In Ontario, under the Accessibility Standards for Customer Service,
as of January 1, 2012, organizations are required to publicly notify customers
of temporary disruptions of services or facilities or if they are expected to
be temporarily unavailable in the near future, including the steps to take to
access alternative methods. This includes planned as well as unplanned service
disruptions. Any disruption of services or facilities that people with
disabilities need to access your products or services requires proper
notification.
A best practice is to prepare the templates in advance and decide where
you want to post the notification. You may want specific templates prepared for
chronic problems or anything with a regular scheduled maintenance shutdown.
Allocate the responsibility to specific staff or departments and let them know
the notification has to answer all of these questions:
- What is the reason for the
disruption?
- How long do you anticipate
the disruption will last?
- What alternative facilities,
if any, are available?
If the disruption means the customer cannot access your services, you
may also inform them on your website, if you have one, and perhaps on the
telephone. Some organizations may decide to post the disruption notice on the
pole by the parking spots for people with disabilities. This tells a person
with a disability not to bother disembarking and proceed to find what they need
elsewhere. Do what you reasonably can to provide information that can reach
your customer as efficiently as possible.
Make your policy and procedures clear to everyone
Example: The only elevator to reach your organization is under repair
for the expected duration of three days. You post the notice of disruption of
service on your website, post a sign at the site of the disruption and post a
notice at the entrances. You offer a different method to reach the customer.
You may offer appointments to meet the customer at a mutually agreeable and
accessible location.
If you are an organization obligated to keep documentation, you will:
- Record who is responsible
for what action
- Decide what level of detail
about your organization you want to provide the public and government
- State in your policy that
you will provide a notice of disruption of services, and include the legal
obligations
- Decide if you want to
include the departments responsible for providing notification; you may
not want to provide a specific name of a person responsible, but you may
want to include the title of the person or the department in charge
Assess all the assistive devices and services you provide people with
disabilities and come up with a plausible case scenario in the event there is a
disruption of service. You know your minimum legal obligations and what work
needs to be done.
Why is this regulation just for people with disabilities?
People with disabilities need this information in order to proceed with
their daily plans and change them when necessary. On the other hand, this is
just good customer service that really benefits everyone. Your clients will
likely appreciate the additional information. A parent with a baby carriage or
anyone using a cart benefits when they are informed the elevator or escalator
is not functioning. A person with a baby carriage or a few children has become
used to using the accessible washroom that often has a dual purpose of acting
as a family room. There are so many benefits everyone enjoys now because of
laws originally intended to aid people with disabilities.
How do you notify your customers of disruptions to services?
If you are interested in learning more about Accessibility
for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) or how to make accessibility a
natural part of your business through the application of Corporate Social
Responsibility, please contact Sandra Broekhof @ 416-579-1035 or sandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca or visit www.accessibilitycompliance.ca
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