• Thorough familiarity with BS 8300 & Document M; BS 5588 parts 8 and 12
• Disability Equality Training
• DDA and Health and Safety legislation
• Fire (Scotland) Act 2005
• Open space countryside access audits
• Access Audits in historical buildings
• Compiling Access Statements
• Training within the Disability Equality Duty and its Implementation

AUDITS TELL YOU, THE SERVICE PROVIDER, HOW ACCESSIBLE YOUR FACILITIES ARE.

• They provide good access information which is good customer service.
• They help you apply limited resources in the most important places.
• You can show clear access improvement needs when making applications for additional resources.

FOR DISABLED PEOPLE?

• Audit information lets disabled people make informed choices about where is accessible.
• It gives confidence to disabled users that they will find the level of access they expect.
• It lets them express a view as to where and how access might be improved.

Since 1st October 2004, where a physical feature makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for disabled people to make use of services a service provider has a duty to take reasonable steps to avoid this physical feature preventing disabled people from using the service.

These duties to make reasonable adjustments are owed to disabled people at large and are not simply relevant to each individual disabled person who wants to access a service provider’s services. Some of the factors which might be considered in determining what is reasonable adjustment include:

• whether taking any particular steps would be effective;
• the extent to which it is practicable;
• the financial and other costs;
• the extent of any disruption; the extent of the service provider’s financial and other resources
• the amount of any resources already spent on making adjustments;
• the availability of financial and other assistance.

A service provider must comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments in order to avoid committing an act of unlawful discrimination. A disabled person is able to make a claim against a service provider if:

• the service provider fails to do what is required; and
• that failure makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for that disabled person to access any services provided by that service provider to the public; and
• the service provider cannot show that such failure is justified

AUDITS FOR THE COUNTRYSIDE

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) came into effect in December 1996 and 2006 for Part III of the Act, which covers the provision of services, includes the provision of goods or facilities. It does not matter whether services are provided free or in return for payment. It is the provision of the service which is important not the nature of that service or the type of situation in which it is provided. All countryside services are therefore covered by the act: walks, programmes, events, information, interpretation, paths and trails, visitor centres. With this mind, a quote from the Fieldfare Trust states it perfectly:

“The challenge facing countryside access managers is therefore to find creative and innovative ways of providing access that fits into the countryside and meets the needs of disabled visitors. It is important to remember that access for disabled people is not just about the physical condition of paths and trails. These are important as the means to the end. ‘Countryside for All’ means a disabled person sharing in the enjoyment, challenges and recreation that rural environments have to offer.”

Fieldfare Trust