HKQAA Seminar on Barrier Free Accessibility Management System

The Seminar entitled "Barrier Free Accessibility Management System" was organized by Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) on 18 April 2013. The seminar aimed to introduce the new Barrier Free Accessibility (BFA) Management System which was the first BFA-related certification scheme in Hong Kong.

Mr. KT Ting (General Manager, Market Research Business, HKQAA) introduced the background of the BFA Management System and briefed BFA became a global trend in the development of big cities. Mr. Ting explained why BFA so important in our company. There were four dimensions to be considered including 1) Meaning, 2) Need, 3) Method and 4) Consequence if not perform.

He said there were over 363,000 persons with one or more than one type of disability and the number of people aged 65 years and above was 980,300 in 2013. Moreover, China including Hong Kong entered the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on 31 August 2008. The following diagram showed the Accessibility for the Disabled - A Design Manual for a Barrier Free Environment.

Then Mr. Ting introduced a legal requirements related to BFA below.
- Building (Planning) Regulations (Cap. 123F) - Buildings to be planned for use by persons with a disability

Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) Formal Investigation Report had mentioned the accessibility in publicly accessible premises. Dignified access was one of key requirement and BFAMS adopted some recommendations in the investigation report. Moreover, ISO 21542:2011 standard for Building Construction - Accessibility and Usability of the Built Environment was considered.
BFA another meaning were showed below.
- Better awareness of corporate social responsbility
- First step to improve Barrier Free Accessibility performance
- Advocate tripartite participation.

After that Mr. Johnny Leung (Assistant Manager, HKQAA) briefed BFA Management System Certification. The scope and boundaries of the BFA MS should be defined such as all sites or selected sites but the use of certification for publications and promotional items should be ensured without causing reasonable doubt or confusing to stakeholders. BFA MS framework adopt PDCA cycle and ISO 9001:2008.

Mr. Leung mentioned the BFA MS separated into Part A - Users assessment and Part B - Management system audit. Part A employed four groups of Mystery visitors to assess for public accessible areas. Four groups of Mystery visitors were:
1) Vision Impairment
2) Hearing Impairment
3) Elderly
4) Mobility Impairments

The following diagrams showed some common BFA facilities in shopping malls, public transportation

Part B was Management System Assessment which included the following items:
1) Barrier Free Accessibility (BFA) Policy
2) BFA Performance Objectives
3) BFA Management Plans
4) Operational Control
5) Awareness throughout the organization
6) Monitoring and Measurement
7) Management Review, Improvement action and Change

Finally, Mr. Ting introduced the Pilot scheme of BFA MS certification and HKQAA BFA MS Certfication Handbook (issue 1) published on 18 February 2013.

After attended this seminar, I would like to response four dimensions suggested by Mr. Ting.
1) Meaning (Demonstrate Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability; Increase employment of people with disabilities as social enterprise (e.g. HKQAA))
2) Need (Legal requirement and Global Trend)
3) Method (BFA MS Certification and Pilot Scheme) and
4) Consequence if not perform (Risk of discrimination claim)
  

Reference:
HKQAA - http://www.hkqaa.org
HKQAA Starts Pilot Scheme of Barrier Free Accessibility (BFA) Management System Certification - http://www.hkqaa.org/cmsimg/1364465376BFA%20launch.pdf