Challenge

 

Many local councils in Australia lock their public toilets at night (e.g from 10pm-7am) which may cause inconvenience for some individuals, but it is often necessary to ensure the safety, cleanliness, and sustainability of these important public facilities.

 

Public toilets can be a target for anti-social behavior and criminal activity, particularly at night when they are less likely to be ‘community’ monitored. Locking the toilets at night can help to deter unwanted activity and reduce the risk of vandalism or other forms of damage, and the associated repair costs. Further local councils often have limited resources for cleaning and maintaining public toilets, and locking them at night can help to reduce the amount of cleaning and maintenance required. This can also help to reduce the costs associated with ongoing operations.

 

In some cases, public toilets may be locked at night to allow for cleaning and disinfecting to take place. This is particularly important during times of high public health concern, such as during a pandemic or outbreak of an infectious disease. Public toilets can also be a source of litter and waste, and locking them at night can help to reduce the amount of litter and waste generated during non-operating hours. This can help to reduce the environmental impact of the facilities and promote sustainable waste management practices.

 

In Australia, many local councils outsource the responsibility of locking their public toilets at night to private security firms also know as ‘mobile patrol security companies’. This is because council employees are not usually qualified or equipped to handle this safety and security task, and the late-night hours often require high overtime rates and insurance fees. However, hiring private security firms can be expensive. For example Digital Keys is working with a small local council in Victoria, Australia that pays over AUD$350,000 per year to employ four security guards and two cars to lock around 50 council public toilets every night.  According to data from the Australian Government's Job Outlook website, as of May 2021, the average annual salary for a security guard in Australia is approximately $54,600 and there are ongoing costs such as vehicle expenses and insurance fees. For larger councils with hundreds of public toilets, these private security company annual fees can be millions of dollars. To address this issue, local councils are searching for automatic smart locking systems that can save them and ratepayers hundreds of thousands of dollars a year by eliminating the need to pay for private security firms to perform this locking service.

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