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Bathroom access allowed for commercial truck drivers in Washington state

Drivers can use facilities at locations where they do business with shippers, consignees

Drivers get bathroom access relief in Washington State (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

Truck drivers in Washington state will be allowed to use an existing bathroom facility located either on the premises of a shipper or consignee, under a bill signed into law earlier this month by Gov. Jay Inslee.

The new law stipulates that truck drivers be allowed to use an existing bathroom facility located either on the premises of or operated by a shipper or consignee if the restroom is also intended to be used by its employees or customers.

Inslee signed into law House Bill 1457 after it passed both the House and Senate during the recently concluded 2023 session of the state Legislature.

The legislation received broad bipartisan support as evidenced by its lead sponsor, state Rep. Eric Robertson, a Republican, and co-sponsors Reps. Liz Berry, Sharon Tomiko Santos, Julia Reed and Mary Fosse, all Democrats, according to a published report. The House bill succeeded over a similar companion bill introduced during the session in the Senate, the report said.


Bathrooms must not be located in an area where providing access would create an obvious health or safety risk to the motor carrier, the shipper, receiver or employees, according to language in the law. The state Department of Health can issue a warning letter for a first violation of the new law and a fine of up to $300 for a subsequent violation.

Washington became the first state to push for legislation that would allow drivers to use restrooms when picking up or dropping off cargo at an industrial facility. Typically across the nation, drivers are refused access to in-house restroom facilities despite doing business with that company. 

The state House last year passed legislation requiring bathroom access for drivers operating at ports. However, it fell short of mandating access for drivers operating at warehouses and distribution centers not located at ports.

According to the new law, shippers/receivers are not required to make any physical changes to a restroom and may have a company employee accompany a motor carrier to the restroom.


Sheri Call, president and CEO of the Washington Trucking Association and a key player behind the movement, said the industry was simply “asking for common courtesy” in pushing for bathroom access for drivers. Call also said the legislation is critical to ensure that female drivers, a demographic the industry is looking to attract, have safe and unfettered access to in-house facilities.

16 Comments

  1. Scott

    Problem being that there are still security exceptions and all that has to be done is to drop a single Porta potty in the lot.

    Companies used to allow drivers the use of the restrooms, then drivers trashed those restrooms. Paper towels on the floor, clogged toilets and graffiti everywhere got them shut down.

  2. Bob Lee

    Our company has been fighting for this for many years and have wrote to our Governor, the ATA as well as shippers and consignee’s concerning this matter many times so it it good to see Washington State is standing up and we need to keep advocating for a nation wide mandate, It should be common sense, but unfortunately that is not so common any more.

    It is too bad when a shipper or consignee will not let our nations truck drivers into their facilities to use a restroom, and they should realize that these men and women’s family’s shop their stores and buy the goods these shippers and consignee’s are selling.

    Let’s keep fighting for our drivers that are getting product out to the public every day throughout the year these men and women are
    precious and deserve our very best, for the work they do for our country and our families across our great nation,
    Very few are willing to do the work these men and women do and they need our utmost support,

  3. Noé

    Charlies produce in Seattle, WA it’s a shame that what they have in the parking lot are portable bathrooms I use to deliver every night and of course no light no tissue nothing so just picture that! After you do your business you go and hended your BOLS to the receiver. The rest of it I’ll leave it up for the imagination of the health department if there is one up there that really cares about it

  4. Esteban

    About time. Every trucking company in the nation should have been pushing for this for years for their driver’s and refused shipping to companies that did not comply. Just pure common sense.

  5. Steve Harbuck

    It is a crying shame that this has to be determined by the government. What happened common sense and common courtesy. Absolutely idiotic.
    Drivers need to request using the bathroom prior to backing to the dock. If refused back 50 feet from the dock and dump everything out onto the lot.
    It’s delivered.

  6. Derek

    Huh. I don’t understand why companies wouldn’t allow this. OTOH, this clearly seems like the government is taking private property without compensation.

  7. Mark D Hicks

    About time. Wished Texas would do the same. Had an unfortunate incident because I was denied access to a Coca Cola Facility in Abilene Texas.

  8. Arreta Goodman

    All they have to do is put up a sign stating “OUT OF ORDER” and they don’t have to prove it so we’re still waiting for a bathroom. And because it “just” happened they are waiting on porta potties with no ETA.

Comments are closed.

Mark Solomon

Formerly the Executive Editor at DC Velocity, Mark Solomon joined FreightWaves as Managing Editor of Freight Markets. Solomon began his journalistic career in 1982 at Traffic World magazine, ran his own public relations firm (Media Based Solutions) from 1994 to 2008, and has been at DC Velocity since then. Over the course of his career, Solomon has covered nearly the whole gamut of the transportation and logistics industry, including trucking, railroads, maritime, 3PLs, and regulatory issues. Solomon witnessed and narrated the rise of Amazon and XPO Logistics and the shift of the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-focused service to parcel, as well as the exponential, e-commerce-driven growth of warehouse square footage and omnichannel fulfillment.