OSHA requires 1 toilet for every 20 workers on a construction site, per 1926.51(c). At 20 to 199 workers, you add 1 toilet seat and 1 urinal per 40 people. Commerce City job sites near I-76 and E-470 follow the same federal table as anywhere else in Colorado.
The rule is a ratio, not a guess. For crews of 20 or fewer, one unit covers the whole job. Once you cross 20 workers, OSHA 1926.51(c)(1) steps up to 1 toilet seat and 1 urinal per 40 employees, and that ratio holds until you hit 200 workers, where it drops to 1 per 50. A Commerce City general contractor running a 35-person crew needs to plan for that second tier, not just count heads and stop at one unit. Water matters too: 1926.51(a)(1) requires an adequate supply of potable water at every job site, which is why a lot of crews pair portable toilet rental with a water station on the same delivery. If you are still mapping out numbers for a specific crew size, the how many porta potties do i need guide walks the math in more detail than this page has room for.
Cal OSHA rules apply in California, not Colorado, so a Commerce City job site follows the federal 1926.51(c) table, not the California field sanitation code. People search "cal osha portable toilet requirements construction" a lot, and the confusion is understandable since California often sets stricter numbers. In Colorado, federal OSHA governs construction sanitation, and general industry workplaces fall under 1910.141(c)(1)(i) instead. Agricultural operations are a separate case: OSHA 1928.110 covers field sanitation for hand-labor crews, setting one facility per 20 employees within a quarter mile walk. A farm operation outside Commerce City proper, closer to the Brighton side 9.5 miles north, would size units under that standard rather than the general construction table. Get the wrong standard and you either under-serve the crew or overspend on units nobody needed. The OSHA portable toilet requirements rules are federal baseline; local permitting is a separate question covered on the porta potty permit requirements page.
Run the numbers off crew size, then round up. A 20-person crew needs one unit under 1926.51(c)(1). A 60-person crew needs two toilet seats and two urinals, since that falls in the 20-to-199 tier at one set per 40. Here is how it typically breaks down for planning a construction site services order in Commerce City:
| Crew size | Units needed | Standard rental (day rate) |
|---|---|---|
| 1-20 | 1 unit | $100-$350 |
| 21-40 | 2 units | $200-$700 |
| 41-60 | 2-3 units | $300-$1,050 |
Pricing above uses the standard porta potty rental day rate band. For jobs running a full week or longer, the porta potty rental per day breakdown compares against weekly and monthly options, and monthly porta potty rental usually wins on cost once a job runs past a few weeks. Do not forget accessibility: ADA Standards section 213.2 requires at least 5 percent of clustered single-user units to be accessible, never fewer than one, which is where an ADA accessible porta potty comes into the order.
OSHA does not publish a fixed portable toilet distance requirement in feet, but it does require the toilets be reasonably accessible to the crew during the shift, and 1926.51(a)(1) ties clean water access to that same convenience standard. A rig placed 60 feet behind a fenced staging area needs to still be a short walk, not a hike across the site. If a roll-off dumpster is also getting delivered, remember that delivery needs about 60 feet of straight clearance behind the truck, so plan portable toilet and roll-off dumpster rental placement together rather than as separate decisions made on different days. Ground stability also plays into ADA compliance: ADA Standards section 302.1 requires floor and ground surfaces at accessible units to be stable, firm and slip resistant, which rules out a soft dirt patch after a Colorado spring thaw. For sites near Derby, about 9.0 miles southwest of Commerce City, or Northglenn, 12.5 miles west, placement rules do not change, but jobsite drainage and access roads often do. The porta potty placement guide covers ground prep in more depth.
Handwashing is a separate requirement from toilets. General sanitation standards apply under 1926.51(c), while 1926.51(f)(1) specifically covers washing facilities where crews are applying paints, coatings, herbicides or insecticides, or handling other harmful contaminants; that is not a blanket handwashing mandate for every job. A crew doing exterior coating work in Commerce City would need washing stations under that rule specifically, which is where a handwashing station rental or portable sink rental fits the order. For general industry workplaces rather than construction, 29 CFR 1910.141(d)(2) requires soap and towels or a hand-drying device at washing facilities; hand sanitizer alone does not satisfy it.
A 50-person crew falls in the 20-to-199 worker tier under 1926.51(c)(1), which calls for 1 toilet seat and 1 urinal per 40 employees. That works out to roughly two full toilet-and-urinal sets for a crew that size.
OSHA does not set an exact distance in feet. The standard requires reasonable access during work hours, so units need to be close enough that a bathroom break does not eat into the shift.
No. General sanitation falls under 1926.51(c), but the specific handwashing rule at 1926.51(f)(1) applies only where workers use paints, coatings, herbicides, insecticides, or handle other harmful contaminants.
Cal OSHA applies in California and can set different numbers. Commerce City sites follow federal OSHA's 1926.51(c) construction table, not the California field sanitation code, so out-of-state rules do not carry over here.
Yes. Many Commerce City contractors order portable restroom rental, storage container rental, and temporary fence rental together for one site, coordinating delivery windows so trucks are not blocking each other.
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