Attention AODA organizations: actions to complete by January 1, 2012

January 1, 2012, is the date to complete all actions required under the Accessibility Standards for Customer Service and emergency preparedness requirements in the Integrated Accessibility Standards. The good news is, if your organization is obligated to report, you do not have to file with the government until December 31, 2012.

Let us quickly recap the obligatory actions to complete. Under the customer service standards, if you have one employee or more, your obligations are to:

• Establish policies, practices and procedures on providing goods or services to people with disabilities
• Use reasonable efforts to ensure that your policies, practices and procedures are consistent with the core principles of independence, dignity, integration and equal opportunity
• Set a policy to allow people to use their personal assistive devices on your premises and about any other measures your organization offers (assistive devices, services, methods) to help people to access your goods and services
• Communicate with persons with a disability in a manner that takes into account the person’s disability
• Allow people with disabilities to be accompanied by their service animal in those areas of your premises that are open to the public, unless the animal is excluded by another law
• If the service animal is excluded by law, then have an alternative method to provide services
• Allow customers with disabilities to be accompanied by a support person in premises open to the public
• Provide notice ahead of time on what admission, if any, you will charge for the support person of a person with a disability
• Provide notice when facilities or services on which customers with disabilities rely are temporarily disrupted.
• Train staff, volunteers, contractors and other third parties who interact with the public on your behalf on topics outlined in the customer service standard
• Train staff, volunteers, contractors and third parties who are involved in developing your policies, practices and procedures on topics outlined in the customer service standard
• Establish a process for people to provide feedback on how you provide goods or services to people with disabilities
• Include in this feedback process how you will respond and take action on complaints
• The information about your feedback process must be readily available to the public

There are additional requirements for designated public sector organizations or other providers with 20 or more employees. Employers must:

1. Document policies, practices and procedures for providing accessible customer service, and meet other document requirements in the standard.
2. Notify customers that required documents are available upon request.
3. When providing the required documents to a person with a disability, provide the information in a format that takes into account the person’s disability.

Employers with 20 or more employees must include the following in their documentation:

• General information on policies, practices and procedures
• Policies, practices and procedures on service animals and support   persons
• Notice of temporary disruption of services or facilities including the steps to take
• A training policy
• A description of the feedback process

With respect to the emergency preparedness provisions of the Integrated Accessibility Standards:

• Under the information and communication standard, if your organization provides emergency procedures, plans or public safety information that is available to the public, then you will provide the plan in an accessible format upon request
• Under the employment standard, if the employer is aware that an employee has a disability that requires accommodation in an emergency, the employer must provide the employee with individualized emergency response information in an accessible format; employers must also designate someone to provide assistance during the emergency
• In the transportation standard, all conventional and specialized service providers will make available to the public information on accessibility equipment, features of their vehicles, routes and services, and provide this information in an accessible format upon request

Please share how you are filing compliance reports for the requirements.

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