Institutional and commercial facilities make accommodations for a range of facility activities and occupant needs, from fitness and dining to retail spaces and rooftop lounges. Now, in specific facilities, those accommodations will have to include areas for breastfeeding.
All major airports will have to have breastfeeding rooms thanks to the Friendly Airports for Mothers (FAM) Act, according to Self. The law requires all medium and large airports to provide clean, private facilities for breastfeeding or pumping by Oct. 1, 2020.
The bipartisan bill was introduced in 2017 by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and Rep. Stephen Knight, (R-Calif.) and was included in the package of Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bills recently signed into law.
The breastfeeding room law specifies these areas must be shielded from public view and intrusion, lockable, and readily accessible to people with disabilities. The areas must provide a place to sit, a table or similar flat surface, and an electrical outlet. The rooms also must be located after the security checkpoint in each terminal, and they cannot be inside a bathroom. The law also makes grants available for installing these facilities.
Cathryn Jakicic is healthcare industries editor of FacilitiesNet.com. For more information on hospital campuses and other medical facilities, click here.
