Enabing you to do more A guide to the Disabiity Discrimination Act The goba eader in door opening soutions
Contents Words ike freedom, justice, democracy are not common concepts; on the contrary, they are rare. Peope are not born knowing what these are. It takes enormous and, above a, individua effort to arrive at the respect for other peope that these words impy. James Badwin, Writer (1924-1987) Page 3 The importance of incusive design Page 4 The 3 reevant documents Page 5 How does this affect me? Page 6 What is to be considered? Page 8 Door cosers Page 9 Hinges Page 10 Locks & security Page 12 Furniture Page 13 Pu handes 2 Page 14 Page 15 Lega impications Contact us This brochure provides genera advice and guidance, but shoud not be taken as a specific statement of the aw. We recommend that you seek professiona advice reating to your own particuar circumstances.
The importance of incusive design What is incusive design? According to the Disabiity Rights Commission, its goa is to create "beautifu and functiona environments that can be used equay by everyone, irrespective of age, gender or disabiity". That means creating buidings which are easy to use by anybody, and where there are no barriers to restrict access. It is a statement of equaity. The aternative is the od fashioned approach where design assumes an abe-bodied user, and the provision for disabed peope is at best an afterthought. However, this is short-sighted. There are approximatey 10 miion peope with disabiities in the UK: one person in five. Their tota spending power is estimated at 50 biion. Non-incusive design excudes disabed peope and deters their famiy and friends. It is therefore not ony questionabe from an ethica point of view; it makes bad business sense. It may aso be iega. The introduction of the Disabiity Discrimination Act (DDA) in 1995 made it unawfu to discriminate against disabed peope. The aw has subsequenty been extended by the Specia Educationa Needs and Disabiity Act (SENDA) 2001 and Disabiity Discrimination Act 2005 which fied in various oophoes and extended coverage to more organisations incuding education providers, transportation and pubic authorities. Part III of the DDA requires any organisation providing goods, faciities or services to the pubic to ensure that their premises are fuy accessibe. This might entai removing or atering physica features of the buiding or finding a way to circumvent them. The purpose of this brochure is to offer guidance to the specifier in meeting your ega requirements under the DDA and in promoting the goa of incusive design. 3
The 3 reevant documents An Act to make it unawfu to discriminate against disabed persons in connection with empoyment, the provision of goods, faciities and services or the disposa or management of premises... Disabiity Discrimination Act 1995, Preambe Disabiity Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) This forms the primary aw, as amended by the Specia Educationa Needs and Disabiity Act 2001 (SENDA) and the Disabiity Discrimination Act 2005. It imposes a ega duty on a organisations providing goods, faciities or services to the pubic to avoid discrimination against disabed peope. The aw sets down overa objectives and obigations: it does not specify in detai how these shoud be achieved. BS 8300: 2001 - Design of buidings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabed peope. This British Standard gives detaied guidance on the design and specification requirements of buidings that can ensure that disabed peope can make fu use of them. BS 8300 does not have the force of aw itsef but compiance shoud ensure that the ega obigations imposed by the DDA are met. Approved Document M (ADM) - Access to and use of buidings is part of the buiding reguations. It provides guidance and information compementary to the more detaied BS 8300. ADM appies to new buid and refurbished premises in Engand and Waes, incuding both non-domestic buidings and dweings and buidings undergoing a change of use. The Buiding (Scotand) Reguations 2004 and Part R of the Buiding Reguations (Northern Ireand) 2000 contain simiar guidance. 4
How does this affect me? Parts III and IV of the DDA and SENDA make it iega for service providers to discriminate against disabed peope for reasons pertaining to their disabiity, uness it can be justified. The definition of disabiity is a broad one, covering any physica or menta impairment, restricted mobiity, earning difficuties or ack of dexterity among many others. It is necessary to consider a ikey probems that the design of a buiding may cause to users, not just those which are obvious. The responsibiity imposed on service providers is to make a reasonabe adjustments necessary to faciitate access. Reasonabe wi be evauated against a number of factors, incuding: Type of goods or service Size of service provider Avaiabe resources How effective the adjustment is at overcoming the barrier Practicaity of making the adjustment Cost of the adjustment Disruption to the buiding whie the work is carried out. Whie this does give some discretion over the exact changes to make, it is important to reaise that doing nothing is not an option. An access pan for the premises shoud be drawn up, to assess a the foowing areas: Any feature in or on the premises occupied by the service provider arising from the design or construction of a buiding Any approach to, exit from or access to such a buiding Any fixtures, fittings, furnishings, equipment or materias Buiding entrances and exits Interna and externa doors and gates Toiet and washing faciities Signage. 5
What is to be considered? BS 8300 and the Buiding Reguations provide detaied guidance enabing you to meet the requirements of the DDA. The architectura ironmongery used must meet certain principes to ensure ease of operation. Visua carity: are exits and access routes ceary visibe? Can ocks and furniture be distinguished from their surroundings? Ease of comprehension: are products simpe to operate, and is it ceary obvious how to open, cose and ock a door? Ease of manipuation: can ocks be operated by those with imited dexterity? For exampe, can a door be opened using ony a cosed fist? Ready access: is there sufficient space to pass through a door? Does the cosing device aow sufficient time for those with reduced mobiity? Reiabiity: can the products used be guaranteed to provide continuous easy access under constant use, without jamming, breaking or wearing out? The foowing pages give detaied recommendations and advice for meeting the requirements of the standards and reguations. Areas of specia concern Door opening width A minimum cear width appropriate to the appication, as aid down in ADM Tabe 2 and BS 8300, is necessary to aow wheechair access. Signage Shoud be cear and egibe, and distinguishabe from the background by either tone or coour Shoud be consistent in design and positioning, and used ony where they can easiy be reached Shoud combine upper and ower case ettering using a sans-serif font Tactie signs, Braie or embossed etters benefit peope with visua disabiities. Caer identification When fitted to the principa entrance door of dweings, it is recommended that: 6 A wide ange viewer is instaed at a convenient height and ange An accessibe restricting device is fitted, imiting the door opening to 100mm to enabe identification documents to be checked.
Fire doors Products used on fire doors shoud be CE marked where appicabe Page 8 Door Cosers These must be ight to operate whie sti providing sufficient power to ensure the door coses propery. Hinges shoud perform better than the owest resistance cass of BS EN 1935: 2002 this means 4N per hinge maximum Latches shoud perform better than the owest resistance cass of BS EN 12209: 2003 this means 15N Door seas shoud introduce the minimum resistance possibe consistent with their effective operation Page 10 Locks & Security Locks shoud be consistent in function and ergonomicay designed to ensure ease of use. Door contros shoud provide a minimum cosing strength of cass 3 in accordance with BS EN 1154 Annex A, and exhibit an efficiency of at east 65% Door contros for use within an automatic fire aarm system shoud conform to BS EN 1155. These can incude: A cosing device incorporating an eectromagnetic hod open function A cosing device used with a separate eectromagnetic hod open device An eectromagnetic swing-free device In buidings which do not have an automatic fire aarm system, fuy automated door systems are preferred; but depending on the rate of traffic the aternative is a ow energy power assisted door operator. Grab rais 32mm to 35mm diameter, with a 50-60mm cearance from the wa Shoud offer a good grip when wet Page 9 Hinges Low friction bearings, high performance and maximum cear door opening width are essentia factors. Shoud contrast in coour and uminance with their background. Bathrooms, shower rooms and toiets Horizonta cosing bars shoud be fitted to the inside of the door Outward opening doors shoud be fitted with an emergency reease mechanism operabe from the outside Inward opening doors shoud incorporate a device aowing the door to be opened in an emergency even if a person has faen against it Page 12 Furniture Door furniture shoud be simpe to operate and ceary visibe to users. There shoud be a way to indicate if the room is in use with the words "Vacant" or "Occupied" ceary visibe, and a change in the coour of the indicator. Accessibe Bedrooms Provide wide ange viewers at two heights, 1050mm and 1500mm, to aow use by both seated and standing persons Consider the use of eectronic card-activated ocks and eectronicay powered opening devices. 7
Door cosers Eectromechanica free swing systems (ASSA FD440) or combination hod-open and swing-free systems in one body. ASSA cam action door cosers with adjustabe cosing strength 1-6 (ASSA 250) or 1-4 (ASSA 330) Must be ight to operate whie sti providing sufficient power to ensure that the door wi cose propery. Main entrance and interna non-fire doors Door cosers shoud conform to the requirements of BS EN 1154 Fire doors Door cosers shoud conform to the requirements of BS EN 1154, Annex A Cosing force must be at east power 3 as defined in BS EN 1154 Aternative soutions When the force of a standard cosing device is insufficient to keep an entrance door cosed under windy conditions, consider one of the foowing: Power operated (automatic) door Maximum opening resistance at the eading edge when measured at: 30N 22.5N 60º 0º 30º 0º - 30º no more than 30N 31º - 60º no more than 22.5N To achieve this whie sti meeting requirements for maximum opening resistance, a coser of at east 65% efficiency is required (depending on door width) Cosers shoud be CE marked Low energy swing door (depending on the expected fow rate of traffic) An entrance obby or airock system of inner and outer doors A suitabe power operated revoving door arrangement. (To be of a type that is considered accessibe. Aways seek speciaist advice and specify with care.) The maximum cosing force shoud occur between 0º and 15º of fina cosing 8 It is preferabe that backchecks shoud not operate before 80º opening.
Hinges ASSA 3220 - heavy duty hinge meets grade 11 of BS EN 1935 and suits doors up to 80kg When specifying hinges, ow friction bearings, high performance and maximum cear door opening widths are essentia factors. Hinges shoud perform to the requirements of BS EN 1935 Fixing positions shoud conform to the requirements of BS 4787-1 Low friction bearings ensure that the door requires minimum force to open Where opening cearance is a concern, the use of swing-cear hinges aows the door to aign with the door stop when opened to 90º, reducing the projection of door and furniture into the opening space by about 50mm. ASSA journa supported hinges are idea for high-usage situations: the sma bearing surface reduces friction and makes the door easy to open. Stee construction with hardened stee pins: tested and approved for use on fire doors. Hinges avaiabe from ASSA incude: 3228 severe duty hinge, meets grade 13 of BS 1935, suits doors up to 120kg. Aso avaiabe in Grade 304 S15 stainess stee for use in harsh environments where corrosion resistance is vita 3248 severe duty fu-eaf hinge, meets grade 13 of BS 1935, suits doors up to 120kg 3278 severe duty hinge, meets grade 14 of BS 1935, suits doors up to 160kg 3288 severe duty fu-eaf hinge, meets grade 14 of BS 1935, suits door up to 160kg. 9
Locks & security D455 sash ock Evoution 640 sash ock features a stee hookbot and singe-action escape function Locks shoud be consistent in function and ergonomicay designed to ensure ease of use. Locks & atches Upright mortice ock/atch to be used in conjunction with ever handes Minimum backset 54mm To ensure easy operation of the key by peope with impaired vision or dexterity, either the cyinder shoud be above the hande or the centres shoud be at east 72mm. Muti-point ocks: A muti-point ocking system shoud be ocked and unocked by a singe turn of the key. ASSA Evoution and Moduar ockcases feature an ergonomic design where the key is situated above the hande, for ease of visibiity and use. These heavy duty ocks offer over 30 different functions providing high security, escape and convenience where required. Vachette's D450 ock range features 72mm centres, 60mm backset and a 20mm throw deadbot*. Radiused and optiona square forends are provided. Successfuy type-tested for conformity to a of the requirements of BS EN 12209. This range satisfies the dimensiona recommendations of both ADM and BS 8300. * 10
ASSA 9256 moduar thumbturn Thumbturns with extended grips offer greater ease of use for those with impaired dexterity ASSA removabe key cassettes for when ease of use is a priority. SOLICODE 210 code ock compact and easy-to-use method of access restriction Snibs & Turns Door bots Door entry systems Keys Bathroom/privacy functions - the turn to reease the deadbot shoud be arge enough to operate easiy Rim nightatches - specify arger deadocking snibs and turns on cyinders. Larger bows on keys give users greater contro A hand-grippabe key fob can be added to a standard key bow, to aid manipuation. To conform to the requirements of BS EN 12051 Preferred bot types are: - Knob side fush bots or surface bots with a free moving side action - Rack & pinion mortice bots fitted with fixed knobs - Surface mounted or morticed espagnoette bots with top and bottom or side shoots operated by a singe hande mounted between 750-1000mm from the foor. Keypads, readers or intercom systems shoud be positioned on the atch side of the door Consideration shoud be given to the use of proximity or hands-free systems Activation device to be positioned within 200mm of the door frame or aperture The activation device shoud be positioned at a height of 750-1000mm from finished foor eve to permit easy operation by wheechair users. The SOLICODE 210 codeock provides a compact and easy to use method of restricting access to an area, when used with an eectric strike, door magnet or eectric ockcase as part of a door entry system. It offers mutipe codes, anti-manipuation features, a backit keypad and the options of timer functions, auto-expiry codes, anti-taigating and a duress aarm. 11
Furniture ASSA Nordic U satisfies the recommendations of BS 8300 and ADM A difference in Light Refectance Vaue (LRV) between two surfaces of greater than 20 points Door furniture shoud be simpe to operate and ceary visibe to users Lever Handes: Shoud be operabe by one hand or cosed fist, without needing to grip tighty or twist the wrist Design and ocation of handes shoud be consistent throughout a property In areas subject to extreme or harsh weather conditions externa furniture shoud not be cod to the touch. Minimum 19mm diameter grip Minimum 95mm inside dimension Require a cearance of at east 45mm between the inside of the ever grip and face of the door, excuding rose or backpate Shoud be fitted at a height of 900-1100mm (1000mm preferred) from finished foor eve to permit easy operation by wheechair users The use of return ever handes ensures safety and heps grip Visua Contrast: Door furniture shoud contrast in coour and uminance with the surface of the door, for easy identification by visuay impaired peope BS 8300 Annex G recommends a difference in Light Refectance Vaue (LRV) of at east 20 points, and preferaby 30 points or more. 12 A textured grip on externa ever handes woud assist peope with specia needs
Pu handes Stainess stee pu 400mm pu hande incuding the ASSA ScanFex Straight (iustrated) and Cranked 400mm pu handes satisfy the recommendations of BS 8300 and ADM. Pu handes provide assistance to disabed peope in opening and cosing doors Grip diameter shoud be from 19-35mm Grip shoud be at east 400mm in ength Cearance of at east 45mm between the inside of the grip and the face of the door Fit a pu hande horizontay on the push side of a door with no cosing device to aid wheechair users cose the door behind them The design and ocation of pu handes shoud be consistent throughout a property The projection of door furniture needs to be taken into account when determining cear opening widths. 13
Lega impications Pauine Devine, Partner, Irwin Mitche Soicitors If your advice or schedues do not compy with the requirements of the Act, the buiding owner might have a caim against you, and that coud be a serious amount of money. It is an offence to not make reasonabe adjustments to any physica features of your premises which create a barrier to access for peope with disabiities. Faiure to act coud resut in ega action. Foowing the recommendations of BS 8300 and ADM is ony one method of compiance. There may be equay satisfactory ways to compy with reguations, particuary when deaing with existing buidings and space constraints. To assist in assessing compiance an Access Statement can be prepared. This wi carify the phiosophy and approach to the design and define the sources of advice and guidance used. When work wi deviate from the guidance in Part M, the Access Statement shoud set out the reasons for departing from the guidance and the rationae for the design approach adopted. 14
Contact us Our GAI quaified staff have many years of experience in providing architectura hardware soutions where peope with disabiities must be considered. You can fee assured that the advice we give wi assist you in fufiing your duties under Part III of the DDA. Serena Roadnight Product Manager Making the correct adjustments and aterations is an ongoing process, not something which you shoud consider ony once. Reguar reviews are required. For hep and advice with reasonabe adjustments and specifying the right hardware, pease contact our speciaists: Specification Division ASSA ABLOY Door Soutions Units 3-4, ZK Park 23 Commerce Way Croydon CR0 4ZS T: 020 8688 5191 F: 020 8688 0285 Further advice and information: Centre for Accessibe Environments (CAE) www.cae.org.uk Disabiity Rights Commission www.drc.org.uk Guid of Architectura Ironmongers www.gai.org.uk Speciaist Consutancies & User Groups Access Groups Disabiity Organisations Loca Authority Access Officers Emai: saes@assaaboy.co.uk Web: www.assaaboydoorsoutions.co.uk 15
www.assaaboydoorsoutions.co.uk ASSA ABLOY Door Soutions Units 3-4 ZK Park 23 Commerce Way Croydon CR0 4ZS T: 020 8688 5191 F: 020 8688 0285 Emai: saes@assa.co.uk Web: www.assaaboydoorsoutions.co.uk The goba eader in door opening soutions