Managing accessible WCs

Accessibility cannot be guaranteed by good design alone. How WC accommodation is managed – whether within buildings or in separate facilities – has a huge impact on how easy it will be for disabled people to use. Poor building management can render a potentially physically accessible environment inaccessible and may impact on all building users.

Building management covers a range of practical issues including caretaking, cleaning, equipment servicing, repairs and maintenance as well as customer service and operational issues. It also covers staff disability awareness training and systems and procedures for implementing and monitoring good practice. The nature and extent of the tasks associated with these issues will vary significantly between, for example, a small community hall and a large campus-style hospital, but are equally important to both organisations.

Management checklist

The following checklist will help achieve good practice in the management of facilities:

Alarm systems and responses

Response procedures to alarms and call bells are considered to be part of the overall building management system and should be discussed with staff and building users. For example, who is responsible for responding to the assistance alarm in the WC and do they have appropriate training?

There is evidence that many WC providers do not have a specific policy for dealing with alarm calls from accessible WCs. It is often down to a passer-by to answer the alarm and see if they can help. When planning your accessible WC, you need to agree policies for alarm systems and develop staff training programmes. Alarm cords tied up out of reach were frequently reported to ITAAL. This should be strongly discouraged.

Staff awareness

All staff and volunteers need to be aware of the reasons for accessible WCs, particularly the following issues.

Space = somewhere to store things

This is a WC not a cupboard! WC providers need to ensure that their staff know why accessible WCs are larger than normal toilet facilities, and understand that the space is not there to be used as storage. The following examples of misuse of space were reported to ITAAL:

• A Magistrates court accessible WC filled with cleaning equipment. Wheelchair witness held court proceedings up while WC cleared for her to use.
• Bollards warning of wet floors stored in motorway accessible WC.
• Bollards and stacked chairs in motorway WC on second visit. The manager had to be called, because the cleaner objected to disabled user pushing items into passageway in order to get wheelchair in to use the WC.
• Restaurant that stores all its spare chairs in the accessible WC. Disabled customer sat and waited while the waiters removed them all. Later the waiters were seen replacing them.
• A seaside accessible WC where the attendant stored his bicycle.
• A disability group office where they stored folded tables, boxes of files and so on in their accessible WC.
• Large nappy bins. ITAAL received many complaints about large nappy bins sited in joint accessible/mums and babies loos, infringing the turning transfer space needed by wheelchair users.

Accessible or disabled loo – what is in a name?

Accessible loos are most often referred to as disabled WCs. ITAAL preferred to use the term ‘accessible’ WC as it highlights the reason for the WC, that it should be accessible to a disabled person and specifically a wheelchair user.

Some disabled people ruefully describe ‘disabled loos’ as just that. A WC that actually increases their disability level because it has not been designed as carefully as it could have been. Whatever the WC is called, it is important that signposting makes it clear that the facility is there for use by disabled people.

To lock or not to lock

If you feel that you need to keep your facility locked, so that it does not attract vandals or other misuse, ITAAL recommended that you consider using the National Key Scheme (NKS) run by RADAR.

The NKS offers independent access to disabled people to public conveniences which are normally locked. The scheme was introduced because a number of local authorities and other organisations providing facilities chose to lock their WCs to counter vandalism and misuse or to reduce costs. Providers – including some 400 local authorities, rail providers and other organisations – may join the NKS, which involves fitting standard locks to the WC doors and making keys available to disabled people. Although administered by RADAR's, the organisation states that ‘it is not RADAR policy to encourage the locking of public toilets for disabled people unless it is absolutely necessary because of vandalism and misuse’. It should not be necessary to lock internal accessible WCs (such as in pubs and restaurants).

There is debate in the disability world about locking WCs. Some disabled people feel it ensures that WCs intended for them are protected from vandalism and other misuse. In particular, many wheelchair users need to touch the fixtures and fittings more than non-disabled people, for example when they are transferring from their wheelchair. Locking the WC increases the chances that it will be clean and hygienic, and they feel that carrying a key is a small price to pay for this extra assurance. However, other disabled people find it very irritating, as they have to remember to carry the RADAR key with them, or go and ask for a key. Many disabled women find asking for a key very undignified – 'I feel like a child asking permission to go to the loo'.

Visit the RADAR website for information on the National Key Scheme.