ADA remediation may make you cringe if you have been served for a compliance issue. In 1991 they put into effect the ADA American Disabilities Act. This law gives all Americans access to public facilities.
There have been updates regularly and the newest was made on July 2010 and took effect in Sept 2010.
The revised regulations amend the Department's Title II regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 35, and the Title III regulation, 28 C.F.R. Part 36.
These final rules will take effect March 15, 2011.
Good news is you will have until March 15, 2012. to remedy those updates, the bad news is you should already be in compliance with the ones for 2009. If not you may be looking at these Fines:
The Department of Justice may file lawsuits in federal court to enforce the ADA, and courts may order compensatory damages and back pay to remedy discrimination if the Department prevails. Under title III, the Department of Justice may also obtain civil penalties of up to $55,000 for the first violation and $110,000 for any subsequent violation.
How do they enforce these fines?
There are 2 different ways that you will come to the department of Justices attention the first being a patron you have not given adequate access may file a complaint. After all if they want to be able to use your facility they all are given the phone number, it doesn’t matter if the manager of the restaurant or the owner of the building agree on who is responsible for the upgrade it will be enforced quickly.
The other way is there are those who make their living of of a percentage of the fines incurred these lawyers sue for a portion of those hefty fines and have people who drive around and check older buildings for handicap accessibility. This is almost a sure fine because they bring pictures sketches and witnesses are experts. The only way to get out of this one is to be ADA Compliant to begin with.
Responsibility for Handicap Access under the ADA are up for lawyers interpretations not mine but we know what is required. Just a note of warning. If you install equipment that is not up to code the owner or contractor who hired you may come back in event of a lawsuit and ask for damages, The building owner could sue the restaurant for not providing them and even the establishment may sue the owner for not renting an accessible facility. It can be a real mess.
What Our Company Does:
CDA Solutions offers all ADA Remediation services, we supply and install the needed equipment and consult on it all. Here are some of the things you will need to keep in mind when renovating or upgrading an existing facility:
Bathroom Accessibility
Stall width
Grab rails
Hot water safety
Heights- Sink. Mirrors, Dispensers, etc.
Turn radius
Lighting Controls
Doors And Hardware
All Door widths
Door Heights
PSI opening force (push)
PSI unlocking force (twist)
Hardware function (grabbing areas)
Hardware functions (egress)
Parking
This comes into play more than you think, do you know how many designated parking spaces you need for handicap accessibility?
Building Access
Ramps and slopes for easy access let us determine if you are eligible to meet the ADA code requirements.