Restaurant Accessibility Services
SPH Ltd. can assist your restaurant and others in the hospitality sector with addressing accessibility issues - identifying, removing and preventing barriers faced by persons with disabilities. We offer a variety of professional services that can be tailored to suit your needs according to the recommendations of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and their five-step "commitment" strategy:
- Develop an accessibility policy and customer complaints procedure - We can consult with your staff at all levels to develop suitable policies and a formal customer service strategy based on best practices. Formal staff training, workshops and awareness programs can be designed with professional trainers and facilitators involved.
- Review and identify accessibility barriers - we can conduct policy, communications, customer service and architectural barrier audits across corporate-owned and franchisee facilities. This includes developing short and long-term accessibility plans, detailed recommendations for improvements and realistic budgets for implementation. Additionally, we can determine suitable products and services that can be integrated within your existing operations to address all of your customer's and employee's needs.
- Develop a standardized accessibility plan for future locations - We can develop tailored accessibility plans and strategies for future planning, design and construction of individual locations or franchises. This includes developing technical design guidelines that incorporate international best practices but are not started from a blank canvass - there is no need to "reinvent the wheel" in this area as SPH can tap into a variety of current research, guidelines and experiences that aim to achieve your goals and minimize all costs from the outset.
- For existing facilities, develop a plan, and remove barriers - SPH can provide you with a detailed prioritization strategy based on each type of barrier that is identified. Based on our experiences, we can provide low or no cost solutions, realistic implementation targets and assign responsibilities to the most appropriate staff in your organization. This ensures proactive steps can be taken immediately.
- Monitor progress - Our electronic reporting and audit tool can provide you with instant summaries on your progress over any time period. Reports can be generated within minutes of entering information updates (e.g., based on interviews/feedback from staff assigned responsibilities). Monitoring progress is a great example to demonstrate that your organization is committed to the accessibility planning process. Additionally, you can provide customers with immediate updates on your progress as well as quickly generate formal reports that can be submitted to the OHRC to demonstrate compliance.
To conduct any of this work, SPH can assemble small or large teams using experienced planners, auditors, trainers and architects. We take pride in the fact that we are a recognized and emerging leader in the field of accessibility planning.
For more information on our services or contact us by email at info@sph-planning-consulting.ca.