It came as something of a breath of fresh air to stumble across a branding and marketing company in Design JD which demonstrates such a strong awareness of accessibility issues.
We’re delighted and proud to be invited to enhance their accessibility messages with a few ideas based on our own experience of working with an organisation of all sizes around the country, in the public and private sectors, and on all property types from listed buildings to those still on the drawing board.
We’d like to focus on one of our key areas of expertise – access audits – and we want to apply it to matters of signage because that’s what Design JD are particularly good at. An access audit is a survey which examines the accessibility of a place – it could be a town centre, an industrial estate, an individual building or whatever. At the heart of the process are the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, which call on service providers to anticipate potential barriers to access. The Act doesn’t require you to have an access audit carried out, but if you don’t have one how are you going to identify the features that are disabling?
So you should have one and, in line with the recommendations of the Equality Act code of practice, it should be carried out by a suitably qualified person. That would be a qualified access consultant, ideally selected from the National Register of Access Consultants, which is the only database of its kind in the UK.
You’ll end up with someone who is equipped with key skills from a number of professions. They will have a basic understanding of the requirements of the law behind the Equality Act and other legislation and guidance, and of the penalties for infringement. They will also have a good grasp of the technical aspects of buildings and they will understand how disabled people use the built environment and what is and is not disabling to them.
The contents of the access audit will generally depend on the client brief. More often than not the expectation is for us to focus on the physical features of a property, but a more aware service provider will also embrace the policies of the business and the attitudes of staff, which can be very influential in setting levels of accessibility. In addition, their awareness may also prompt them to take a pan-disability view covering the needs of wheelchair-users, people who are visually impaired or hearing impaired, those with poor manual dexterity, cognitive impairments and more.
You can see why good signage is so important. It can’t physically lift a wheelchair-user up a flight of steps or across a gravel footpath but it can be used to direct them to an alternative route which is accessible. It’s good to see within the awareness demonstrated by Design JD that careful consideration is given to the locations of signage and to the style.
Signage has one job – to communicate wayfinding information effectively – and in doing that it must take into account the needs of different users, the relationship between the reader and the sign in terms of height, placement and visibility.
Tonal contrast is very important so people can identify the text and symbols against the background. Lighting is also important – you wouldn’t hide an important sign away in a dark corner and nor would you bathe it in a bright light which can create difficulties with glare and shadows.
Other potential issues around the location of signs are terrain – whether inside or outside the surface needs to be suitable for wheelchairs and for people who are unsteady on their feet – and the width of routes such as footpaths, doors and gates.
Our access audits consider a person’s journey at every point along their route, from arriving at a site whether by car or public transport, to finding the appropriate entrance, locating the reception area and navigating their way around the building to identify specific offices and departments and – crucially – accessible loos.
Good signage is essential throughout, and most of all when it comes to showing people the way out, especially in an emergency.
Managing Director,
About Access.
www.aboutaccess.co.uk