J.
Hancock, L.
Piercy and P. Shaw
NIOSH Education and Information Division
We sampled
53 commercial businesses and 17 public accommodation facilities
in seven Central Kentucky counties to evaluate the accessibility
of agribusinesses to disabled clients. The evaluation was
based on accessibility standards set forth in the Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA).
According
to the 1990 census, four of the selected counties had populations
of less than 15,000, and three counties had populations of
over 15,000. The total farm population for all seven counties
was 9,896 or approximately 8.8% of the total population.
The
researchers selected agribusinesses within each county based
on the random number table and on their judgment that a disabled
farmer would likely visit the business to obtain goods, services
or advice related to agricultural production. Commercial businesses
included auto parts stores, Farm Bureau offices, farm supply
stores and animal clinics. Public facilities included offices
of the Cooperative Extension Service, the USDA Soil Conservation
Service, and the Agricultural Stabilization Conservation Service.
A team
of three to five inspectors visited ten facilities in each
county. To identify barriers in existing buildings, team members
used the ADA Accessibility Guidelines Checklist for Buildings
and Facilities. These guidelines specify accessibility standards
for parking, toilets, curbs, ramps, hand rails, door widths,
lavatories, aisle widths, drinking fountains, counter heights,
door handles, entrances and exits.
All
survey findings were entered on-site into a computer using
software that displayed the violations and ADA criteria for
compliance. The inspectors found 433 violations, with a mean
of 6.5 violations per site. The most common violations, in
rank order, were
- lack
of accessible parking spaces,
- lack
of accessible entrances,
- lack
of clear floor space between aisles, and
- inaccessible
counter height.
While
the ADA has created awareness of the accessibility problems
of disabled persons, many businesses are still not in compliance
with the law. Part of the reason may be that rural areas lack
educational programs on ADA.
Disclaimer
and Reproduction Information: Information in NASD does not represent
NIOSH policy. Information included in NASD appears by permission
of the author and/or copyright holder. More
NASD Review: 04/2002
This
research abstract was extracted from a portion of the proceedings
of "Agricultural Safety and Health: Detection, Prevention and
Intervention," a conference presented by the Ohio State University
and the Ohio Department of Health, sponsored by the Centers
for Disease Control/National Institute for Occupational Safety
and Health.
The
authors noted above are from: All from the University of Kentucky,
Lexington, KY
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