Revision to ISO 21542 (2011) Building Construction - Accessibility and usability of the built environment

by Robyn Thompson and Angela Roennfeldt

In 2017 revision of the first edition of the International Standard - Accessibility and useability of the built environment commenced.

Standards Australia is represented on the ISO committee by 2 members of the Australian committee on Access and Mobility (ME64), Angela Roennfeldt and Robyn Thompson.

A wide range of countries are represented on the committee including Argentina (IRAM) Australia (SA) Austria (ASI) Belgium (NBN) Brazil (ABNT) Canada (SCC) China (SAC) Colombia (ICONTEC) Denmark (DS) France (AFNOR) Germany (DIN) Ireland (NSAI) Italy (UNI) Japan (JISC) Norway (SN) Russian Federation (GOST R) Saudi Arabia (SASO) South Africa (SABS) Spain (UNE) Sweden (SIS) Switzerland (SNV) Turkey (TSE) United Kingdom (BSI) Uruguay (UNIT) with comments submitted by ANEC, Egypt (EOS)

Working groups were initially created to review the sections of the Standard proposed for updating. It is important to realise that not all sections of the Standard were to be reviewed in detail. The process for review is that a proposal for a review of certain sections is put forward to ISO by one of the member countries. The proposal is sent to ballot and if enough countries support review of the sections identified and the work proposal is accepted by ISO, then work proceeds. The sections identified in the current standard review were as follows:

• General: Improvement of terminology, general design considerations, misprints and errors

• Exceptional considerations

• Fire safety for all

• Visual impairments

• Hearing impairments

• Ramps

• Lifts, escalators and moving walks

Working groups were established for each of the identified areas.

The outcomes of these working groups were issued to members for comment and then the main committee would meet to discuss the acceptance or rejection of the comments and the inclusion of the proposed revised sections into the draft standard - a slow and challenging process when members come from countries with such diverse topography, climate and economic conditions!

In addition, a working group on accessible housing and the requirements for children with a disability were added. Work on the requirements for children with a disability has continued and is anticipated to become part of the next revision.

Prior to the introduction of Covid-19 travel restrictions meetings were held in person over 4 days in both Madrid and Oslo. With the limitations of travel in 2020 and 2021 all ISO meetings went onto Zoom. Despite attempts to adjust meetings to suit everyone, being in Australia made joining meetings late in the evening and participating into the early hours, challenging.

At the time of writing the draft standard (ISO 21542 revision 2) has been finalised and the voting process, which closes in mid-April 2021, is underway, so that hopefully the revised standard will then be published after the committee's next meeting in June.

The 2011 version ISO standard on accessibility, for those unfamiliar with it, is similar to the Australian access and mobility standard - AS1428.1, although the ISO standard includes more informative information as it is not limited by needing to be referenced by a code such as the NCC that requires measurable outcomes. The 2011 ISO standard is focused on access to and within buildings to which the public has access.

As the international standard requires 25 countries to agree on minimum requirements for circulation spaces, ramp gradients, measurement of luminance contrast and the like, consensus is often difficult to achieve. However, it has been interesting to hear the approach taken by various countries to accessibility issues and to understand the various expectations of different user groups, as well as the findings of international research. Conclusions included in the Standard are sometimes a compromise and often there was a recommendation by the Committee, that ongoing review of various sections is required.

Standards are all living documents!

The main changes to the ISO Standard compared to the previous include the following:

• A restructuring of the document and editorial revision to make the document more user friendly.

• Modification of the approach to exceptional considerations, which will now only apply to existing buildings. Previously new building work in developing countries was included in these exceptions to the minimum requirements.

• Revision to the sections on tactile walking surfaces (TWSI) which references the new standard ISO 23599:2019.

• Revision to the provisions of visual contrast.

• Complete revision and enlargement of the specifications on acoustics and emergency warning systems.

• Inclusion of clauses related to (fire) emergency evacuation, ie, Emergency egress is included, as well as access into a building.

• Introduction of a new informative annex on housing.

• Inclusion of additional information on accessibility requirements for lifts, which is no longer provided in the European standards.

A working group continues to review design requirements for children with a disability and work has commenced on including a section entitled 'Accessibility of the immovable cultural heritage' - which is to cover accessibility in heritage buildings.

It would have been helpful to have included more detail in this update however as the ISO standard is still in draft, we will have to provide more commentary in the future when you all have a copy!

A number of the ISO 21542 committee meeting in Madrid.