Thankfully,
in recent years, positive steps have been made to make the world a far more
inclusive and accessible place for people with disabilities. Across Europe, in
cities like Berlin and Barcelona, efforts have been made to ensure everyone has
access to tourist destinations and is able to get around the city. In
Barcelona, the city beach has wheelchair accessible walkways and throughout
Berlin the pavements and public transport have been made easy to navigate for
people with wheelchairs.
Although
positive change is now being made with much more frequency, there are still
many barriers. A number of cities across the world
are
recognising the economic and social benefits of making urban planning more
accessible, but here in the UK, nearly a quarter of lifts and escalators
are still inadequate.
The Equality
Act 2010 puts an onus on businesses and organisations to make adjustments and
changes where necessary to ensure that they are accessible for people with
wheelchairs. This covers places of education, employment, housing, shops and
hospitals as well as private clubs. These adjustments only need to be completed
if they’re deemed ‘reasonable’ and would help a person to overcome the
disadvantage they’re experiencing from their disability.
There are a
number of parameters that determine whether this is a necessity, however, if
you’re a business, it’s worth getting an upper hand by making your commercial
property more accessible. Not only will this help your disabled staff, but it
shows that you’re an open and inclusive place to work. Here we provide a short
guide and five tips on how to make your business more wheelchair accessible.
Install a Wheelchair Lift or a Stairlift
One of the most important issues when it comes to
accessibility in the workplace is ensuring that disabled people can get up and
down the various floors of the office with ease. You might think “well, we have
a lift”, however, not all lifts are created equally and simply having a lift
does not mean that it is accessible for those with disabilities. The doors of
an accessible lift must stay open long enough for a wheelchair user to get in
and wide enough for the wheelchair to fit.
However, it’s likely that you’ll also have to install
a separate disability access lift to help wheelchair users get up any external
staircases or anywhere that isn’t accessible via a suitable elevator. There are
three main types of wheelchair accessible lifts to choose from. The first and
most popular choice of these three, is what’s known as a platform lift. These
lifts move wheelchair users vertically up to the height of an adjacent
staircase and onto the upper platform. This style of lift is incredibly easy
for the user to operate; all that needs to be done is to wheel onto the
platform and use a button to activate the lift. From there, the lift will
automatically shut and transport the user up to the next level. These lifts are
a versatile choice and suitable for the home or an office.
More advanced than a platform lift, retracting lifts
are great if you don’t want to drastically amend the appearance of your stairs
but still make them accessible. These lifts operate by retracting the stairs
into the wall at the push of a button and then raising a platform from the
floor to get to the upper level. However, these are only suitable for
relatively small staircases.
The final style of disabled access lift you could
choose is an incline lift. Working in a similar way to stair lifts, these lifts
transport wheelchair users diagonally up a staircase and can be easily folded
away to save space once it’s been used. Again, this style of lift is most
suitable for smaller staircases.
Automated Doors, Ramps and Designated Areas
In a similar vein to ensuring you have the right lifts
for people with disabilities, it’s also important to provide the correct ramps,
automated doors and designated areas. Installing automated doors and ramps
throughout your commercial property gives people with disabilities the
independence to access every room throughout the office without having to wait
for assistance.
For communal areas, like the workplace canteen, you
should ensure that all walkways and thoroughfares are wide enough to fit a
wheelchair down and that there is room for wheelchair users to find a place to
eat their lunch. As well as inside the office, providing disabled parking is
another must to make sure your organisation is fully accessible.
Train Employees On Communication
Unlike the previous structural amendments you can take
to make sure your organisation is sensitive to the needs of disabled people,
training sessions for your team members on how to communicate with customers
and colleagues who have disabilities is a great way to ensure that the
disability-friendly culture courses right through the business.
Running training courses on how to communicate with
people with all types of disabilities, from wheelchair users through to
blindness, will help prepare members of staff who might be very considerate and
helpful people but want to make absolutely sure they are in no danger of
offending anyone. Rather than assuming that your staff will know, it’s best to
provide them with all of the tools they need.
Install Disabled Facilities and Signage
An obvious
addition, and required under the Equality Act 2010, are accessible to toilets
for disabled people. If there isn’t one already in the office, it’s important
to have one installed as a priority and ensure it is clearly signed as such.
Accessible toilets must also have an emergency alarm, the doors must be wide
enough, have sinks with lever taps, support rails and a paddle flush to make it
easy to use.
In terms of
the signs, changes you can make here include making all fonts larger, placing
them lower down the wall, using braille and using language like ‘accessible’
rather than disabled toilets to ensure you’re being respectful.
Consult With and Support Staff
To find out exactly how you can improve as a business,
why not set up quarterly or six-monthly meetings with the members of staff who
are disabled to find out how you can continue to make the office more
accessible? This provides those members of staff with an active voice in the
development of the business and shows your willingness to change and adapt with
them in mind. It might be an idea to also consult with industry professionals
to ensure you’re doing everything you possibly can to make your disabled
staff’s life as easy as possible whilst at work.
Once you’ve received the feedback from your staff,
make sure that you try and enact as much as feasibly possible. There may be
some things beyond the realms of possibility, but it’s important to try and
implement as much as you can.
Make Your Business More Wheelchair-Friendly By
Installing a
Wheelchair Lift
in Scotland
At ADL Services, we have over eight decades worth of
experience within our team of expert lift professionals. Located in Motherwell,
we service commercial clients in the town as well as across Edinburgh, Glasgow
and Aberdeen, as well as developing business relationships with the region’s
local authorities.
Our main concern is to ensure that all of our
customers are happy with our work, which is why we always meet our delivery and
installation deadlines, are fully accredited and offer a 24/7, 365 day a year
emergency cover and repair service.
Whether you are looking for a wheelchair lift for home
or a chairlift to help with mobility, we can help. If you’re a business, we can
also assist you in making sure you’re wheelchair friendly.
To find out more,
contact
us
. You can find us at either of our three Motherwell,
Aberdeen and Glasgow offices, call us on 01698 277 009 or email us at info@adlliftservices.com.
