Access and facilities for disabled people

Improve access to and use of your facilities for disabled employees

You may need to make alterations and changes to physical features to accommodate disabled employees. If the physical feature is not a barrier to non-disabled employees but puts disabled employees at a big disadvantage, you must take steps to adjust it so as to remove or reduce its impact. These alterations are called reasonable adjustments.

These steps could include, where reasonable, making structural or physical changes to premises, such as:

• widening doorways to allow a wheelchair to pass through easily
• replacing steps with ramps
• relocating light switches and door handles for someone who has difficulty in reaching
• putting in place audio-visual fire alarms

These steps also entail allowing the person to work in a more easily accessible place, such as by:

• transferring a wheelchair user's workstation from an inaccessible upper floor to the ground floor
• providing specially modified equipment, such as a special keyboard adapted for someone who has arthritis, or a telephone adapted for someone with a hearing impairment

The employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) now apply to all employers, regardless of size, except the armed forces.

The employment provisions are not anticipatory and therefore the employer is only required to consider the needs of an actual disabled employee.

For more information, view a good practice guide for managers and employers on the Disability Rights Commission website.

Read about the Northern Ireland disablement advisory service on the Department for Employment and Learning Northern Ireland website.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• When a person is considered disabled
• Change practices to give disabled people equal access
• Provide extra aids or services so disabled people can access your goods or services
• Overcome physical barriers to access
• Improve access to and use of your facilities for disabled employees
• What to consider before making an adjustment for disabled employees
• Make significant changes to your premises
• Make significant changes to premises you rent
• Here's how ensuring accessibility for staff and customers has helped our business

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