This British Standard explains how the built environment can be designed to anticipate, and overcome, restrictions that prevent disabled people making full use of premises and their surroundings.
An accessible environment is one which a disabled person can enter and make use of independently or with help from a partner or assistant, including being able to escape in the event of fire or other emergency.
7.1.1 Entrance flooring system
At entrances to commercial buildings and buildings used by the general public, an entrance flooring system to remove water and debris from the soles of shoes and wheelchair wheels should be provided…
7.1.2 Reception area
… The approach from the entrance to the reception point should be direct, free from obstructions, have a firm, slip-resistant surface and allow easy manoeuvre of a wheelchair…
9.1.3 Floor surfaces
… The ingress of soil and surface moisture to buildings, or their transfer between adjacent internal areas, should be reduced to the lowest practicable level e.g. through the use of appropriate entrance flooring systems, conforming to BS 7953.
Any matting should either have its surface level with the adjacent floor finish or, if surface laid, be of a type that has a rubber backing and chamfered edges. If, in exceptional circumstances other types of surface laid mats are used, they should be securely fixed to the floor at their edges and at any joints, to avoid the risk of tripping or slipping.
… Deep pile carpets and coir matting on the surface of the floor or within a mat well should not be used.
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