Safety Consultant Jane Williams has spent decades working to improve the sanitary conditions on construction jobsites-conditions that undermine the dignity of workers and discourage women from entering the crafts. Her biggest target has been filthy portable toilets.

Tony Illia Laborer Kelly Patton (right) and colleague Cher Marascalco use keys to pink potties provided by contractor on a Las Vegas resort expansion project.

The U.S. Labor Dept. standards haven't been updated since 1970. As subgroup chairman of ANSI A10-25 Construction Standard that is under development, she recently helped gain a new, long-awaited interpretation of the rules by OSHA that unclean toilets won't be considered “available.” This rule interpretation will help force employers to provide sanitary facilities because they will be at greater risk of receiving citations. The interpretation provides strength to the position linking number of facilities to worker population, which will help adoption of a revised standard.