Site Containers and Worker Accommodation Requirements

Why is site container safety a separate topic?

Workers on a construction site spend eight hours of the day on scaffolding, formwork or in excavations; but they spend most of the night, meal breaks and changing time in containers. Some of the most serious incidents, such as fires, carbon monoxide poisoning and outbreaks, also happen outside working hours in these areas. Site container safety is therefore not a side issue in the site plan but a topic with its own checklist.

The Regulation on Health and Safety Measures in Workplace Buildings and Annexes, issued for workplace buildings, excludes construction sites and similar temporary or mobile work areas from its scope. The text to refer to for accommodation, hygiene and rest areas on sites is Annex 4 of the Regulation on Occupational Health and Safety in Construction Work. Part A of Annex 4 lists the minimum general requirements to be met on sites as numbered items.

Accommodation, hygiene and rest requirements in Annex 4

Area	Minimum requirement (summary)	Annex 4 A
Changing area	Easily accessible, large enough, with seating, separate for women and men; lockable lockers separating work clothes from outdoor clothes	Items 53–54
Showers and washbasins	Where the work requires it, separate showers with hot and cold water for women and men; washbasins near workplaces	Items 55–57
Toilets	Near work, rest, changing and washing areas, separate for women and men, sufficient in number	Item 58
Rest and accommodation	Set up in a sheltered place on levelled ground with drainage; built of non-combustible material; tents and tarpaulins are not used for accommodation	Items 59–61
Heating, electricity, lighting	Necessary safety measures are taken; no open fires, no charcoal braziers or stoves	Item 62
Beds and furnishings	Sufficient beds, bunks, mattresses and blankets provided by the employer, kept clean and disinfected where necessary; tables and chairs with backrests; protection from tobacco smoke	Items 63–64
Pregnant and breastfeeding workers	Suitable conditions for them to lie down and rest	Item 66
Drinking water and meals	Sufficient drinking water; facilities for meals to be eaten and, where necessary, prepared in suitable conditions	Items 69–70
First aid	Trained first aiders, first aid supplies, emergency telephone numbers displayed visibly	Items 49–52

The Regulation generally prohibits tents for accommodation; it allows tents made of non-combustible material only for certain open-air work. For this reason, ready-made containers are used on most residential and industrial construction sites in Bursa and neighbouring provinces. When choosing containers, ask the supplier for documentation that the panel infill is non-combustible.

Layout: where should the container area be set up?

The location of the container area is one of the decisions made when the site is set up that is hardest to change later. When choosing the location, ask these questions:

Is it under the crane’s load path? Under Annex II, 3.1.3 of the Work Equipment Regulation, loads are not moved over unprotected places where workers may be present. The canteen or sleeping quarters must be outside the tower crane’s load path; details are in our article on tower crane safety.
Is it close to the edge of an excavation? The weight of the container and vibration put load on the excavation slope. For risks on the excavation side, see our article on measures against collapse in excavations and trenches.
Is it under a power line? Containers are not placed under overhead lines; the crane rope approaching the line while the container is being moved is a separate risk.
Is it separated from vehicle routes? The container door should not open directly onto a truck or construction machinery route; there should be a pedestrian walkway and barrier in between.
Are the ground and drainage suitable? Annex 4, item 60 requires accommodation to be set up on levelled ground with drainage measures taken. Standing water is both an electrical and a hygiene problem.
For stacked containers, external stairs and landings must have guardrails, containers must be connected to each other and to the ground according to the manufacturer’s instructions and secured against strong winds.

Connect the container area to the assembly area and the site exit by a short, lit route. A worker who wakes up at night should not have to walk through the site in the dark.

Electrical and fire risk in containers

The main source of fire risk in containers is the electrical installation: chains of extension leads plugged into a single socket, several electric heaters and kettles running on the same circuit, phones and battery tools charged next to beds. Under the electrical items of Annex 4, suitable residual current devices are used in main and sub-distribution boards, boards are kept in locked cabinets or enclosures, no connections are made with bare cable ends, worn cables are not used, and electrical equipment is protectively earthed (items 16–22). By the same logic, a metal-bodied container to which an installation is connected must also be earthed.

Put the following rules for containers in writing:

Each container should have its own fuse and residual current protection; containers should not be fed from one another with extension leads.
The type and number of heaters should be set according to the capacity of the installation; heaters brought in by workers themselves should not be used.
Battery tools and phones should be charged not in the sleeping quarters but at a separate, supervised charging point.
There should be a suitable extinguisher in each container or at its entrance, and a smoke detector in sleeping quarters. Annex 4, items 32–34 require firefighting equipment and, where necessary, detection and alarm systems to be provided, maintained and kept unobstructed.
A smoking area should be designated outside the containers.

We covered the board and cable side of temporary site installations in our article on temporary electrical installations on construction sites, and the prevention of electrical fires in preventing electrical fires.

Heating and carbon monoxide

Lighting a stove, charcoal brazier or open burner inside a container in winter is a habit the Regulation expressly prohibits and the one with the most fatal consequences (Annex 4, item 62). In a small, enclosed container, carbon monoxide produced by combustion builds up quickly; a sleeping person does not notice the symptoms. Heating should be provided only by electric heaters suited to the installation or by a central system; if a fuel-burning heater is unavoidable, it should be installed outside the container with a properly installed flue. Review the heating plan before winter with the checklist in our article on carbon monoxide poisoning from heaters and stoves.

Hygiene in site sleeping quarters, canteens and toilets

In crowded sleeping quarters, communicable diseases, pests and disrupted sleep feed each other. Under the Regulation, the workplace physician monitors the hygiene conditions of sleeping quarters, canteens, changing rooms, showers and toilets and makes recommendations to the employer. On site, the following arrangements work:

Site sleeping quarters: Leave space between bunks, give each worker a separate locker, have mattresses and blankets cleaned at set intervals, keep windows suitable for ventilation.
Site canteen: The eating area should be separate from the work area; there should be a hand-washing point at the entrance. If meals are delivered from outside, set delivery and storage conditions; hygiene training may be needed for canteen staff.
Site toilets: They should be separate for women and men, sufficient in number and close to work areas; cleaning frequency should be in writing and assigned to a person in charge.
Changing and showers: In work involving concrete, lime or chemicals, showers should be kept usable; dirty work clothes should not be taken into the sleeping quarters.
Drinking water: There should be sufficient drinking water on site and in the container area; if a water tank is used, its cleaning should be planned.

Weekly container checklist

The residual current device test button on boards works, and board covers are locked.
No chains of extension leads, taped cable joints or bare ends.
Heaters are of the approved type and number; no stoves, charcoal braziers or open burners.
Extinguishers are in place with pressure gauges in the correct range; smoke detectors work.
Doors open easily from the inside and are unobstructed; the exit route is lit.
Toilets, showers and washbasins are clean and have water; rubbish has been collected.
The ground around containers is dry, and stairs and guardrails are sound.
Emergency telephone numbers and a sketch of the assembly area are posted in a visible place.

To link this list to the site’s general inspection, see our article on the construction site OHS checklist. As Bursa Sistemer, in our OHS specialist service we treat the container area as part of the site set-up plan and keep checks regular through the OHS calendar. You can find the other risks of construction sites on our construction sector page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can tents be used for accommodation on a construction site?

Under Annex 4, item 61 of the OHS Regulation for Construction Work, tents and tarpaulins are not used for accommodation. The Regulation allows tents made of non-combustible material only for certain open-air work.

Can a stove be lit in a container?

No. Annex 4, item 62 prohibits the use of open fires, charcoal braziers and stoves that pose a fire risk in accommodation. Heating should be provided by electric heaters suited to the installation or by a safe central system.

Must site toilets be separate for women and men?

Yes. Annex 4 requires toilets, changing areas and showers to be separate for female and male workers. Determine whether the number is sufficient according to the number of workers and the shift pattern.

Who checks the electrical installation of containers?

Electrical equipment is installed, dismantled and repaired only by authorised electricians. The internal electrical installation and earthing are also periodically inspected at least once a year under Annex III of the Work Equipment Regulation by an authorised person registered on EKİPNET (the Ministry’s register of authorised inspectors).