The City of Vancouver (COV) Washroom Safety Assessment Tool was developed in collaboration with the COV and Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) after the Mayor’s Overdose Emergency Task Force received community input (Dec. 2019) that washrooms were an area of concern for fatal overdose. The tool development and safer washroom assessment had 4 stages: 1) Advisory and Consultation; 2) Identification of High Risk COV owned or Vancouver Parks Board Locations; 3) Assessment of 8 highest risk sites and; 4) Identifying Recommendations.
The final tool consists of two parts, the site specific washroom assessment (Section 2) and the building and program information (Section 1). The site specific washroom assessment was to be completed by each site in advance of the team’s (Fire, Ambulance, Health Authority, Parks, City – Social Policy and Facilities) tour of the highest risk sites. The building and program information section was filled out on the day of the assessment by the team. The result of implementing the evaluation tool was several capital and operating recommendations. Before presenting these recommendations to council a costing model with different options was developed.
The result of this evaluation process was that council approved $103,500.00 to be spent on capital improvements. For more information on the results of this process and lessons learned, please contact the Alycia Fridkin (Alycia.Fridkin [at] vancouver.ca), the COV project lead.
Download resources
Mayor’s Overdose Emergency Task Force Overdose Washroom Safety Assessment Summary
Mayor’s Overdose Emergency Task Force Washroom Safety Assessment Tool Part 1
Mayor’s Overdose Emergency Task Force Washroom Safety Assessment Tool Part 2