Introduction
ISA International Inc. is a B2B manufacturer and wholesaler of custom-built tables, chairs and related furniture items for the hospitality industry and shopping malls. It has no B2C operations, and no retail sales.
ISA International Inc. strives to meet the needs of all persons with disabilities with whom it may interact in any capacity or role, including its own employees, employees of its customers, suppliers, third-party service providers, regulatory bodies, government agencies, and members of the general public. It is working hard to remove and prevent barriers to accessibility, and to treat people with disabilities in a way that allows them to maintain their dignity and independence.
We are committed to fulfilling our requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. This accessibility plan outlines the steps ISA International Inc. is taking to meet those requirements and to improve opportunities for people with disabilities. Our plan shows how ISA International Inc. will play its role in making Ontario an accessible province for all Ontarians.
Section One:
Past achievements to remove and prevent barriers
This section presents a summary of the accessibility initiatives that ISA International Inc. has already undertaken, and that are either completed or are currently in progress.
Customer Service
- Our organization has remained in compliance with Ontario’s Customer Service Standard.
- We interact with customers almost entirely by phone, fax, and email. We have solicited advice regarding making our web pages easier to read and navigate by persons with low vision, and we have implemented some of the recommended changes. We have sought advice regarding audio versions.
- Customers and other persons physically visiting our premises encounter a zero-rise threshold, a door wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair or other assisted mobility vehicle, ample seating in the reception area, a team of receptionists trained to suggest and arrange individualized assistance should a visitor request it, an entirely ground-level floor throughout the premises, and a washroom designed for wheelchair accessibility.
- To date we have not received any customer feedback regarding barriers to accessibility.
Information and Communications
- ISA International Inc. maintains (1) an intranet for on-site employees, (2) a tunneled extranet for off-site employees and third-party IT systems service providers, and (3) a publicly accessible website on the World Wide Web for other web-based communication to its customers and the general public.
- ISA has been working to bring all of these communication channels up to a uniform, and progressively rising, level of accessibility for people with disabilities, with priority focus on those channels that support day-to-day operations such as ERP/MRP, order entry, accounting, sales support, and the company’s email server.
- ISA has been working to make text easier to read for people with vision impairments.
- We have solicited advice on developing and implementing audio assists for some display functions.
- Whenever needed we provide individualized assistance to employees to help them overcome specific difficulties with using our computer systems.
- We strive to ensure that information about our policies and procedures, and public safety information, is effectively communicated to persons with disabilities, by disseminating it via multiple redundant channels of communication.
Employment
- ISA International Inc. helps its employees stay safe in an emergency by providing individualized emergency response information for those with disabilities.
- ISA has advised its operations and human resources managers to introduce a written process for developing individual accommodation plans for those with disabilities.
- Example: an employee with an elevated sensitivity and adverse physical reaction to certain common airborne allergens was accommodated in a work area where the air was specially purified.
Section Two:
Strategies and Actions Planned for 2020/21–2025
This section identifies the projects and programs ISA International Inc. plans for between now and 2025 to meet the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and to remove and prevent barriers to people with disabilities.
Customer Service
- ISA International Inc. is committed to providing accessible customer service to people with disabilities. This means that we will provide goods and services to people with disabilities with the same high quality and timeliness as others. Although we have no B2C operations, and no retail sales, we recognize that our customers may employ people with disabilities in the role of buyers, or to otherwise interact with us, and in some cases our customers may be owner-operators or sole proprietors who may have disabilities themselves.
- We plan to continue training each new hire, as an integral part of their introduction to our company, in how to comply with the Customer Service Standard. This is a continuous, ongoing process, not a one-off initiative, so the timeframe for completion is: “ongoing”.
Information and Communications
- ISA International Inc. is committed to making our information and communications accessible to people with disabilities.
- We plan to continue producing new text documents in tagged-structured format, in order to facilitate the dissemination of information via multiple redundant communication channels. This is a continuous, ongoing process, not a one-off initiative, so the timeframe for completion is: “ongoing”.
Employment
- ISA International Inc. is committed to fair and accessible recruiting, hiring, and employment practices.
- We intend to continue our initiative to develop individual accommodation plans for those with disabilities. Our timeframe for completion of this initiative is year-end 2022.
- We plan to seek advice from experts in disability accessibility, in order to make our recruiting and interviewing processes more accessible to applicants with disabilities. Our timeframe for completion of this initiative is year-end 2022.
Training
- ISA International Inc. is committed to providing training in the requirements of Ontario’s accessibility laws and the Ontario Human Rights Code as it applies to people with disabilities.
- We plan to continue assessing the effectiveness of, and making ongoing improvements to, our process for training new hires. This is a continuous, ongoing process, not a one-off initiative, so the timeframe for completion is: “ongoing”.
- We plan to continue our regular update meetings with all employees to keep them abreast of ISA’s evolving policies and procedures regarding accessibility for people with disabilities. This is a continuous, ongoing process, not a one-off initiative, so the timeframe for completion is: “ongoing”.
For More Information
Standard and enhanced-accessibility formats of this document are free upon request. For more information on this accessibility plan, or to request a free copy, in standard or enhanced-accessibility format, please contact:
Kasia Purdy
Controller
ISA International Inc.
46 Dufflaw Road
Toronto, ON M6A 2W1
Canada
email: kasia@havaseat.com
tel: 416-782-9100, ext. 223
toll free: 1-800-881-3928
fax: 416-782-7993