This will vary between different companies, but most large camps will provide kitchen, dining, bathrooms, shower, and handwashing facilities.

Workers generally need to provide their own tent or mobile accommodations, such as a camper, trailer, or motorhome, but employers are required to ensure the camp has adequate facilities to ensure workers are fed properly and have access to proper washing, bathrooms, and food services.

The Industrial Camps Regulation is the key legislation that applies to bush camps in BC, but sections dealing with dwelling units and structures do not apply where these items are not provided in the camp. Other applicable bodies of legislation include The Public Health Act, The Food Premises Regulation, as well as requirements for special permits to operate water systems and occupy public land.

Kitchens & Cooking:

Camp Kitchens

Bush camp kitchens are generally contained inside large trailers, with a small number using large weather-haven tents with wooden floors. It is not permitted to have a dirt floor in a kitchen. Bush kitchens normally use propane ranges and stoves, with refrigeration run off generators.

Food Safety Requirements

FoodSafe certification is required for working in kitchens, and conditions must comply with requirements enforced by the local health authorities. Employers are required to provide workers with meals for all working days spent in camp and must provide meals of sufficient quantity and quality to meet nutritional needs.

Dinning Tents

Dining tents must be provided with enough seating to accommodate all workers, so that workers do not eat in other locations in the camp and spread food that can attract pests or wild animals.

Most tents have long tables to seat 8 to 12 people, with either stacking chairs or benches. Dining tents will often include a gathering area for workers in their spare time with chairs or couches, or a separate large tent for this purpose, and most employers provide a charging station for electronic devices.

Drinking Water

Drinking water systems must include special systems for purifying water drawn from local water sources, or the employer can use a water delivery system to access to clean drinking water. Water quality tests are completed and submitted to applicable health authorities to verify the safety of the drinking water.

Bathrooms & Shower Facilities:

Bathrooms

Bathrooms may include pit-toilets like those found in many parks, but employers are increasingly leaning toward plastic port-a-potties that are regularly emptied and cleaned by a local service-provider. Employers must provide toilet paper and ensure the facilities are kept in acceptable conditions.

Showers

Showers are often contained in large trailers or tents with water pumped in from nearby lakes, streams, or other water sources. It is important to know that shower water does not need to be drinkable (potable).

Shower facilities are required to be cleaned regularly and must provide workers with privacy while they shower and change.

Handwashing

Handwashing facilities must be provided so that workers can clean their hands and ensure that they do not spread communicable disease. It is critical that workers wash their hands after using bathrooms and before eating in order to prevent the spread of viral gastroenteritis and other stomach and digestive ailments.

Handwashing stations may include refillable wash basins, sinks with running water, foot-pump activated wash stations, troughs with long hoses to accommodate multiple workers, or water jugs or jerry cans with catch basins. Employers must provide soap and paper towels for drying hands.

Shelter & Housing:

Drying tent

A dry tent must be set up during periods of wet weather, so that workers can hang up wet items to dry. These are usually heated by a propane blower. Additional facilities may include a storage tent for personal gear, and a large tent or other area where workers can socialize.

Rental Housing

Some employers provide rental housing in remote lodges which are subject to the same regulations that apply to hotels, motels, and other short-term rentals.

A small number of companies provide workers with travel trailers or mobile homes. These facilities must also meet the requirements of the Industrial Camps Act, and at least one person in the camp must possess FoodSafe certification to ensure that proper food-handling practices and conditions are maintained in the camp.