Primipair™ Accessibility Plan and Policy

Accessibility

Primipair strives to identify, remove, and prevent barriers that may interfere with your ability to interact with us at all times through our products, services, and facilities.

This policy and plan address the accessibility requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)

Accessibility Policy

Accessibility Plan

Accessibility Policy

This policy applies to all Primipair customers and employees, contractors, vendors and any third party relationships that are in contact with Primipair’s customers in Ontario. It also applies to all Primipair office buildings located in Ontario.

Definitions

“Primipair” refers to Primipair Inc. and all of its subsidiaries and affiliates.
“Disability” is defined as 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 co-ordination, 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 appliances or device; a condition of mental impairment or a developmental disability; a learning disability, or a dysfunction in one or more of the processes involved in understanding or using symbols or spoken language; a mental disorder; or an injury or disability for which benefits were claimed or received under the insurance plan established under the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.
“Assistive Devices” are auxiliary aids such as communication aids, cognition aids, personal mobility aids and medical aids (e.g., canes, crutches, wheelchairs or hearing aids).
“Support Persons” are any persons, whether a paid professional, volunteer, family member, or friend, who accompany a person with a disability in order to help with communications, personal care or medical needs, or with access to goods or services.
“Service Animals” are animals individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.

Customer Service Standards

Primipair is committed to excellence in serving all customers, including people with disabilities, and will carry out functions and responsibilities in the following areas:

(a) Communication

Primipair will communicate with people with disabilities in ways that take into account their disability. Staff who communicate with customers will be trained on how to interact and communicate with people with various types of disabilities.

(b) Telephone Services

Primipair is committed to providing fully accessible telephone service to customers. Employees who communicate with customers over the telephone will be trained to speak clearly and slowly and in plain language. Staff will offer to communicate with customers by e-mail or TTY relay services if telephone communication is not suitable to their communication needs or is not available.

Primipair is committed to serving people with disabilities who use assistive devices to obtain, use or benefit from its goods and services. Primipair will ensure that staff is trained and familiar with various assistive devices that may be used by customers with disabilities while accessing its goods or services.

(d) Billing

Primipair is committed to providing accessible invoices to all customers. For this reason, invoices will be provided in alternative methods upon request and staff will answer any questions customers may have about the content of the invoice by telephone or e-mail.

(e) Use of Support Persons and Service Animals

Primipair is committed to welcoming people with disabilities who are accompanied by a support person or a service animal into an Primipair office building. At no time will a person with a disability who is accompanied by a support person or service animal be prevented from having access to his or her support person or service animal while on the premises.

(f) Notice of Temporary Disruption

Primipair’s office buildings that are open to customers have the following facilities for customers with disabilities:

Elevator;
Front entrance ramp;
Powered door operator; and
Wheelchair accessible bathrooms.

In the event of a planned or unexpected disruption to those building’s facilities for customers with disabilities, Primipair will notify customers promptly. This clearly posted notice will include:

Reason for the disruption;
Anticipated length of time of the disruption; and
Description of alternative facilities or services, if available.

The notice will be posted on the front entrance doorway and at the front reception desk, if applicable.

Information and Communication Standards

Primipair is committed to meeting the communication needs of people with disabilities. When asked, Primipair will consult with people with disabilities to determine their information and communication needs and will provide materials in accessible formats, as needed and on a timely basis. This includes publicly available information about our goods, services and facilities, including our website.

Employment Standards

Primipair will notify employees, potential hires and the public that accommodations can be made during Primipair’s recruitment and hiring process. We will notify employees that supports are available for those with disabilities and will develop individual accommodation plans for employees who request them. Our employee communications, return to work process, performance management, career development and redeployment processes take into account the accessibility needs of our employees.

Where needed, Primipair will also provide customized emergency information to help an employee with a disability during an emergency.

Training

Primipair will ensure training is provided to every employee, contractor, vendor, policy developer and any other person who provides goods, services and/or facilities to customers on behalf of Primipair.

The training will be provided within 3 months of such a person obtaining a role that provides goods, services and facilities to Primipair customers and also when any significant changes are made to this Policy. Primipair and/or its vendors, as applicable, will maintain accurate records of training delivered.

Training will include:

An overview of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005, and its Regulation(s) as well as other applicable laws such as human rights legislation.
Primipair’s Accessibility Policy.
How to interact and communicate with people with various types of disabilities.
How to interact with people with disabilities who use an assistive device or require the assistance of a service animal or a support person.
Overview of accessible features at Primipair’s offices (for example, elevators, powered door at the front entrance and accessible washrooms).
What to do if a person with a disability is having difficulty in accessing Primipair’s goods and services.

Feedback

The goal of this policy is to meet service delivery expectations while serving customers with disabilities and the accessibility needs of our workforce. Comments of how well those expectations are being met are welcome and appreciated. Customers who wish to provide feedback on the way Primipair provides goods and services to people with disabilities can do so by e-mail to Accessibility@primipair.ca. If email is not a suitable method to provide feedback, customers may request another method. All feedback will be directed to the appropriate department to investigate and a written response will be provided within 15 business days. Employees who wish to provide feedback or seek assistance should contact their manager or HR representative. Any complaints will be addressed according to Primipair's regular complaint management process.

Modifications to Policies

Any policy of Primipair that does not respect and promote the dignity and independence of people with disabilities will be modified or removed.

Questions

Questions regarding this policy should be directed to Accessibility@primipair.ca

Last Update: May 20, 2022

Accessibility Policy

Accessibility Plan

Our organization is committed to fulfilling our requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. This accessibility plan outlines the steps Primipair is taking to meet those requirements and to improve opportunities for people with disabilities.

Our plan shows how Primipair will play its role in making Ontario an accessible province for all Ontarians.

A. Customer Service

Primipair strives to service our customers in a way that provides equal treatment in a manner which respects the dignity and independence of people of all disabilities. We have established policies and procedures which lay out these commitments below.

Accessibility Policies

Primipair established policies and procedures for the Customer Service Standard which includes how to communicate and interact with people with disabilities and welcoming people with disabilities who use assistive devices or are accompanied by a support person or a service animal into an Primipair office building. These policies are available on our company website.

All existing employees and contractors are trained on the Customer Service Standard and we have made this training part of our on-boarding process for all new hires and contractors.

Accessible Formats and Communication Supports

Upon request, Primipair will provide or arrange to provide accessible formats of external communication and will answer any questions customers may have about external content such as invoices by telephone or email.

B. Information and Communications

Primipair strives to provide information and communication to our customers and employees in an accessible format and will work with both employees and customers to fulfill all requests for information in accessible formats. We have established policies and procedures which lay out these commitments outlined below.

Accessibility Plans

Primipair created this multi-year accessibility plan, and we will continue to review and update our plan at least once every five years.

Accessibility Policies

Primipair created a statement of commitment to establish Primipair's vision and goals for accessibility and published this commitment on our Primipair website. We have reviewed current policies to ensure they met Customer Service Standards, Information and Communication Standards and Employment Standards.

Websites and Web Content

We are actively working to increase the accessibility and usability of our website and achieve to comply with level AA of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1, in the near future. These guidelines establish a single shared standard for web content accessibility to address the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments worldwide.

Feedback

We established a dedicated e-mail address for people with disabilities to provide feedback on the way Primipair provides goods and services to people with disabilities. The e-mail address Accessibility@primipair.ca is documented in our policy posted on the Primipair website and is available on our accessibility page on our website. E-mails sent to this address are directly sent to designated members of our AODA Committee and the Legal department. If email is not a suitable method to provide feedback, customers may contact +1 (888) 990 - 7247. All feedback will be directed to the appropriate department to investigate and a response will be provided within 15 business days.

C. Employment

Primipair is committed to fair and accessible employment practices. We have established policies and procedures which layout these requirements as outlined below.

Workplace Emergency Response Information

We reviewed our current staff to determine if there were current employees with current disabilities that required individualized workplace emergency plans. We also developed a process to ensure individualized workplace emergency plans are created for newly hired employees with disabilities as part of the onboarding process.

Recruitment, Assessment and Selection Process

We reviewed Primipair's recruitment, assessment & selection processes to ensure they include accommodation for applicants with disabilities. As a result, we updated our template for all external and internal job postings to state that Primipair will make accommodations that will take into account the applicant’s accessibility needs upon request. Our Offer of Employment Letter templates have been updated to include a paragraph to advise of our accommodation policy and where it can be located on our external website.

Through training and internal communications, we notified all employees about the availability of accommodation for applicants with disabilities in Primipair's recruitment process and the requirement to provide suitable accommodation that takes into account the applicant’s needs due to disability.

Informing Employees of Supports

Through training and internal communications, we informed all employees of our policies to support employees with disabilities. This information is also provided to new employees in their Offer of Employment and as part of the orientation and on-boarding process. Updated information will be provided to employees whenever there is a change to any existing policies on the provision of job accommodations.

Accessible Formats and Communication Supports for Employees

We will consult with employees with disabilities to determine which accessible formats of communication they require and we will provide information needed to perform job and other employee communication in accessible formats as required and requested by employees.

Individual Accommodation Plans

We developed an Individual Accommodation Plan form and have made it available to employees on our intranet. When identified, managers will develop individual accommodation plans for employees with disabilities with the participation of the employee. These plans will be reviewed and updated on an annual basis or when requested by the employee.

Return to Work Process

We reviewed our return to work process to ensure that we take into account the accessibility needs of employees with disabilities. Our Return to Work process is facilitated by an external provider that manages the cases with support from the employee’s physician and provides us with requirements and accommodation needs for employees returning back to work.

Performance Management

We reviewed the performance management policy and procedures to ensure we take into account the accessibility needs of employees with disabilities. Where needed, we will provide performance management forms and documents in accessible formats.

Career Development and Advancement

We reviewed our processes to ensure that employees with disabilities as well as their individual accommodation plan are taken into consideration with respect to career development and advancement. Whenever an employee with a disability is given a new role as part of a career development or an advancement opportunity, the needs of the employee are considered in order to determine if there are any additional adjustments needed for the new responsibilities.

Redeployment

We reviewed our processes to ensure that employees with disabilities as well as the individual accommodation plan are taken into consideration with respect redeployment. Whenever an employee is redeployed to a new role as part of a redeployment, the needs of the employee are considered in order to determine if there are any additional adjustments needed.

Training

Employees were trained on the areas of the accessibility standards that are relevant to their work responsibilities. All employees were trained on the Customer Service Standard and the Ontario Human Rights Code as it applies to people with disabilities. We have made this training part of our on-boarding process for all new hires and contractors.

Strategies and Actions Going Forward

Primipair is committed to treating all people in a way that allows them to maintain their dignity and independence and is committed to providing a barrier-free environment for our customer, suppliers, visitors, employees and other stakeholders that enter our premises or access our information.

Primipair will continue to follow the policies, procedures and commitments outlined above under the Customer Service, Employment and Information and Communication Standards.

Our strategy to ensure that these commitments are fulfilled is to build an Accessibility Committee with employees from various departments across the organization that will meet on a bi-annual basis to review our policies, procedures and initiatives as well as the requirements of the Accessibility of Ontarians with Disabilities Act to ensure that we continue to follow these requirements and commitments.

For More Information

For more information on this accessibility plan, please contact us at Accessibility@primipair.ca.

Last Update: May 20, 2022

Accessibility Plan