Appendix I − Summary of the Code of Practice for Access for Disabled Persons to Public Buildings

The following is a summary of certain aspects of the Code of Practice for Access for Disabled Persons to Public Buildings as implemented in 1991:

Requirements for Wheelchair Users

Parking Lots and Entrances

If parking lots are provided, one in a hundred with a minimum of two must be reserved for the vehicles of disabled drivers. These should be at least 3,000 mm. wide, located on flat ground and marked with the Access Symbol.

There must be a usable entrance at ground level, giving access to a lift (and see 4.a). Any reserved parking lots must be as close to it as possible. If it is not the main entrance, its location should be indicated with the Access Symbol. (OUR NOTE: Starting from the main entrance, with a combined direction sign and symbol, if not visible from there)

Moving on the Level

The path of travel for wheelchairs must be at least 1,200 mm. wide. There should be no steps, and no abrupt change of level exceeding 10 mm. Windows and doors should not open into this path in a way which obstructs it.

Doors should give a clear opening of at least 800 mm. Specifications are given for door handles, pull-bars and permitted glazing.

Ramps

Access from one level to another will be either by lift or by ramp. A ramp must maintain the pathway width of 1,200 mm., and must have level resting places at intervals of 6,000 mm.: its gradient must not be steeper than 1 in 12.

Both sides of a ramp must be fitted with a strong hand-rail. If either side of a ramp is open, a kerb at least 100 mm. high should be added so that the chair wheels cannot go over the adge.

However a small change in level between 10 and 215 mm. can be crossed, or an existing step of such size can be modified, by using a step-ramp as described in the Standard. This can have a gradient of up to 1 in 6, and it is left to the discretion of the owner whether a rail is needed or not.

Lifts

At least one lift, accessible from the entrance door for the disabled (see 1.b), must be as described below.

The minimum internal dimension is 1,800 mm. each side. The doors must be power-operated, giving an opening of at least 800 mm. The lift must stop within a floor-level accuracy of 10 mm. above or below.

There should be a hand-rail (grab-rail) next to the control panel, and the control buttons should not be more than 1,400 mm. above the floor.

Toilets

Among all the toilets in a building, quotas are set both for accessible water closets and for accessible urinals. Detailed specifications are also given, the main features of which are as below.

In general one in a hundred water closets must be usable, and each sex must have at least one which they can use. The door must leave an opening of at least 760 mm., the change in level should be minimal, and it must be possible for the wheelchair user to go in and shut the door behind him. Once inside, there should be enough space for him to turn and to use the facilities there without difficulty. The closet itself must not be wider at the bottom than the distance between the raised footplates of a wheelchair; it must also be approachable from alongside, with a grab-rail provided, and must have both toilet paper and water immediately at hand.

A row of urinals of the wall-hung type should contain one in which the lip of the bowl is 400 mm. above the floor. Urinals of the stall type must not have a step up from the floor.

Other specifications:

• A − For baths, showers and changing rooms when these are provided.
• B − For wash basins, which must be at a convenient height, so constructed that a wheelchair user can get right up to them, and fitted with taps as specified.
• C − For desks and other work surfaces, where there must be a space beneath large enough for the wheelchair to enter.
• D − For counters serving the public, one or a part of which should be usable by a sitting person as in (b) and (c).
• E − For shelving, which must be within the user's reach; if it is behind a work surface that reach is shorter.
• F − For fixtures in a room such as electric switches and plugs, telephones, door and window handles, etc. These must be within comfortable reach by a wheelchair user, and well clear of corners.
• G − For the design, size and positioning of the Access Symbol.

Requirements for Crutch Users

Walking Surfaces

Most of the requirements for wheelchair users also meet the needs of crutch users and need not be repeated. However since they walk they have some other problems, and can take other possible routes.

In particular slippery surfaces are dangerous to them, especially when wet. So whatever they tread on (outside and at entrance steps; in halls, passages and rooms; stair treads; toilet floor and so on) must be of some non-slip material. Examples are given of such materials suitable for wet and dry locations.

Ramps, Stairs and Rails

If a ramp will only be used by walking disabled, a gradient of up to 1 in 8 is allowed.

Most crutch users can climb stairs to varying extents, but have their limitations. So the total rise of any one flight of stairs must not exceed 2,000 mm.; while projecting nosings or open stairs, which could snag their toes, should not be used.

Stairs must have hand-rails on both sides, the distance between them from one side to the other being not less than 900 mm. so that two people can pass one another. At the top and bottom of any flight these rails should extend beyond the stairs, and at landings they should be continuous from one flight to the next.

Crutch users wearing calipers, or otherwise unable to bend their knee, will use the rail on one side and a crutch on the other to push themselves up to the next step. So rails must be able to bear a considerable weight, and detailed specifications are given for them in the Standard: they should be between 840 and 875 mm. above the stair treads or floor surfaces.

Doors

It must be possible to open and close doors (and also windows) with one hand.

Turnstiles and revolving doors may not be used.

Toilets

Different specifications are given for a water closet for walking disabled only. For crutch users there should be a rail of special design on each side of the closet to help them stand or sit as the case may be.

Urinals of both the wall-hung and stall types should also have grab-rails of another special design on both sides 1,200 mm. above the floor.

Requirements for the Blind

The Totally Blind

Entrances and exits which they use should be identified by a change of floor texture as they come to them, or by a sound signal. A plain vertical wall without recessing is ideal for them to follow with their canes. Isolated pillars should be avoided, while the vertical corners of walls and pillars both inside and outside the building should be rounded off to reduce the risk of injury; and so should the edges and corners of fixed work surfaces. Anything which overhangs their path of travel must be at least 2,000 mm. above the surface on which they walk.

In any flight of stairs, all the treads and risers should be of uniform size. Blind people too can snag their toes on projecting nosings, so precise specifications are given to avoid this. The adjacent parts of floors and landings should be of contrasting texture to distinguish them from the staircase itself. Any danger areas (e.g. electrical switchgear rooms) not protected by a locked door should be indicated by a warning signal which the blind will meet and feel; various methods are suggested.

In lifts for the disabled the control buttons should be easily identified by touch, and sensing devices should ensure that the doors do not close while somebody is passing through them. Outside in the lift lobby there should be embossed numbering next to the call button giving the floor number; and an audible signal should be provided, in addition to any visible one, to indicate when the lift car is about to arrive and whether it is going up or down.

In a toilet for the walking disabled (see D. 4.a) the special rail will also help the blind to position themselves correctly. Any hot water pipes which they may encounter must be insulated. Electric switches and other such fixtures in rooms should be at a uniform height, the same as the door handles; and the moving part of a switch should project clear of its plate.

All systems for public announcements and emergency warnings must be audible as well as visible.

Those with Low Vision

Warning should be given of any obstacle or hazard on the floor or walls by use of contrasting colors. In particular contrasting colors as well as changes of floor texture should be used at the beginning and end of a flight of stairs (see D. 2.b).

Frameless glass doors and any other vertical glass they might walk into should be clearly marked between 800 and 1,500 mm. above the floor.

Specifications are given for the minimum illumination levels which must be maintained at certain places.

Requirements for the Deaf

Lifts

People who have been deaf since birth or an early age often cannot speak. So an emergency alarm button must be provided for them on the control panel of the lift car, even if there is also a telephone there.

In the lift lobby at each floor there should be visual indicators to acknowledge when the call button is pressed, and to show the present position of the lift car and whether it is going up or down.

Auditoria and Announcements

For the benefit of those who are only partly deaf (the "hard of hearing") and use certain types of hearing aids, any auditorium (lecture hall, cinema, religious hall, etc.) should be surrounded by an induction loop connected to the sound system.

All systems for public announcements and emergency warnings must be visible as well as audible.