AODA—Preparing Your Business For Compliance

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, (AODA) requires phased-in compliance by public and private organizations, with five sets of mandatory standards to ensure that Ontarians with disabilities are able to obtain full access to goods, services, accommodations, employment, buildings and premises.
Currently, there are four standards in place: the Customer Service Standard, the Information and Communications Standard, the Employment Standard, and the Transportation Standard, the latter three of which are contained in the Integrated Accessibility Standards. While the fifth standard, the Built Environment Standard, has been the subject of public consultations, it has yet to be issued. This update will provide information about the compliance requirements for four of the six standards—the Customer Service Standard, the Information and Communications Standard, the Employment Standard and the general requirements under the Integrated Accessibility Standards.
Deadlines for compliance with the standards vary depending on the nature and size of an organization. Thus, it is important employers ensure that they have complied with current requirements and are preparing to meet the upcoming additional requirements under the standards.

Current compliance requirements

Since January 1, 2012, private sector organizations in Ontario are expected to be in compliance with the Customer Service Standard. In brief, the Customer Service Standard applies to every person or organization with at least one employee in Ontario that "provides goods or services to members of the public or other third parties." Amongst the requirements under the Customer Service Standard, organizations are expected to have an Accessible Customer Service Plan in place and to train employees on how to serve persons with disabilities. Organizations with more than 20 employees are required to file an accessibility compliance report online. More information on the Customer Service Standard is available in our previous update.
In addition, as of January 1, 2012, under the Employment Standard, employers are required to provide individualized workplace emergency response information to employees who have a disability where the disability will require such a measure.

Do you know how far toward compliance your company is?

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 orsandra_broekhof@sympatico.ca