Enhancing Hotel Emergency Plans for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Guests (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: It's Hotel Emergency Readiness Month. Often, we know what steps to take in the event of an emergency at home, but what about work? Does your hotel have an emergency plan to assist the deaf and hard of hearing? As you know, the American Disabilities Act, also known as ADA, prohibits discrimination based on disability. Disability, as defined by the ADA, is a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits a major life activity. Additionally, the ADA includes provisions that must be made for these individuals. Today, we are going to focus on creating or improving your emergency readiness plans, specifically for the deaf and hard of hearing individuals. In accordance with the ADA, the hospitality industry is obligated to provide deaf individuals auxiliary aids and services, as well as the removal of communication barriers. Some auxiliary aids include qualified interpreters or note takers, computer-aided transcription services, written materials, telephone handset amplifiers, telephones compatible with hearing aids, closed caption decoders or open and closed caption, telecommunication devices. Video text displays other methods of making verbally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments. The event of an emergency every second counts. That's why it's important to have a plan in place. Let's discuss an emergency situation. The front desk clerk is working and the fire alarm goes off. She calls the fire department, then runs a report of all the guest rooms and information. She also sends out a broadcast television message to all of the rooms regarding the evacuation. Many times in emergencies, people are so frantic that they leave the scene and forget to tell the deaf individual what's going on. What other safety precautions should be added to this plan to ensure that deaf and hard of hearing guests are aware of the evacuation? All employees should be aware of the universal sign for an emergency situation. By drawing the letter X on the back of a deaf person with the fingertips illustrates that there is an emergency. Do any of the employees know the signs for emergency, help or evacuate? Knowing these emergency signs can be very beneficial and it can also save lives. Some hotels already have an emergency plan in place. There are a number of things that can be done to assist the deaf and hard of hearing. We wanted to give you a few suggestions to improve your hotel's plan and to become more ADA compliant. Good luck.