CASTEC Human Resources – Multi-Year Accessibility Plan Policy
POLICY STATEMENT:
CASTEC Inc’s. Multi-Year Accessibility Plan outlines the initiatives, and strategies that will identify, remove, and prevent accessibility barriers throughout the company by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, S.O. 2005, C. 11.
The Multi-Year Accessibility is publicly available, posted within the facility, and available in an accessible format on request. The Accessibility Plan will be reviewed and updated at least once every five years, or when applicable.
DEFINITIONS:
Definitions taken from the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, S.O. 2005, C. 11 or Ontario Human Rights Code.
Accessible formats:
May include, but are not limited to, large print, recorded audio and electronic formats, braille, and other formats usable by persons with disabilities.
Barrier:
Anything that prevents a person with a disability from fully participating in all aspects of society because of his or her disability, including a physical barrier, an architectural barrier, an information or communications barrier, an attitudinal barrier, a technological barrier, a policy, or a practice; (“obstacle”).
Disability:
Is defined broadly by the Ontario Human Rights Code:
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“any degree of physical disability, infirmity, malformation or disfigurement that is caused by bodily injury, birth defect or illness and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, includes diabetes mellitus, epilepsy, a brain injury, any degree of paralysis, amputation, lack of physical coordination, blindness or visual impediment, deafness or hearing impediment, muteness or speech impediment, or physical reliance on a guide dog or other animal or on a wheelchair or other remedial appliance or device,
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a condition of mental impairment or a developmental disability,
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a learning disability, or a dysfunction in one or more of the processes involved in understanding or using symbols or spoken language,
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a mental disorder, or
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an injury or disability for which benefits were claimed or received under the insurance plan established under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, 1997.”
STATEMENT OF COMMITMENT:
A statement that establishes the company’s vision and intention to achieve accessibility.
STATEMENT OF COMMITMENT:
CASTEC is committed to ensuring equal access and participation for individuals with disabilities and treating anyone with a disability in a way that allows them to maintain their dignity and independence. We are committed to providing accommodations promptly by removing and continuing to prevent barriers to accessibility. We work in compliance with Ontario’s accessibility laws by addressing and meeting our accessibility requirements.
PART 1 GENERAL
POLICY:
CASTEC will make every reasonable effort to meet the requirements of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), 2005, including all applicable elements of the Integrated Accessibility Standards.
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Information and Communication
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Employment
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Customer Service
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Design of Public Spaces
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Transportation
CASTEC will provide training to all employees, volunteers, and independent contractors to ensure they are familiar with our policies, practices, and procedures for communicating with and providing services to persons with disabilities.
MULTI-YEAR ACCESSIBILITY PLAN:
CASTEC is committed to developing and implementing the multi-year plan to meet the requirements of the AODA and the needs of our employees with disabilities.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
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Developed a multi-year accessibility plan in 2021.
ACTIONS PLANNED:
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Updated the multi-year accessibility plan for the CASTEC company website.
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Accessible formats available on request,
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Posting the annual status update to the company website for the public.
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Review and update the multi-year plan at least once every five years,
TRAINING:
CASTEC is committed to providing the appropriate AODA training to all employees including, part-time, full-time, or contract employees. All training will be recorded and maintained including the dates, and names of the individuals trained.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
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All training is complete and ongoing and provided to all new employees of CASTEC.
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Online training, and record-keeping for all employees through Talent LMS training management portal.
ACTIONS PLANNED:
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Changes or updates will be provided for changes in policies.
PART 2 INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION STANDARD
CASTEC is committed to maintaining communication with people with disabilities through consulting together to determine the information and communication needs. To meet the needs of persons with disabilities CASTEC will incorporate the accessibility requirements under the Integrated Accessibility Standard Regulation.
CASTEC will, upon request, consult with the person requesting the information and provide or arrange for the provision of accessible formats and communication supports.
ACCESSIBLE WEBSITES AND WEB CONTENT:
CASTEC will make its information accessible to people with disabilities by creating materials and supports in accessible formats, and it will notify the public of the types of accessible formats provided.
Further, CASTEC will deliver alternate formats of information to clients, upon request. If a particular material cannot be converted into an accessible format that meets the needs of the person requesting it, CASTEC will provide details of why it cannot be converted and provide a summary of the information or communication in another way that is suitable to the person requesting it.
This extends to any emergency procedures or safety information prepared by CASTEC.
Any websites and web content of CASTEC will be compliant with World Wide Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA, by January 21, 2020.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
ACTIONS PLANNED:
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Work with the marketing department to ensure the new websites comply.
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Review the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and update them accordingly.
ACCESSIBLE EMERGENCY PROCEDURES:
CASTEC’s priority is safety and ensuring that our facilities are safe for all employees, clients, and visitors. CASTEC will provide individualized workplace emergency response information to employees with disabilities where necessary. Individual workplace emergency response information will be reviewed if the employee moves to a different location within the company, or the employee’s overall accommodation needs, or plans are reviewed.
SUPPORT WORKERS:
If a person with a disability is accompanied by a support person CASTEC will ensure that both persons are permitted to enter the premises together and that the person with a disability is not prevented from having access to the support person while on the premises.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
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Workplace Emergency Response Plan.
ACTIONS PLANNED:
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Individualized workplace emergency requirements or other accommodations.
PART 3 EMPLOYMENT STANDARD
EMPLOYMENT:
CASTEC welcomes and encourages employment applications from people with disabilities and will do its part to make hiring and employee support practices more accessible by providing accommodation during all stages of recruitment, hiring, and employment.
If a job applicant requests an accommodation, CASTEC will consult with the applicant and provide suitable accommodation that takes the person’s accessibility needs into account.
When making offers of employment, CASTEC will notify the successful applicant of its policies for accommodating employees with disabilities.
New employees will be reminded about the organization’s job accommodation policies as soon as possible upon being hired and notified when any future changes are made to policies. Policy and practice information will include available employment accommodations that will be provided for job-related matters such as performance management, career development, emergency response plans, and return to work-information.
CASTEC will consult with an employee who requests it, to provide or arrange for the provision of accessible formats and communication supports that take the employee’s needs into account when providing information that is needed to perform the employee’s job, and information that is generally available to employees in the workplace.
RECRUITMENT:
ACTIONS TAKEN:
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Notify all new hires of the policy for accommodating employees with disabilities.
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Post on the website that accommodations can be made available to those who request them.
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Support employees with disabilities on an annual basis and when a change in policy occurs.
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Training managers to ensure that accommodations are offered and made available throughout the interview process.
ACTIONS PLANNED:
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Addressing barriers to recruitment.
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Continuing to accommodate employees.
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Notifying employees and the public of the available accommodations for applicants during the recruitment process.
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Notifying applicants selected to participate in an interview, or other recruitment processes that accommodations are available.
ACCESSIBLE FORMATS AND COMMUNICATION SUPPORT:
CASTEC will make its information accessible to people with disabilities by creating materials and supports in accessible formats, and it will notify the public of the types of accessible formats provided.
Further, CASTEC will deliver alternate formats of information to clients, upon request. If a particular material cannot be converted into an accessible format that meets the needs of the person requesting it, CASTEC will provide details of why it cannot be converted and provide a summary of the information or communication in another way that is suitable to the person requesting it.
This extends to any emergency procedures or safety information prepared by CASTEC.
Any websites and web content of CASTEC will be compliant with World Wide Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level AA, by January 21, 2020.
If there is a temporary disruption in any of our services either in whole or in part, CASTEC will provide notice of the disruption to the public via as many channels as possible, in accessible formats, where available. We will physically post notices where the disruption is taking place as well as through any other channels that are appropriate such as email, phone, text, social media, or on our website.
Notice of the disruption will include the reason for the disruption, its anticipated duration, and a description of alternative facilities or services, if any, that are available.
DOCUMENTED INDIVIDUAL ACCOMMODATION PLANS:
ACTIONS TAKEN:
ACTIONS PLANNED:
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Continue to Review documented prosses and procedures to improve the Accommodation Program.
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Create a work-safe program that includes documented processes and information on accommodating employees.
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Emergency response information.
RETURN TO WORK WITH ACCOMMODATION:
CASTEC will maintain the process for developing individual accommodation plans and return-to-work plans for employees who have been absent due to a disability. We will provide employees who require an individualized accommodation plan and involve them in the outline of the development of the plan. Included in the process is providing the employee with plans in accessible formats, and keeping all the individualized accommodations plans confidential.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
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Review and update the Return-to-Work Program.
ACTIONS PLANNED:
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Develop individualized accommodation plans when necessary.
PART 4 CUSTOMER SERVICE STANDARD
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
CASTEC will provide customer service in a manner that removes barriers for people with disabilities according to the following key principles of the AODA:
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Goods and services will be provided in a manner that respects the dignity and independence of persons with disabilities.
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Service to people with disabilities will be integrated with others unless an alternate way of providing the good, service, or facility is required by the person with the disability.
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Persons with disabilities will be given equal opportunity to use and benefit from the goods, services, or facilities an organization or business has to offer.
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We will communicate with people with disabilities in a way that takes the individual’s disability into account.
Assistive Devices, and Service Animals, Service Dogs or Guide Dogs
Persons with disabilities who use an assistive device will be permitted to use their own device to access the goods and services of CASTEC.
If a person with a disability is accompanied by a guide dog or other service animal, CASTEC shall ensure that the person is permitted to enter the premises with the animal and to keep the animal with him or her, unless the animal is otherwise excluded by law from the premises.
ACTIONS TAKEN:
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Emergency procedures have been developed to ensure customers with varying abilities are assisted in building emergencies.
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Customers are informed with accessible services are temporarily unavailable.
ACTIONS PLANNED:
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Develop meeting/public information protocols to ensure the needs of persons with disabilities are met.
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Continue to train new employees on accessible customer service.
TRANSPORTATION:
CASTEC does not provide conventional or specialized commercial transportation services to passengers and is not required to adhere to the Transportation Standard.
DESIGN OF PUBLIC SPACES:
If CASTEC redesigns or redevelops an outdoor public space such as a parking area, outdoor eating area or play space, exterior path of travel, recreational trail or beach access route, or an indoor or outdoor service counter, waiting area or queuing line, it will do so in accordance the Design of Public Spaces Standard of the AODA. CASTEC will also ensure any newly redesigned or redeveloped areas are maintained in accordance with the rules set out by the AODA.
FEEDBACK:
CASTEC will accept feedback about the way in which it provides goods and services to persons with disabilities by in person, by phone or email, or in another way that is suitable to a person with a disability.
When a complaint is received about the way we provide goods, services, or facilities to persons with disabilities, CASTEC will let the person who submitted the feedback know about the actions the organization will take to resolve the issue.
Mail:
199 Mumford Rd. Lively, ON, P3Y 0A4
ATTN: HUMAN RESOURCES
Phone: (705) 692-0888
Email: ctonello@grossigroup.ca
In Person:
Callie Tonello
Human Resource & Payroll Administrator
199 Mumford Rd. Lively, ON, P3Y 0A4
ACTIONS TAKEN:
ACTIONS PLANNED:
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Continue to use accessible feedback as a means for improving the plan.
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Ensure any internal feedback for employees is accessible.