Over the years, you may have heard more and more about accessibility and accessible design, especially when it comes to entrances. But what does that mean exactly? “Accessible,” according to Merriam Webster, simply means “capable of being reached” and over time has come to refer to whether things in everyday life are capable of being reached or used by people who have disabilities. “Accessible design,” then, according to accessiBe, is an approach that prioritizes making products and environments that are inclusive, or usable by everyone—including people with disabilities.
Historically, building entrances have included manually opening doors that are designed for largely one type of person—someone who is average height, weight, and who can easily walk with no assistance and can use their hands to easily grip and turn knobs and pull open doors. But not everyone is that specific type of person, so these manual doors don’t work for everyone who might try to visit your business. In other words, they’re not accessible.
Why Make Your Doors Accessible?
It might feel like a hassle to alter a perfectly functioning manual door just to make it more accessible. But the truth is, they are essential for people with disabilities, who make up one of the largest and fastest-growing minorities in America, with a spending power of $1 trillion. The American Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that commercial buildings have accessible entrances, and while this doesn’t necessarily mean that you need an automatic door, your entrances do need to meet guidelines on things like door frame width and height, clearance space around the door, opening force and closing speed of the door, how level the landing is, and the door’s hardware. If your business is not accessible to people with disabilities, you risk not only alienating a large potential customer base, but you could also be unintentionally breaking the law.
In addition to being necessary for people with disabilities, accessible doors also appeal to everyone. A study by the American Association for Automatic Door Manufacturers asked around 500 people about the type of door they prefer interacting with when out shopping or visiting a business and only 1.1% of respondents said they preferred a manual door. 98.9% said they preferred automatic doors instead, which are one of the most common forms of accessible doors. Another study done at Stanford even showed that using an automatic door makes users feel engaged, since it gives them a sense of interaction, compared to a manual door.
How to Make Your Doors Accessible
So, now that you know the benefits, how do you actually make your doors accessible? Here are a few steps you can take.
Check that your doors follow all current accessibility rules:
As we mentioned, the ADA has specific guidelines for businesses to follow in order to make their entrances compliant. For any type of door you have, you should make sure they do the following:
- Provide a clearance width of at least 32 inches for people to pass through (to ensure that folks who rely on wheelchairs, motor scooters, walkers, and canes can easily enter).
- Have thresholds that are not taller than 1/2 inch in height, which includes sliding doors (to help wheelchair and motor scooter users pass smoothly cross through the doorway).
- Have level, unobstructed landings on both sides.
- Be operable with one hand without tight grasping, pinching, or twisting (like with a round doorknob), without requiring more than 5 lbs of force.
- Have adequate clearance space around the doorway (think for folks with wheelchairs who need to reposition themselves to open and use the door).
- Stay open for at least 5 seconds to give people enough time to use the door.
- Have enough clearance space inside a vestibule for people (especially those with wheelchairs, scooters, or walkers) to maneuver and use each door individually.
If you have an automatic doors with push-buttons, you should also make sure that your doors follow these guidelines:
- Door located in the most convenient location for the people using it (such as closest to the ramp, rather than in front of entrance stairs).
- Push-button placed in a convenient location that’s on the way to the door.
- Have a level, clear floor space where the push-button is.
- Plenty of clearance space around the push-button so that when the door swings open, it does not impede that space.
- Doors that stay open long enough to give someone time to move from the push-button location through the doorway.
If your doors do not currently meet the ADA’s standards, give us a call and we can develop a plan with you to get them compliant.
Make sure your doors are working properly:
This may feel like common sense, but your doors aren’t accessible if they aren’t working. Give your doors a quick check-over once a day to make sure that all your handles, hinges, sensors, or tracks are in good working order—and if there’s anything amiss, give our team a call to schedule a maintenance visit.
A great way to ensure that your doors are functioning correctly all year long is through proactive, attentive maintenance. With daily checks and regular, thorough inspections through plans like our ProActive Maintenance Plan, you can rest easy knowing that your doors will always be in accessible, working order.
Swap out manual doors for automatic doors:
One easy way to make sure your building is ADA compliant is to swap out any manual doors you have with automatic doors. As we mentioned earlier, automatic doors aren’t required by the ADA, but when 98.9% of Americans say they prefer them anyway, there’s no real downside to making the switch.
Our team is well-trained in retrofitting entrances in a way that seamlessly blends into your current space, so all you need to do is reach out and we’ll get the ball rolling from there.
There are many ways to make your doors more accessible, and many pros to doing so. Not only will it make it easier for any type of customer to visit your building, but it will also make their visit more enjoyable, both of which can eventually lead to more business. Whether you decide to make small adjustments to your entrances or make the plunge and fully automate your system, we’re here to help!