What's This All About Anyway; Do You Have To Install Emergency Phones - Viking E-1600-02A Supplementary Manual

A A M M E E R R I I C C A A N N ' ' S S W W I I T T H H D D I I S S A A B B I I L L I I T T I I E E S S A A C C T T ( ( A A D D A A ) )

What's this all about anyway?

The diagram at the right is from the ADA
Standards for Accessible Design Regulations.
Does it look confusing? We're going to try to
make the ADA requirements for elevator and
emergency phones easier to understand - by
I I N N P P L L A A I I N N E E N N G G L L I I S S H H
putting them
If you own or manage a building, you're aware
of your duty to make it safe and accessible to
everyone. The passage of the Americans With
Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1992 brought with it
several new regulations pertaining to equal
building access for the disabled. Elevator access
was one of the issues addressed in the Act. So
too was the issue of equal access to emergency
assistance in the event of an elevator emer-
gency. To obtain that emergency assistance and guarantee that it be available to every-
one including the disabled, the Act put in place new requirements for the emergency
phones traditionally located in elevators.

Do you have to install emergency phones?

If you don't already have emergency phones in your building's elevators, and your local
building code does not require them, then the ADA does not force you to install them.
However, you should be aware that emergency elevator phones have become standard
in the industry. If passengers were injured in your elevator and unable to summon emer-
gency help, and the failure to obtain help in a timely manner worsened their condition,
they may easily claim that you failed to follow commonly accepted building safety stan-
dards by not installing emergency phones in your buildings.
If you already have phones in your elevators, or are being asked to install them by local
building inspectors, be aware that ordinary telephones do
lations. Not only do ordinary phones fail the compliance test, they are usually far more
costly over the long run due to the continuing expenses associated with vandalism.
Replace a few stolen hearing-aid compatible handsets and you've already exceeded the
cost of a vandal-resistant ADA-compliant phone.
ADA requirements also pertain to
tarily choose to install.
sons, emergency phones in hallways, lobbies, parking ramps or garages, all of these
phones must be accessible to all users including the physically impaired. Thus, they must
all be ADA compliant.
3
.
all other types of emergency phones you may volun-
Whether they are being installed to meet local code, for safety rea-
N N O O T T comply with ADA regu-