The Access Training Consultancy offered by East Staffordshire Building Control is a flexible service offering general advice, design guidance, access audits, staff awareness training and seminars for professionals.

Barbara Harrison, who is the Council's Access Officer, has 20 years experience in the field and is soon to graduate from the University of Reading with an MSc in Inclusive Environments.

Advice and guidance is given using the latest standards for the specific purpose.

A feature of the training offered by East Staffordshire is the tailored approach targeting the needs of your specific business. The training offered is practical and cost-effective presented in a professional but enjoyable format designed to be memorable to staff at all levels.

Training can be offered at times suitable for your staff, on your premises if preferred. A range of courses is available that would include:

Sessions last 30/40 minutes and will cover:

• What is disability: Common assumptions and misconceptions
• Basic Etiquette
• What the law demands
• Whose responsibility?
• Working with disabled colleagues and PEEPS (Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans)
• Where to go for advice

Training should take 2½ - 3 hours and is best offered to groups of 15 - 20.

• Disability: Definitions including the Social Model
• DDA 1995: How your services are affected and what is reasonable
• DDA 2005: Duty on public authorities and others
• Beyond the duties: where positive discrimination is a good practice
• Specialist areas of work: Communication, publications, accessible public areas, cost-effective anticipation of needs etc
• Where to get advice: What advice and help is available; web based information; specialists and how to find them.
• A developing and evolving duty with personal and corporate responsibilities

Training should take 1 - 1½ hours and could be combined within 2½ hours with a basic awareness session. Includes:

• Hidden disabilities. Awareness, approachability and protection
• PEEPS (Personal Emergency Egress Plans): What they are, whose responsibility, how and when to update them
• Reasonable adjustments
• Sickness and disability
• Consideration of disability issues from the start of a project
• Identifying responsibilities
• Advisory services

Training should take approximately 2 hours and is important for designers, architects, developers and builders. Sessions could be offered per head or for a specific professional practice. Includes:

• Statistics
• Where design can hinder
• Does access need to be bland and boring?
• Where design can help
• Meeting requirements and minimum guidance
• Going the extra mile
• What effect improved design will have

Training should take 1 - 1½ hours and should be offered to all customer facing staff. Includes:

• Statistics: How often do you deal with disabled people or their families
• Assumptions
• Communication
• What must you offer
• What could you offer
• Who can advise

Training should take 1 - 1½ hours. Sessions could be offered on a per head basis or general on-site training for larger numbers of staff. Includes:

• Statistics: How often do you deal with disabled people or their families
• Assumptions
• Communication
• What must you offer
• What could you offer
• What you should not offer
• Specialist equipment
• Who can advise

The service is offered by ESBC on a non-profit making basis; charges are calculated to recover costs only making the training readily affordable for businesses of all sizes.

Any of your customers may be affected by disability. This includes people using mobility aids, people with sight or hearing impairments, people with learning disabilities, older people, carers, children and of course people using wheelchairs.

There are over 11 million customers in the UK who have disabilities and have rights under the DDA. The number of people who would find a service easier to use if helped by small, inexpensive changes may be as high as 25 million, that is nearly half of the population.