Highlights of Selected Accessibility Initiatives
July 2009 – June 2010
1. Accessible Customer Service Standards Project
The first AODA standard, the Accessible Customer Service Standard (ACSS), was enacted in 2007 with the key deliverable of Accessible Customer Service training and policies, required by Jan. 1, 2010.
The Accessibility Standard for Customer Service project was initiated to ensure that the Region of Peel complied with the Customer Service Regulation 429/07.
The first milestone, which was reported in last year’s Accessibility Plan, was the development, approval and implementation of the accessibility policy. The Accessible Customer Service Policy for the Region of Peel was developed and adopted as GOO-18. The policy was validated by the Accessibility Plan Steering Committee, Executive Management Team and Accessibility Advisory Committee. The policy was communicated to all staff and published on the Region’s internal and external website to ensure it was readily available and accessible to members of public and staff.
The second deliverable, awareness training, was rolled out to the entire corporation using a variety of methods to ensure that all Regional staff could conveniently access training. Three options were employed to deliver the training to staff in a timely and cost effective manner.
The challenge in delivering training was not only the legislative requirement to train nearly 5,000 employees, but also to meet the needs of the various work locations, schedules of shift workers, learning styles and staff without access to computers.
Staff developed and provided the following training choices for employees:
I. eLearning
Peel developed customized online training, which has drawn attention from numerous Ontario Municipalities and other organizations seeking solutions to meet AODA regulatory requirements.
The in-house solution offered employees the option of activating a closed captioning (CC) feature, creating an accessible training module well in advance of the Province’s Employment Standards and Information and Communication Standards that are yet to be released. The Employment Standard will require Peel to also consider the training needs of employees with disabilities. This option allowed Peel to be proactive in compliance with pending AODA standards.
II. Training Booklet
Peel needed to provide an easy way for staff who do not have access to computers to complete the training. Although the concept of a booklet was inspired by the City of Mississauga, Peel altered the original concept by building in the mail-in postcard and added Peel specific scenarios and examples.
III. Classroom Training
Under this option, traditional classroom training was also made available for staff who may have felt more comfortable learning in this environment.
IV. Train the Trainers
Who best knows their employees but the business units? This very question was asked by the project team and addressed by the creation of a Train the Trainer course. Departmental staff members were invited to be trained in delivering Accessible Customer Service to their own workforce with full support from the project team. Key documents and experiential learning tools, such as wheel chairs, canes for the blind and walkers were made readily available in support of course objectives.
Of all the options considered, Option I, eLearning, was chosen by the project team as the most efficient, high quality and low cost way to achieve compliance with AODA regulation. The project team worked with the Region of Peel’s AAC to ensure the training solutions were accessible and the content was reflective of the full range of disabilities.
The project team received positive feedback from staff who appreciated having adaptable and flexible training options to choose from to achieve ACSS compliance.
Accessible Customer Service Training Project Team
TWBA Award Ceremony
<< Previous | Next >>
- top -
