Canadian Safety Reporter

MAY 2013 Some workers may have difficulty hearing alarms, using stairs in emergency Continued from page 1 Jan. 1, 2012. But a lot of firms didn't meet the deadline, said Leola Pon, a lawyer with Hicks Morley in Toronto. "(Employers) were so focused on the first regulation, which was customer service, that many employers didn't even know about the integrated accessibility standard and didn't realize one of the first requirements was this emergency evacuation standard, so it should already be in place," she said. The regulation does not say what the plans must include. But it states the employer must provide individualized workplace emergency response information to employees who have a disability, if the disability is such that the individualized information is necessary and the employer is aware of the need for accommodation due to the employee's disability, said Cathy Chandler, an occupational health and safety consultant with Gowlings in Toronto. "The intent of this provision is for employers to prepare for the specific needs that employees with disabilities may have in emergency situations," she said. "The first thing to keep in mind when developing the individualized information is to recognize how an individual's disability, as well as the physical nature of the workplace, may create unique challenges in emergency situations." For example, some workers may have difficulty using stairs, hearing fire alarms or seeing exit signs, she said. Chandler recommends developing a template form to create individualized emergency response information for employees addressing the following questions: How will the employee access our information? 2 How will the employee evacuate the building? How will the employee be notified of an emergency? Does the employee require an assistant or service animal? If so, what is their role? Employers should also consider how an employee with a disability would get to lockdown rooms and the role such refuge areas may play, said Chandler. Because employers need to know who needs a plan before they can prepare one, employers should ask employees to self-identify a disability if they think they have any needs that may arise in the event of an emergency, said Pon. Encouraging self-identification is not required by regulation, but the government thinks it is a best practice and so does Pon. If employers don't know about a need then they can't work with the employee to prepare a plan, she said. "So that's why I think inviting employees to self-identify a need is an important step, it is not technically legally required, but (employers) should be doing that as well." The government has produced a template guide with what they've suggested employers do, said Pon. Employers should keep in mind that it's not just people with physical disabilities who may need a specialized plan, said Pon. Employees with disabilities such as anxiety may also need plans, she said. "We have to sit down with them and understand what the needs are," Pon said. "Eventually you prepare a written plan based on that discussion." The Ontario government has created a template can help guide the discussion with the employee. The written plan the employer is required to put in place should set out details such as the closest exit in case of fire and other employees that can be available to assist the worker, said Pon. Ontario is the first province to take steps to become fully accessible to people with disabilities through the introduction of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), said Chandler. "Ontario aims to achieve accessibility for Ontarians with disabilities by 2025," she said. "The Province of Manitoba has also taken steps to introduce accessibility legislation." In November 2012, the Manitoba government made a commitment to move forward with accessibilityrights legislation, said Chandler. The province enacted the Accessibility Advisory Council Act, which provides for an Accessibility Advisory Council. The council's role is to make recommendations to the minister on accessibility legislation. The legislation is likely to be similar to the AODA in Ontario, she said. In other provinces, generally speaking, fire code-type acts tend to have some requirement that says make provisions for people with disabilities, said Pon. "But this accessibility act in Ontario is quite specific that employers need to prepare a specific, individualized plan," she said. The legislation is important because it ensures employees with disabilities have all the same resources as everyone else in the workplace. "It's essentially bringing people with disabilities including employees, to the same level, the same playing ground, so they have equal opportunity of… working with the same resources at the same time, in the same fashion as their colleagues," she said. Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2013

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