Dealing with physical barriers
The second requirement involves making changes to overcome barriers created by the physical features of your workplace.
This means you may need to make some changes to your building or premises for a disabled person who works for you, or applies for a job with you.
Exactly what kind of change you make will depend on the kind of barriers your premises present. You will need to consider the whole of your premises. You may have to make more than one change.
Physical features include: steps, stairways, kerbs, exterior surfaces and paving, parking areas, building entrances and exits (including emergency escape routes), internal and external doors, gates, toilet and washing facilities, public facilities (such as telephones, counters or service desks), lighting and ventilation, lifts and escalators, floor coverings, signs, furniture, and temporary or movable items (such as equipment and display racks). Physical features also include the sheer scale of premises (for example, the size of a building). This is not an exhaustive list.
- A physical feature could be something to do with the structure of the actual building itself like steps, changes of level, emergency exits or narrow doorways.
- Or it could be something about the way the building or premises have been fitted out, things like heavy doors, inaccessible toilets or inappropriate lighting.
- It could even be the way things are arranged inside the premises such as fixtures and fittings like shelf heights in storage areas or fixed seating in canteens.
For example:
An employer has recruited a worker who is a wheelchair user and who would have difficulty negotiating her way around the office. In consultation with the new worker, the employer rearranges the layout of furniture in the office. The employer has made reasonable adjustments.
More information
Protected characteristic's definitions
Your responsibilities for staff behaviour
Last Updated: 09 Feb 2016