Accessibility Inspection for Existing Commercial Buildings Online Course

Accessibility surveys help clients, building owners, tenants, and property managers reduce the risk of unexpected retrofitting costs and potential liability, while improving accommodations for customers and employees. This online course teaches the core concepts of accessibility surveys for existing commercial buildings, including compliance parameters, legislation, building codes, and barriers affecting individuals with various disabilities. The ComSOP Section 15 Accessibility Inspection Report serves as the framework for inspection procedures and scope, supported by a video series demonstrating an office building accessibility survey.

Accessibility laws and codes for existing buildings, remodeling, and new construction covered in this course include the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Architectural Barriers Act (ABA), Federal Fair Housing Act (FFHA), and International Existing Building Code (IEBC). You’ll learn how these apply to accessibility surveys and property-specific compliance, and how they relate to your service scope, benefits, and findings.

The objective of an accessibility survey is to identify physical barriers and provide the client, in written format, with an assessment of a property’s ability to provide goods and services to people with disabilities on an equal basis with the rest of the public. Key physical barriers reviewed relate to entrances and parking, accessibility signage, accessible routes (walking surfaces and wheelchair clearances), various door types and installations, door usability and components, ramps and curb cuts, clear floor space and reach ranges for wheelchair users, water fountains, protruding objects, restrooms, and elevators. The course concludes with potential solutions to accessibility issues to support your assessment of a building’s overall accessibility.

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

• perform a standard accessibility inspection on an existing commercial buildings;
• use the Accessibility Inspection Report template;
• create opinion as to a building’s accessibility;
• identify accessibility barriers and deficiencies in existing buildings related to accessible routes, walking surfaces, parking spaces, entrances, signage, ramps and curb cuts, clear floor space for wheelchairs, doors hardware and usability, drinking fountains and other plumbing fixtures, protruding objects, restrooms, and elevators;
• describe barrier removal and solutions to inaccessible areas or features;
• recognize accessibility barriers related to different disabilities, such as mobility, hearing, vision, speech, and cognitive impairments;
• describe laws and building code concepts related to accessibility of existing buildings; and
• apply an understanding of who must comply with accessibility regulations.