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Steps to consider when providing emergency and public safety information

Making your information accessible doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming – there are lots of ways to do it. These steps may help you get started.

1. Assess your information

Think about how you provide emergency and public safety information to the public. Focus on things such as evacuation plans, brochures and signs; things that are created before an emergency strikes. Look for potential barriers or anything that would make it difficult for someone with a disability to read, see, hear or understand. For example:

• Someone with vision loss may not see a printed map or warning sign
• If they can’t hear the narrator, someone with hearing loss might not understand a video
• Text-heavy emergency guidelines may be hard for someone with a learning disability to understand.

Talk to your customers, staff and people you know who have a disability to help identify possible barriers.

Example

Adil wants everyone to enjoy his theme park safely. He publishes an emergency safety brochure and decides to make several copies in large print. They are available upon request at the park entrance.

Example

A printing company updated its emergency response plan using standard word processing software. They know that using the software’s pre-set styles to format headings and paragraphs makes the document look better and makes it accessible. So they used headings to create a properly formatted table of contents and included descriptive text for the images. When they landed a new client who has vision loss, they gave her the electronic file which works with her screen reader software.

Tip: Whenever you create documents, build them as structured electronic files. It’s simple to apply a ‘style’ to titles, headings, etc. and it makes them look better by keeping formatting consistent. If you create all your documents this way, then it’s easy to turn them into accessible formats.

For more information on creating a structured electronic file, visit http://adod.idrc.ocad.ca/.

2. Make it accessible upon request

There is no one-size-fits-all solution to providing information accessibly. The law does not specify what format or communication support to use; it’s flexible so you can work with the public to determine what they need.

Example

A property management company gives all new tenants a guide to its emergency procedures. It is large, complex and full of legal language. Cathy has a learning disability and tells her landlord that she doesn’t understand it. When the property manager meets with Cathy to go through the procedures, he learns how to make the guide clearer and easier to understand.

What you do will depend on what information you provide, its format and your customer’s individual needs. For example:

Every organization is different, so do what works best for you and your customer.

3. Provide it as soon as possible

Emergency and public safety information allows people to plan for emergencies; and people with disabilities may need more time to prepare. Anticipating their need may help you meet requests quickly and demonstrates your commitment to public safety.

Once requested, emergency or public safety information must be provided as soon as possible. How quickly you can provide it may depend on the amount of information, its complexity and the format requested, combined with your organization’s resources. In some cases, you may be able to provide accessible formats instantly. In other cases, it may take longer.

Example

Before customers start to play, Stan’s paintball and laser tag company shows a short video on what to do if someone gets hurt. A customer with hearing loss asks for an accessible format, so Stan gives her a transcript of what’s said in the video.