Hello Dave,
Have a look at this website: http://www.disabledgo.com/
It might give you some ideas of the type of features you want to include.
There are other Access Guides around and members will have their views on their respective pros and cons. Disabled Go is probably the market leader in the UK.
The key risk with any such audit is quality control. A lifetime ago I trained around 40 staff members to audit 250 buildings. The lesson I learnt was not to attempt to do that again! Much better to have a small group of trusted colleagues where you have a chance of managing consistency and accuracy.
Also, as Jane points out the audits are out of date the moment they are completed so there needs to be an affective way of keeping the information as fresh as possible. This needs to be understood by client and negotiated accordingly.
Darryl Smith
Community Engagement, Development and Equality Officer
The Learning Disability Partnership
City of Bradford Metropolitan Council
T: 01274 434171 or 435031
M: 07582 109021
E: [log in to unmask]
www.bradford.gov.uk
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-----Original Message-----
From: Accessibuilt list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jane Simpson
Sent: 11 October 2013 07:12
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Accessibility auditors
I come from a slightly different perspective. I always give a price for the job, rather than an hourly rate, as this gives more certainty. When auditing this can be such a different beast. I would ascertain:
Why do they want it? Is it for future planning or for a project that is in planning. This may impact on which areas are audited or indeed which elements.
What best practice guidance to they want used in the analysis?
I would always use the sequential journey, for all, so staff, visitors, pupils, patients, etc.
What do they do where and for who, do they have parties of school children, they needs are very different from a lone adult visitor.
Is it a modern building with identical doors? Then one comment on doors with notations of exceptions will cut down time and cost.
If works include a full rewire no point auditing everything give them references on how to specify for the new works.
What size is the building?
Is it listed (of historic interest)?
Is it a public building?
In the past I have used a 'gaps analysis' which went through room by room identifying pass or fail for all elements, including photographs (airport).
This can then be used when future works are undertaken to remove barriers.
Other audits have been more of a review, where are the major barriers to visitors, which items are priority (church)?, etc. It is very difficult to ascertain. The best approach I use is how long will it take and then apply a day rate and expenses.
One thing to remember is an audit is out of date the moment it is finished.
Regards Jane
Jane Simpson
T: 01484 413000/537407
M: 07777 607239
www.janesimpsonaccess.com
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-----Original Message-----
From: Accessibuilt list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ormerod Marcus
Sent: 10 October 2013 6:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Accessibility auditors
Hi Dave
I am glad you and others have been such long followers of the list.
To try to answer your question from what is happening here in the UK from my perspective there are a range of options being offered from differing sources. Architect's offices are offering access consultancy as a "value added" service in their designs; there are dedicated access consultants and then there are disability organisations offering their services. Each one will be asking for different levels of fees and this may also depend on the type of client with commercial firms being charged more for the service than those who have far less resources to spare.
Most organisations commissioning access consultancy services would prefer a price for the job, and determining what is included in the job is sometimes tricky - do they want staff training as well, etc. So this then boils down to how much you feel the client can afford to pay, offering a cheap service can also mean that the client does not value the advice as much as if they had paid a fair price for it.
As a guide I would suggest you try to find out what local architect's are charging for an hourly rate, smaller practices rather than the big swanky ones quite often work by the hour. Then try to assess how long it will take to undertake the audit. As a rule of thumb for every day out on site collecting access data and photographs it will take one and half times as long again to write up the report. If you are doing a lot of audits you might get quicker, but initially err on taking longer to write up reports.
Using volunteers is ok but you will need someone to be responsible overall and they are likely to want to be paid.
Finally you also need to consider liability and have some form of indemnity insurance to cover the work in case the client ends up claiming against your advice.
Good luck
Marcus
Professor Marcus Ormerod MRICS FHEA
Access Consultant and Inclusive Designer SURFACE Inclusive Design Research Centre Room 423 4th Floor SOBE Maxwell Building The University of Salford Salford M5 4WT Mobile 07887 556425
-----Original Message-----
From: Accessibuilt list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of News at Inclusion Daily Express
Sent: 07 October 2013 16:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ACCESSIBUILT] Accessibility auditors
Hello,
I have been a member of this listserve for about a decade now, and have followed with enthusiasm the development of accessibility standards in the UK and elsewhere.
I am member of a group of volunteers representing many different disabilities (mobility, intellectual, vision, hearing, neurological, etc.) in our local area, which is the eastern part of Washington State in the US.
We are bulding a website of accessibility features of places, services and events for all disabilities and ages. We are finalizing our checklist, which differs from the ADA in that it also includes customer service guidelines and "disability friendliness" that are not covered in the ADA.
We hope to rely on volunteers and students to a great degree to perform site audits. We also realize we will need to have a paid co-ordinator, and will likely need to pay for some site auditors in the future.
I have been asked to come up with wage/costs projections for our budget. I have not been able to find any such auditors in our area for comparison.
So, I'm asking this group what you use to figure costs for audits. Do your site auditors get paid salary? If so, what would be considered an average hourly rate? Do they get paid per audit? If so, what is a likely rate? Does consultancy work for premises owners warrant a different rate structure?
Any feedback would be helpful.
Thank you,
Dave Reynolds, Editor
Inclusion Daily Express
International Disability Rights News Service www.InclusionDaily.com
Lead Facilitator
Access4All Spokane
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Run by SURFACE for more information on research, teaching and consultancy:
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