That’s really great. Had someone respond mentioning something similar is in place in Sweden.
My main question was how that works for trucking and field service work (plumbers, home inspectors, etc). Understandable if you don’t have the exact information. It was interesting enough to see it required generally, because we don’t even have that in the US (I checked Canada and the UK too).
For truckdrivers (and similar) there’s an exception that the cabin of the truck can be used as breakroom. It has to meet the same requirements though. Truckdrivers also can’t drive for more than 9 hours a day and 56 hours a week, and need a 45 minute break after 4,5 hours of driving. Generally, that mixes quite nicely with needing a place to sit and eat and go to the bathroom, since if you’re already required to not-drive, you might as well get out of the seat and eat something.
For people coming to a house, they generally fall under the “less than 3 days” rule, so they can either eat in their van, or (if they’re at a normal, decent person’s house) at the house. In practice, that probably doesn’t happen, and they eat while driving from job A to job B, which is technically not allowed, but nobody can actually check that. The employer is STILL required to provide a toilet though, which occasionally leads to hilarious clauses that require you (as a homeowner) to make your bathroom available to the painter/electrician/whatever, because that’s the easiest way for the company to guarantee a toilet is available.
Sweden, and it really doesn’t.
Plenty of people eating on the go just to keep the schedule smooth and costs down. That is not a lunch break and shouldn’t be counted as one, it’s normal paid time.
Employer’s that make a fu
zzss:) about that tend to quickly shut up when their field workers suddenly start demanding break/lunch rooms, and even worse, access to a restroom. And they have a union to back it up too.-“Just go to a truck stop”,
Sure, but the only time counted as a lunch break is from when you walk in and out, the travel there and back is normal paid time.
Mobile restroom toilet trailers for every single site is not cheap, and companies where this tango is smooth tend to succeed, and the ones making a fu
zzssishouldprobablycorrectthatinmyautocorrect usually doesn’tWow, just looked it up and apparently not only are they required to provide a room, but the seats must have backrests and there must be places to store and heat food as well as a place to wash dishes?
That’s really fantastic. We don’t even have that in schools, and children are legally required to eat there.
You read my mind, because I was wondering how exactly that works for field service and transportation industries. Hopefully their union ensures they’re adequately compensated for the disparity.
(Also, not that you asked, and maybe things are different where you’re from, but where I’m from I believe the turn of phrase is “make a fuss”. It doesn’t really matter or interfere at all with understanding your comment, just thought I’d mention in case that’s relevant or helpful to know.)
Usually puts up these for construction:
Truckers have other rules I think.