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Posted: 2000-07-28 10:04
Hi! This is regards to handicap access. I sent you a message on 7/14 and again on 7/24 but haven't received a reply. Please just let me know if you plan on answering me or not so I don't keep checking throughout the day for an answer. I feel a little left out and jealous!! Everyone else is getting replies but me (and no, I'm not 4 yrs. old...even though it sounds like it). Just need this issue clarified, that's all.
nork1
Joined: Sep 13, 2001 Posts: 1734
Posted: 2000-07-28 13:51
Your original question involved handicap access; specifically, curb requirements based on building size.
I think the reason why you haven't gotten an answer is that your question is more of a facilities question rather than HR (facilities is something that some companies dump on HR, and we in HR try very hard to avoid it). Another complicating factor is that many states' laws supercede or modify federal ADA requirements.
I suggest that you contact your local building permit folks for the answer to your question.
JimCarabetta
Joined: Sep 13, 2001 Posts: 3335
Posted: 2000-07-28 16:23
I gotta agree with Carl. The number of spaces reserved for handicapped parking is usually based on employee population and is generally set by local codes.
In your particular example, ADA requirements are to provide "equal access" to those with disabilities. To ask someone in a wheelchair to go around the back and use the loading ramp, and then traverse the warehouse to get an application from the office may be deemed "unequal" in the face of a few buckets-full of cold-patch asphalt to made a tar ramp to get over the curb. I'm not saying it is.. you know your plant better than I.. I'm saying it may be. Since every plant and every case is different, and, as Carl noted, so are the constraints of local codes, I'd take a look at what you've got, compare it to the "equal access" requirement, and provide whatever you need to level the field. Because the whole deal is so nebulous, and not just your situation, I think the "reasonable person" criterion will serve you best.
EpsteinBecker&Green,P.C.
Joined: Sep 13, 2001 Posts: 8461
Posted: 2000-08-01 07:43
No, Mary, we didn't forget about you-- thanks for your patience. Let me add the following thoughts to Carl's and Jim's responses.
This is an issue of both federal (ADA) and state law. Under Title III of the ADA, if you own a commercial facility, you must provide at least some degree of handicap accessibility. (A commercial facility is a facility that has the requisite impact on interstate commerce-- let's assume for the moment that your facility is a commercial facility.)
As a 20 year old builiding, your structure is an existing facility (as opposed to a new facility). The owner of an existing commercial facility must remove architectural barriers to handicap access if it is readily acheivable to do so; removal is readily achievable if it can be accomplished without significant difficulty or expense. This obligation is a continuing one.
Here, based on your description of the problem, it sounds as if a curb cut would be readily achievable, and you may need to make some related changes as well (e.g., designating appropriate locations in the parking lot for handicap parking).
Because the regulations are detailed and complicated, you may want to look at them yourself. They are codified at 28 CFR Part 36-- you may want to start with sections 36.304-36.305, which discuss what is "readily achievable." You will have to check Ohio law as well for its variations (if any) on what the ADA requires.
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Posted: 2000-07-28 10:04 
