AODA — Accessible Customer Service Standard
Policy
This Policy covers the accessibility standard for customer service. Matheson is committed to excellence in serving all customers including people with disabilities. We also support the goal of the Ontario government to make Ontario barrier-free by 2025 and its implementation of accessibility standards for persons with disabilities, as detailed in the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). The accessibility standard is a set of guidelines that the Company and Staff must follow to identify, remove, and prevent barriers for customers with disabilities.
Guiding Principles
- Dignity and Independence: Our goods or services must be provided in a manner that respects the dignity and independence of persons with disabilities.
- Integration: The provision of goods or services to persons with disabilities and others must be integrated unless an alternate measure is necessary, whether temporarily or on a permanent basis, to enable a person with a disability to obtain, use or benefit from our goods or services.
- Equal Opportunity: Persons with disabilities must be given an opportunity equal to that given to others to obtain, use and benefit from our goods or services.
Procedure & Guidelines
To support this Policy’s guiding principles and requirements, the Company has developed procedures and guidelines in the following areas:
- Provision of goods and services to persons with disabilities
- Communication with persons with disabilities
- Assistive devices
- Support persons and service animals
- Disruptions in services
- Training
- Customer Feedback
- Location and Notice of Availability of Documents and Document Formats
- Modifications to this Policy or other policies
Provisions of Goods & Services
The Company will make every reasonable effort to accommodate persons with disabilities following this Policy’s guiding principles.
Communication
- The Company will consider a person’s disability when communicating with them, with the end goal being to communicate in an effective way. Where possible and helpful, Staff will ask persons with disabilities directly how best to communicate with them.
- where an employee with a disability so requests it, the Company will consult with the employee to provide or arrange for the provision of accessible formats and communication supports for:
(a) information that is needed in order to perform the employee’s job; and (b) information that is generally available to employees in the workplace.
Assistive Devices
The Company will ensure that we’re prepared to serve customers with various assistive devices that may be used by persons with disabilities while accessing our goods and/or services, provided the accommodation does not present a safety hazard, in which case Staff will make every reasonable attempt to accommodate all individuals.
- The Company allows and welcomes all forms of assistive devices on our premises. This may include for example, the use of walkers or oxygen tanks.
Service Animals
The Company allows and welcomes persons with disabilities and their service animals, provided the accommodation does not present a safety hazard or is otherwise excluded by law, in which case Staff will make every reasonable attempt to accommodate all individuals. Service animals and support persons are permitted to together enter our premises that are open and accessible to third parties or the public, and in all situations where a disabled person requires the service animal and support person to access the Company goods and services. If it’s not readily apparent that the animal is a service animal, the Company may ask the person with disabilities for a letter from a professional health practitioner confirming that they require the animal for reasons relating to the disability. It’s the person with the disability’s responsibility to ensure that their service animal is always in control.
Support Persons
- The Company allows and welcomes people with disabilities and their support persons.
- Support persons are permitted to enter our premises that are open and accessible to third parties or the public, and in all situations where a disabled customer requires the support person to access the Company goods and services.
- The Company may require a customer with a disability to be accompanied by a Support Person where it’s necessary to protect the health and safety of everyone on the premises.
- Before deciding to require a support person, Staff will:
- Consult with the person with a disability to understand their needs.
- Consider health or safety reasons based on the available evidence.
- Determine if there’s any other reasonable way to protect the health or safety of the person or others on the premises.
- A person with a disability who is accompanied by a support person will be allowed to have that person accompany them on our premises.
Disruption of Services
- The Company provides the following main office facilities or services that are crucial to some persons with disabilities to enable them to use or benefit from our goods or services:
- accessible washrooms
- Ground level, stair-free workspace
- In consideration of arrangements that may need to be undertaken by persons with disabilities in visiting our premises or gaining access to our services, if the Company encounters any disruption to our facilities and services that are in place for persons with disabilities or if our premises can’t be opened to the public for some reason, the Company will ensure the following:
- We provide notice of the disruption to the public.
- The notice of disruption will include information about the reason for the disruption, its anticipated duration and a description of alternative facilities or services, if any, that are available.
- As soon as we’re aware of an interruption, a notice will be posted in a conspicuous place on our premises and on our website.
Training
- The Company will ensure that Everyone receives training about the provision of our goods or services to persons with disabilities, including the following Staff:
- Every person who deals with members of the public or other third parties on behalf of the Company, whether the person does so as an employee, agent, volunteer, or otherwise.
- Every person who participates in developing the Company’s policies, practices and procedures governing the provision of goods or services to members of the public or other third parties.
- The training will include a review of the purposes of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), and the requirements of this regulation and instruction about the following matters:
- How to interact and communicate with persons with various types of disability.
- How to interact with persons with disabilities who use an assistive device or require the assistance of a service animal or the assistance of a support person.
- How to use equipment or devices that may be available on our premises, and that may help with the provision of goods or services to a person with a disability.
- What to do if a person with a disability is having difficulty accessing our goods or services.
- The training will be provided to each person as soon as practicable after they’re assigned the relevant duties.
- Training will also be provided on an on-going basis in connection with changes to the policies, practices and procedures governing the provision of goods or services to persons with disabilities.
Customer Feedback
- Customers who wish to provide feedback regarding the way the Company provides goods and/or services to customers with disabilities can request a Feedback card from reception or can contact the Director, People & Culture via the Company’s main line or email.
- The feedback process will be provided or arranged in such a way to accommodate accessible formats and communication supports, upon request.
- A customer may request for Staff to complete and submit the feedback form on their behalf.
- All feedback will be directed to the Director, People & Culture.
- Customers can expect to hear back from the Company within 5 business days of filing a complaint or by request about other feedback provided on the way the Company provides services to customers with disabilities.
Notice of Availability of Documents & Document Formats
- The Company ensures that persons to whom we provide goods or services are aware that our Policy and plan documents required by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (OADA) are available upon request.
- The notice will be provided by posting the information in a conspicuous place as follows:
- On Company premises at reception.
- On the Company website main page at mathesonconstructors.com
- If a customer with a disability requests our plan, Staff will provide the information in a format that considers the person’s disability. Staff will work with customers to find a format that’s accessible for them and will be provided in a format agreed to by all parties. For example, Staff may direct our customer to our accessible website or read the content of the document to them aloud.
Resources
It’s the Company’s intention that this Policy is compliant with Ontario
Last Updated: January 1, 2021