Recently the Rochester, Minnesota fire department responded to a call reporting a fire in a local park. When emergency crews arrived, they found a portable bathroom engulfed in flames while a small child played nearby.
The restroom was a complete loss and the fire department suspect an arsonist started the fire. Three other recent portable restroom fires have the attention of Rochester fire investigators who suspect the same people, or person, set all the fires.
In Duluth, Minnesota, an arson-started blaze in a portable privy spread to a nearby public building causing more than $75,000 in damage. The problem doesn’t start or end in Minnesota; vandalizing portable restroom rentals happens across the nation. If this happens to you, will you be prepared?
Temporary restrooms often fall prey to vandals who cover them with graffiti, cut holes through the walls, or tip the lightweight structures over. They make easy targets for vandals for the same reasons people choose to rent them. The portability and ability to place a restroom in almost any area make them convenient for users and easy targets for vandals.
Portable restrooms solve sanitation needs for a number of industries and occasions, including:
If no plumbing exists or it will not handle the number of people present, portable toilets fill the need.
When a portable restroom rental suffers damage, is stolen or, by some means destroyed, the liability falls on the renter. Whether the structure sits on a truck, in front of the renter’s home or in the center of a busy city park, for the duration of the rental agreement, the person renting it must pay for all repairs.
Replacing or repairing a basic portable bathroom can cost over a thousand dollars. No one wants to pay out-of-pocket for the damages caused by someone else, which makes it important to obtain damage coverage come with each rental. Damage insurance costs far less than repairs or replacements, and covers the portable restroom rental where it sits.
If vandals put holes in the walls, tip it over, draw all over it, or set it afire, the damage insurance will pay for repairs or replacement.
No one knows when the worst will happen, but those who purchase damage coverage for their portable restroom rentals can rest easier knowing the costs will not come from their wallets.
