Recommendations
Our commitment: Buildings and outdoor spaces on Â鶹´«Ã½'s campuses provide meaningful access for intended users.
The following Built Environment recommendations for Â鶹´«Ã½â€™s Accessibility Plan have emerged through an iterative needs analysis, consultation, review, and documentation process, informed by individual reports.
Standards, guidelines, and frameworks
1. Adopt Provincial Built Environment Accessibility Standards. Where feasible, Facilities Management (FM) will follow CSA B651, in the interim of Provincial Standards.
2. Integrate provincial Built Environment Accessibility Standards into the FM Built Environment Accessibility Audit Tool.
3. Embedded accessibility design into FM's Design Guidelines and Operational Procedures to enhance campus development.
4. Develop internal processes to utilize provincial alternative compliance mechanisms where renovations are unable to meet provincial Built Environment Accessibility Standards.
5. Participate on the Nova Scotia Post-Secondary Accessibility Leads Community of Practice (CoP) and collaborate on Post-Secondary Accessibility Framework initiatives.
Campus planning
6. Develop a strategy for Accessibility Plan implementation and funding, including a multi-year budget and annual allocation for built environment initiatives.
7. Implement an Accessibility Project Plan to remove barriers:
a. Prioritize projects to create accessible building entrances and accessible washrooms. Prioritize implementation beginning with teaching buildings, then research buildings, mixed teaching and research, student experience, and administrative buildings.
b. Ensure new capital projects hold a higher standard of accessibility, including Rick Hansen Foundation building features where feasible.
8. Develop a process and review requirements to capture accessibility features for all projects throughout inception, design, construction, and project completion phases.
9. Prioritize renovation to ensure accessibility in residences on the Agricultural Campus (AC). Ensure this priority is supported in the AC Framework Campus Development Plan (Agriculture Campus Master Plan).
10. Review and update existing procedures and processes to identify and eliminate accessibility barriers and better support persons with disabilities in temporary building disruptions and emergencies during:
a. Temporary building and weather-related disruptions (procedures for snow removal, communication regarding projects, and other unplanned events with accessibility impacts).
b. Evacuation procedures including fire alarm upgrades, expansion of accessibility scope, and updates to emergency signage to meet Nova Scotia Built Environment Accessibility Standards.
Documenting, reporting, and auditing
11. Conduct ongoing built environment audits to monitor and report on accessibility improvements.
12. Develop a response plan, portal, process, and funding plan for additional accessibility enhancements and requests.