CHECKLIST FOR BUILDINGS AND FACILITIES
An Adaptation of a Checklist origionally prepared by the
U.S. Access Board
Revised January 2004 ---- Origional October 1992
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 1
Purpose
New Construction
Alterations
Historic Preservation
Barrier Removal in Existing Facilities
Key Stations
What Are "Places of Public Accommodation" and "Commercial Facilities"
How the Checklist is Organized to Assist You
How Differences in Requirements for New Construction, Alterations, and Historic Properties are Addressed
SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 6
Approach to Surveying
Preparing to Survey
Step 1: Identify the Type of Facility or Building Use
Step 2: Determine Minimum Requirements
Step 3: Copy and Assemble the Survey Forms
Step 4: Survey
BUILDING IDENTIFICATION AND DATA SHEET
MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS AND SUMMARY SHEETS
A: Parking and Passenger Loading Zones
B: Site Accessible Routes and Elements
C: Entrances
D: Building Accessible Route
E: Rooms and Spaces (Including Assembly Areas and Dressing and Fitting Rooms)
F: Toilet Rooms and Bathrooms
G: Special Features -- Signage, Alarms, Detectable Warnings, and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)
H: Special Types of Facilities
I: Accessible Buildings -- Additions and Alterations
J: Accessible Buildings -- Historic Preservation
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS SURVEY FORMS
General Requirements --
Survey Form 1: Parking
Survey Form 2: Passenger Loading Zone
Survey Form 3: Exterior Accessible Routes
Survey Form 4: Curb Ramps
Survey Form 5: Drinking Fountains
Survey Form 6: Telephones
Survey Form 7: Ramps
Survey Form 8: Stairs
Survey Form 9: Platform Lifts
Survey Form 10: Entrances and Exits (Areas of Rescue Assistance)
Survey Form 11: Doors and Gates
Survey Form 12: Building Lobbies and Corridors (Interior Accessible Route)
Survey Form 13: Elevators
Survey Form 14: Rooms and Spaces
Survey Form 15: Assembly Areas
Survey Form 16: Toilet Rooms and Bathrooms
Survey Form 17: Bathtubs and Showers
Survey Form 18: Dressing and Fitting Rooms
Survey Form 19: Signage
Survey Form 20: Alarms
Survey Form 21: Detectable Warnings
Survey Form 22: Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)
Special Facility Types --
Survey Form 23: Restaurants and Cafeterias
Survey Form 24: Medical Care Facilities
Survey Form 25: Mercantile Facilities
Survey Form 26: Libraries
Survey Form 27: Transient Lodging -- Hotels, Motels, Inns, Boarding Houses,Dormitories, and Similar Places
Survey Form 28: Transient Lodging in Homeless Shelters, Halfway Houses, Transient Group Homes,and Other Social Services Establishments
Survey Form 29a: Transportation Facilities -- Bus Stops
Survey Form 29b: Transportation Facilities -- Fixed Facilities,Terminals and Stations
Survey Form 29c: Transportation Facilities -- Airports
The purpose of this checklist is to enable people to survey places of public accommodation, commercial facilities, and transportation facilities for compliance with the new construction and alterations requirements of the ADA. It can also be used to identify barriers in existing buildings. No special training is needed to use this checklist. It can be used by businesses, building owners and managers, State and local governments, design professionals, or concerned citizens.
The checklist must be used in conjunction with the Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines - ADAAG.
Buildings and facilities constructed or altered by, on behalf of, or for the use of State and local governments (other than transportation facilities covered by the Department of Transportation's regulation), are allowed to follow either ADAAG without the elevator exception or the Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards (UFAS). A similar checklist, the UFAS Accessibility Checklist, is available from the Access Board.
Places of public accommodation and commercial facilities are required to comply with the ADAAG after January 26, 1993. Full compliance with the new construction requirements is not required where an entity can demonstrate that it is structurally impracticable. The exception for structural impracticability, a very narrow one, is discussed in 28 CFR 36.401(c) and ADAAG 4.1.1(5)(a). Other exceptions for certain temporary structures, specific building areas and features (including elevators) are discussed in ADAAG 4.1.1(4), 4.1.1(5)(b) and 4.1.3(5) and, where applicable, on the Minimum Requirements Summary Sheets or the Technical Requirements Survey Forms.
Transportation facilities are required to comply with ADAAG for bus, light rail or rapid rail facilities, intercity or commuter rail stations.
Areas that are used only by employees as work areas must be designed and constructed so that individuals with disabilities can approach, enter, and exit the areas as required in ADAAG 4.1.1(3). The guidelines do not require that any areas used only by employees as work areas be constructed to permit maneuvering within the work area or be constructed or equipped (i.e., with racks or shelves) to be accessible.
Departures from the ADAAG technical and scoping provisions are permitted where the alternative designs and technologies used will provide substantially equivalent or greater access to and usability of the facility. See ADAAG 2.2 and other sections referenced in Appendix A2.2 of ADAAG for specific examples of equivalent facilitation.
For transportation facilities covered by the ADA, a determination of equivalent facilitation must be made by the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration or the Federal Railroad Administration, as applicable.
Alterations to a place of public accommodation or commercial facility covered by the ADA must be done in a manner so as to ensure that, to the maximum extent feasible, the altered portions of the facility comply with ADAAG. For transportation facilities covered by the ADA the alterations must follow ADAAG for bus, light or rapid rail facilities, and intercity or commuter rail stations.
In general, alterations of specific elements or portions of a facility must be completed in compliance with the requirements for new construction. However, full compliance with the alterations requirements is not required where it is technically infeasible. The exception for technical infeasibility is discussed in ADAAG 4.1.6(1)(j). This and other special provisions and exceptions for alterations contained in ADAAG 4.1.6 are discussed on the Minimum Requirements Summary Sheet I: Accessible Buildings - Additions and Alterations. Additional special provisions and exceptions for alterations for special facility types are found in ADAAG 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 and on the Technical Requirements Survey Forms for the special facility types.
If an alteration affects or could affect the usability of or access to an area of a facility that contains a "primary function," an accessible path of travel must be provided to the altered area. In addition, restrooms, telephones, and drinking fountains serving the altered area must also be made accessible to the extent that the cost is not "disproportionate" to the cost of the overall alteration. Disproportionality is defined in 28 CFR 36.403 (f) and 49 CFR 37.43(e) as a sum not to exceed 20% of the cost of the alteration to the primary function area.
Alterations to a qualified historic building or facility must comply with ADAAG unless it is determined in accordance with procedures described in ADAAG 4.1.7(2) that compliance with certain requirements would threaten or destroy the historic significance of the building or facility. In such a case, alternative requirements may be used. The alternative requirements are discussed in 28 CFR 36.405 and ADAAG 4.1.7(3) and on the Minimum Requirements Summary Sheet J: Accessible Buildings - Historic Preservation.
Barrier Removal in Existing Facilities
Public accommodations covered by Title III of the ADA must remove architectural barriers in existing facilities, including communication barriers that are structural in nature, where such removal is readily achievable. The ADA generally defines readily achievable as "easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense." The requirement to remove architectural barriers where readily achievable is discussed in 28 CFR 36.304. Measures taken to comply with readily achievable barrier removal must comply with ADAAG unless it would not be readily achievable. Then, other readily achievable measures that do not fully comply with ADAAG may be taken. However, no measure shall be taken that poses a significant risk to the health or safety of individuals with disabilities or others.
What Are "Places of Public Accommodation" and "Commercial Facilities"?
ADAAG applies to new construction and alterations of "places of public accommodation and commercial facilities." A "place of public accommodation" is a facility, operated by a private entity, whose operations affect commerce and which falls within at least one of the twelve categories listed below:
1. An inn, hotel, motel, or other place of lodging, except for an establishment located within a building that contains not more than five rooms for rent or hire and that is actually occupied by the proprietor of the establishment as the residence of the proprietor;
2. A restaurant, bar or other establishment serving food or drink;
3. A motion picture house, theater, concert hall, stadium, or other place of exhibition or entertainment;
4. An auditorium, convention center, lecture hall, or other place of public gathering;
5. A bakery, grocery store, clothing store, hardware store, shopping center, or other sales or rental establishment;
6. A laundromat, dry cleaner, bank, barber shop, beauty shop, travel service, shoe repair service, funeral parlor, gas station, office of an accountant or lawyer, pharmacy, insurance office, professional office of a health care provider, hospital, or other service establishment;
7. A terminal, depot, or other station used for specified public transportation;
8. A museum, library, gallery, or other place of public display or collection;
9. A park, zoo, amusement park, or other place of recreation;
10. A nursery, elementary, secondary, undergraduate, or postgraduate private school, or other place of education;
11. A day care center, senior citizen center, homeless shelter, food bank, adoption agency, or other social service center establishment;
12. A gymnasium, health spa, bowling alley, golf course, or other place of exercise or recreation.
"Commercial facilities" are facilities whose operations will affect commerce and that are intended for nonresidential use by a private entity (e.g., factories and warehouses). "Commercial facilities" do not include facilities that are covered or expressly exempted from coverage under the Fair Housing Act of 1968, as amended; aircraft; and certain railroad equipment listed in 28 CFR 36.104.
How the Checklist is Organized to Assist You
This checklist presents the minimum scoping and technical requirements contained in ADAAG for newly constructed facilities in the logical progression of traveling to and through a building. The Minimum Requirements Summary Sheets tell you what to survey, such as an accessible route, an entry, or a bathroom. The Technical Requirements Survey Forms give you the specific features those elements must have. There are 29 survey forms to represent elements on the site and in the building. Many of ADAAG's general requirements are repeated on different forms because they apply to more than one element. Some survey forms may refer you to others for detailed provisions.
In general, the Minimum Requirements Summary Sheets and the Technical Requirements Survey Forms contain the ADAAG requirements for new construction. In alterations one must first attempt to meet the requirements for new construction unless it is technically infeasible or special provisions apply.
The survey process moves through a parallel structure in three steps using the following sheets and forms:
Step 1: Building/Facility Identification and Data Sheet
Step 2: Minimum Requirements Summary Sheets
Sheet A: Parking and Passenger Loading Zones
Sheet B: Site Accessible Routes and Elements
Sheet C: Entrances
Sheet D: Building Accessible Route
Sheet E: Rooms and Spaces (Including Assembly Areas and Dressing and Fitting Rooms)
Sheet F: Toilet Rooms and Bathrooms
Sheet G: Special Features - Signage, Alarms, Detectable Warnings,
and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)
Sheet H: Special Types of Facilities
Sheet I: Accessible Buildings - Additions and Alterations
Sheet J: Accessible Buildings - Historic Preservation
Step 3: Technical Requirements Survey Forms
Form 1:Parking
Form 2:Passenger Loading Zones
Form 3:Exterior Accessible Routes
Form 4:Curb Ramps
Form 5:Drinking Fountains
Form 6:Telephones
Form 7:Ramps
Form 8:Stairs
Form 9:Platform Lifts
Form 10:Entrances and Exits (Areas of Rescue Assistance)
Form 11:Doors and Gates
Form 12:Building Lobbies and Corridors (Interior Accessible Route)
Form 13:Elevators
Form 14:Rooms and Spaces
Form 15:Assembly Areas
Form 16:Toilet Rooms and Bathrooms
Form 17:Bathtubs and Showers
Form 18:Dressing and Fitting Rooms
Form 19: Signage
Form 20: Alarms
Form 21: Detectable Warnings
Form 22: Automated Teller Machines (ATMs)
Special Facility Types --
Form 23:Restaurants and Cafeterias
Form 24:Medical Care Facilities
Form 25:Mercantile Facilities
Form 26:Libraries
Form 27: Transient Lodging (Hotels, Motels, Inns,
Boarding Houses, Dormitories, and Other Similar Places)
Form 28: Transient Lodging in Homeless Shelters,
Halfway Houses, Transient Group Homes, and Other Social Service Establishments
Form 29:Transportation Facilities
How Differences in Requirements for New Construction, Alterations, and Historic Properties are Addressed
Special provisions and exceptions allowed in alterations of buildings, including
historic properties, are addressed in Minimum Requirements Summary
Sheet I: Accessible Buildings - Additions and Alterations, and
Sheet J: Accessible Buildings - Historic Preservation.
Special provisions and exceptions allowed in special facility types such as hotels, motels, hospitals, mercantile facilities, libraries, restaurants and cafeterias are addressed in Survey Forms 23 through 29.
This checklist is designed to be used in full or in part, depending on the facility and your available time. If you are surveying a facility with which you are familiar, you may already know what the general access problems are and will want to use specific survey forms to check the details. If you are unfamiliar with the facility, it is helpful to make an initial tour through the building to orient yourself and to obtain information to help you compile your survey document.
Although this checklist is structured for use on site, it can also be used by architects, facility managers or others to review architectural plans.
Make contact with the building management and advise them that you will be surveying the building and that you will be glad to share your information with them. If you do not have a building plan, ask the management if they can provide you with one. A plan can be very helpful, particularly if you are surveying a large facility. You can assign numbers to areas or elements on the plan and use the same numbers to correlate the Survey Forms.
Take a copy of ADAAG with you when you do the survey. Since the questions in this checklist are fairly brief, it is helpful to have ADAAG with you to gain a thorough understanding of the full requirements of the Guidelines. Also, not every illustration in the ADAAG has been included in this survey. Illustrations are provided in the checklist only for those survey questions which cannot easily be stated or understood using words alone.
Step 1: Identify the Type of Facility or Building Use
Complete the Building Identification and Data Sheet to document the name and address of the facility, dates of construction and alteration, type of facility or building use, number of stories and size of each, name of surveyor and date of survey.
Before surveying the facility it is essential to determine whether the provisions of ADAAG apply to the facility or portion of the facility and to identify certain attributes about the facility which might trigger or disallow certain exceptions contained in ADAAG. To determine which provisions of ADAAG apply, you must consult the Department of Justice regulations or Department of Transportation regulations as explained in the introduction. To determine the exceptions that apply you must also consult the DOJ or DOT regulations. Exceptions within ADAAG are noted on the Technical Requirements Survey Forms. An example of an exception is the elevator exemption contained in ADAAG 4.1.3(5) Exception 1. Elevators are not required in places of public accommodation and commercial facilities that are less than three stories or that have less than 3,000 square feet per story unless the building is a shopping center or mall, the professional office of a health care provider, or a transportation facility.
Step 2: Determine Minimum Requirements
The Minimum Requirements Summary Sheets tell you which elements are required to be accessible, such as a toilet room or an accessible route between the entrance and parking. Use the Summary Sheets to identify the specific elements of your facility which must be accessible.
With the Summary Sheets in hand, take a quick tour of the facility and/or look at the building plans. As you go through the facility, complete each Summary Sheet in the order in which it is presented. The Summary Sheets will ask you to inventory the elements of your facility which must be accessible.
The principle of an "accessible route" is key to the Summary Sheets. An "accessible route" is simply a path of travel which a person in a wheelchair, an elderly person, or someone with another mobility limitation would find safe and easy to use. (See ADAAG 3.5 Definitions.) The Summary Sheets define where these accessible routes must be.
Step 3: Copy and Assemble the Survey Forms
Return to your workplace with the completed Summary Sheets. Using the completed Summary Sheets you can determine how many copies to make of each Technical Requirements Survey Form. Some forms will be needed more than once, others will not be needed at all. Some forms will reference other forms. Two forms that are referenced quite often are Form 11: Doors and Gates and Form 12: Building Lobbies and Corridors. Where forms are cross referenced you will always need to have a copy of the form for reference.
In some multi-story buildings, you will find that certain elements required to be accessible are duplicated in the details of installation and you may be able to develop a "shorthand" method of surveying these elements. For instance, you might find that accessible drinking fountains are installed in the same location in a corridor and in the same way on the first through the tenth floor of a ten story building. It may be sufficient to use only one form (Form 5: Drinking Fountains) to assess compliance in detail for a typical fountain on the first floor, and then note that each fountain on the second through the tenth floor is the same. All elevators are required to be accessible but where there are three elevators in a bank, you will often find that the three elevators are the same. If this is true, you may be able to use a single form (Form 13: Elevators) to survey three elevators in the same bank.
Copy the necessary Survey Forms and attach them to the Summary Sheet which called for them. When you are finished, you will have a series of Survey Forms which progress logically through the facility and are divided by the Minimum Requirements Summary Sheets. If you are working with a team, you can give team members a complete section covered by a Summary Sheet. Cover the entire package with the Building Identification and Data Sheet. If you are surveying an alteration to a facility or an alteration which falls under historic preservation provisions, you will also need those Summary Sheets.
Bring a copy of ADAAG, a clipboard, a pencil or a pen, a flexible measuring tape, a digital camera, and a stick of chalk for marking distances on surfaces. You may also want a line level or other device to measure ramp slopes, and a fish scale for determining door pull force.
Each Survey Form has a title block which allows you to identify the specific element you are inspecting. Be sure to fill in the location of the element and the facility name on each Survey Form.
Each survey question or series of questions has an ADAAG section number. Some questions have more than one ADAAG section number. If you do not understand the question, look up the section(s) in ADAAG. Illustrations referenced in the survey forms are printed on subsequent pages. If you have a question about a term, refer to ADAAG 3.5 (Definitions).
Check off whether the element complies or not. If you cannot determine whether or not it complies, put a question mark in the box. Do not leave blank boxes because it will confuse someone who later reviews the forms. If the element does not exist, write "N/A" (Not Applicable).
Each Survey Form has boxes for you to check for each question, either "yes" or "no." Please also notice that extra space is provided for you to elaborate where a simple "yes" or "no" is insufficient. You should note as precisely as possible what the problem is; for example, "clear opening width only 29 inches," "hand rail diameter 4 inches," or "ramp slope 1:10." If possible take a picture of the item in question. This information will assist those using the survey at a later date to make modifications to evaluate which changes might be more critical in providing access.
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