Addressing overdose risks and fatalities in public bathrooms: insights from the development of a Safer Bathroom Toolkit in British Columbia, Canada

Original research
by
Gagnon, Marilou et al

Release Date

2023

Geography

Canada

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

No

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

No

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

The Safer Bathroom project sought to address long-standing policy and practice gaps by developing a toolkit to improve bathroom overdose prevention and response. Activities included a literature review and cross-sectoral, province-wide consultation (Fall 2021), the creation and launch of the Safer Bathroom Toolkit (Fall 2022), and knowledge transfer activities (ongoing).

Findings/Key points

The toolkit meets four objectives. First, it provides a bathroom safety checklist that helps identify and, most importantly, mitigate safety risks. Second, it offers organizational guidance on developing a bathroom safety policy and procedure. Third, it includes practical resources such as staff training material and signs that communicate bathroom safety messages in a non-stigmatizing manner. Finally, it identifies bathroom architecture and design features that can increase or decrease overdose-related risks.

Keywords

Harm reduction
Overdose