The Disability Discrimination Act Part 3 puts into place the requirement that buildings have to be accessible for everyone who has a disability.

Accessibility audits are the first steps to take to establish the strengths and weaknesses of your building in relation to car parks, entrances, receptions, circulation, egress and facilities.

Access audits that are not acted upon leaves you open to risk of discriminating against disabled people who may work within the building or people who visit and use the building.

• Access audits undertaken 3 years ago would usually require an update and this would take the form of another audit or a review known as an Access Statement
• If action has been taken then you need to review if the action taken is satisfactory and doing its job
• If outstanding action remains in parts then you need to consider next steps in getting this done or reviewed
• Buildings and facilities should be reviewed by Access Consultants who have a proven track-record in construction and disability matters
• When evaluating consider interconnecting areas such as services, communication and information - mystery customer surveys are useful when checking out service delivery