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The Americans with Disabilities Act and your inground pool

mark handler

mark handler

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The Americans with Disabilities Act and your inground pool

posted by mike 6:15 PM Sunday, January 1, 2012

http://www.expertpoolwork.com/2012/01/01/the-americans-with-disabilities-act-and-your-inground-pool/

NOTE TO ALL HOTEL AND MOTEL POOLS WITH AN INGROUND POOL (AND/OR A SPA):

The Americans with Disabilities Act – the ADA – is a federal law that strictly prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability; the ADA also includes documentation and regulations for building design standards to make facilities and establishments – such as hotels and motels – more accommodating for people with disabilities. On September 15, 2010, a revision to the original ADA was signed into law that requires compliance by all coverable entities, to include all hotels and motels; section 242 of this revise to the ADA mandates that your swimming pool and spa must be equipped with an ADA-approved disability lift BEFORE March 15, 2012 to be safe from potential litigation on the basis of discrimination.

This is a FEDERAL law, so that State has made it clear that they are not advising, intervening, or overseeing this FEDERAL law. You must act on your own to protect your interests.

You are advised to consult with your legal team to assess your liability and culpability should litigation be brought against your establishment and its swimming pool for failure to comply with this 2010 revise to the ADA. Again, March 15, 2012 is the final date for compliance; as of this date, you could be found guilty of discrimination against the disabled if compliance is not met. While punishment still has some gray-area and confusion, early accounts suggest that by not complying, you are knowingly taking a risk of having someone file a complaint with the Department of Justice, which may result in a lawsuit that requires you to compensate the disabled, purchase and install the disability lift, and possibly pay a fine in excess of $100,000.00 if found guilty.

When your legal team reads and interprets this revise to the ADA, if they recommend that it is in your best interest to supply a disability lift onsite, then Expert Pool Work, Inc., which is insured and licensed in the State of Nebraska, does offer ADA-endorsed disability lifts, complete with installation. If you have any questions or if you would like to meet with us onsite to discuss the ADA and your responsibility for compliance, as well as discuss the disability lifts that have been endorsed by both the ADA and the pool industry, then call Expert Pool Work, Inc. at 402-341-8132 for your free consultation, advice, and quote.

Expert Pool Work, Inc. assisted countless commercial clients with their past Virginia Graeme-Baker (VGB) Act compliance; we can do the same for you and your required ADA compliance.

It is noted here that you will attain our lowest price and best savings in January and February of 2012 for disability lift installations. We get extremely busy with outdoor pool work in early March, so do not wait until the last few days for compliance; take advantage of the low prices and savings now. You can call Expert Pool Work, Inc. at 402-341-8132 for your free consultation, advice, and quote.

It is also noted here that if you already have a disability lift, you still must make sure that your disability lift is ADA-approved; many lifts are not ADA-approved. If your lift is not ADA-approved, then you are not compliant and you are vulnerable to litigation against your establishment and its pool (and perhaps its spa too). Call Expert Pool Work, Inc. at 402-341-8132 today if you’d like free onsite consultation to determine if your disability lift is or is not ADA-approved and otherwise in compliance.
 
According to the ADA Small Business Primer Hotels, motels and inns must also have a fully accessible reservation policies and systems by March 15 this year:

With certain exceptions, "places of lodging" must now:
  • modify its practices to ensure that individuals with disabilities can make reservations during the same hours and in the same manner as individuals without disabilities (note the use of the word "same", not "substantially similar", as requested by some hotel industry lobbyists)
  • identify and describe accessible features and inaccessible features in the hotel and guest rooms in enough detail to allow an individual with disabilities to assess whether a hotel meets his or her needs
  • ensure that accessible guest rooms are held for use by individuals with disabilities until all other guest rooms of that type have been rented
  • reserve, upon request, accessible guest rooms or specific types of guest rooms and ensure that the reserved rooms are blocked and removed from all reservations systems
  • guarantee that a specific accessible guest room, once reserved, is held for the reserving customer. While there are limited obligations that apply to third-party reservation operators who do not own and operate the places of lodging; the amended Regulations require places of lodging that use third-party reservations services make reasonable efforts to make accessible rooms available through at least some of these services and they must provide these third-party services with information concerning the accessible features of the hotel and the accessible rooms
The new reservation requirements will require that hotels and other hotel-like facilities properly train their staff and implement significant changes in reservation policies. For example, the reservations staff must be able to identify which specific features are included in a hotel's accessible guest rooms; an accessible bathroom may meet accessibility requirements with either a bathtub or a roll-in shower, but the specific feature may make a difference to a particular disabled person so it must be identified.
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ADA amendments to policies for service animals, including miniature horses, have been on the books since March 15, 2011. This does include a distinction that the animal must be trained to perform a task, and excludes "comfort animals" (except those trained to calm an individual with PSTD during an anxiety attack may be considered a service animal). (source http://hotellaw.jmbm.com/ada/)See the 2010 ADAAG Pool Section for the specific provisions referenced in the OP.
 
If a contractor pulls a permit to make alterations of a pool for ADA compliance; how can the building inspection department legally enforce ADA requirements when it's not in the building code?

Think I phrased that correctly!

Francis
 
You don't unless empowered by your state to do so. You enforce the code.

A pool is a Recreational facility

IBC 2012

1109.15.2 ...recreational facilities, 25 percent, but not less than one, of each type of recreational facility ... shall be accessible. The total number of each type of recreational facility that is required to be accessible shall be determined by considering every recreational facility of each type serving each building on the site.

IBC 2009

1109.14 Recreational and sports facilities. Recreational and sports facilities shall be provided with accessible features in accordance with Sections 1109.14.1 through 1109.14.4.

IBC 2006

1109.14 Recreational and sports facilities. Recreational and sports facilities shall be provided with accessible features in accordance with Sections 1109.14.1 through 1109.14.4.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mark, Thanks for the quick reply, guess I may have to consult the attorney collecting a fee for inspecting something we are not empowered to enforce.

The 2006 and 2009 references A117.1 2003 which does not have section 1109 in the A117.1 2010; so what would be the standard to reference into the pool if that's the interpretation?

The more I learn the less I know

Francis
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Francis Vineyard said:
The more I learn the less I know Francis
Click to expand...
1109.14 is an IBC section not ANSI/ICC 117.1

The IBC requires all Recreational facilities to be accessible
 
The City of LOS ANGELES accessibility compliance planchecker use to stamp the drawing with a stamp that read

Plans have been reviewed for CBC accessibility compliance.

Plans have not been reviewed for ADA accessibility

It ts the Owner's and designer's responsibility to comply with the

Americans with Disabilities Act
 
IBC scopes accessibility where required and ICC/ANSI 2003 is the reference for the standards not ADA. My question is when a permit is required for this alteration of barrier removal and under what authority does the inspector have to enforce standards that are not reference in the IBC?

Am I missing something in this regard to inspect for anything other than the work is structurally sound and to manufacturers specs?
 
When a permit is required for alterations of barrier removal, the inspector has to enforce the standards that are in the state building code.

It ts the Owner's and designer's responsibility to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Fair Housing Act.

An inspector does not have the authority unless empowered by your state to do so. You enforce the code.

The IBC requires all Recreational facilities to be accessible.
 
I'm with Mark. The Requirement for recreational facilities to be accessible comes from Chapter 11 of the International Building Code. Specifics as to how to accomplish this task are not well defined in the IBC, so it is up to the designer to provide a plan. It is up to the plan reviewer and the building official to determine whther or no the plan submitted is acceptable. Once an acceptable design has been submitted for review and accepted, then the installation must be per the approved plans. It is not rare that the designer will rely on the ADA documents to find a suitable design. It ai also reasonable for the plan reviewer to rely on that document as a guideline for determining what an acceptable design looks like.
 
Francis Vineyard said:
Mark, Thanks for the quick reply, guess I may have to consult the attorney collecting a fee for inspecting something we are not empowered to enforce.The 2006 and 2009 references A117.1 2003 which does not have section 1109 in the A117.1 2010; so what would be the standard to reference into the pool if that's the interpretation?

The more I learn the less I know

Francis
Click to expand...
mark handler said:
1109.14 is an IBC section not ANSI/ICC 117.1The IBC requires all Recreational facilities to be accessible
Click to expand...
A little clarification in reference to the above quotes; ICC/ANSI-2009 (not 2010 reference in 2012 IBC) has a new section 1109 Swimming Pools, Wading Pools, and Spas; standards for getting into the pool.
 
Francis Vineyard said:
If a contractor pulls a permit to make alterations of a pool for ADA compliance; how can the building inspection department legally enforce ADA requirements when it's not in the building code?Think I phrased that correctly!

Francis
Click to expand...
We dont enforce the ADA, but we do enforce the structural etc provisions.
 
mark,

The city I work for adopted the 2006IBC in 2008 before I arrived. 2006IBC chapter 11, 1101.2 makes reference to ICC A117.1 with no code year noted.

What year A117.1 should I be enforcing when adopting the 2006 IBC? The 2003?

Currently the only A117.1 standard I have in the office is the 1998, which I think would be for the 2000IBC. No state building code has been adopted here.

pc1
 
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