University of Alberta Campus Safety & Accessibility Audits

Project Summary

In 2018, the University of Alberta adopted its Strategic Plan for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity. As a next step, the University set out to document accessibility to its buildings, specifically the exterior stairs, ramps, and railings at elevated entrances.

Toole Design conducted an audit of all stairs, ramps, and railings associated with accessibility as well as traffic control devices associated with traffic safety at these campuses and formulated recommendations to address deficiencies and improve accessibility and safety. This included using the Fulcrum app to simultaneously collect and code both geospatial data and visual data/photography.

The next step was delivering a summary of our findings and recommendations, which included the following:

• Key maps identifying stairs, ramps, and railings and associated deficiencies and subsequent key maps with traffic signs and roadway markings and their associated deficiencies
• A database of all stairs, ramps, and railings and a subsequent database of all traffic signs and roadway markings—the databases are georeferenced, and include both action priority and action type for each location
• An associated set of georeferenced pictures for all recorded elements

The tools we created give the University of Alberta complete information and a comprehensive approach to improve accessibility and safety for the benefit of faculty, staff, students, and visitors to all three campuses.

Expertise Applied

• Inclusive Design and ADA