Customer Service Standard – The Documentation Requirements
The following organizations have documentation requirements:
- the Ontario Government and Legislative Assembly
- all designated public sector organizations
- businesses and not-for-profit organizations with 50 or more employees
Refers to the executive of the government and operational branches, including all the ministries of the Government of Ontario and the Office of the Premier.
Refers to the Offices of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario including all the offices of the Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs), their constituency offices in their ridings and the offices of those appointed on the address of the Assembly, such as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
Refers to organizations listed in Schedule 1 (Broader Public Sector) of the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation. These organizations include hospitals, universities, colleges of applied arts and technology, district school boards, and organizations that provide public transportation.
Designated public sector also means every municipality and every person or organization listed in Column 1 of Table 1 of Ontario Regulation 146/10, of the Public Service of Ontario Act, 2006.
Formats that are an alternative to standard print and are accessible to people with disabilities. May include large print, recorded audio and electronic formats, and braille.
Supports that individuals with disabilities may need to access information. Some examples include plain language, sign language interpreter, reading the information out loud to a person with vision loss, adding captioning to videos or using written notes to communicate with someone who is hard of hearing.
These organizations must:
- Put their accessible customer service policies in writing.
- Let customers know these policy documents (or document) are available on request, for example, by posting a notice in a high traffic area or website.
- Provide the document(s) in an accessible formats or with communication supports, if requested, and in a timely manner and at no additional cost than what you would normally charge.
- Keep a record of the accessible customer service training provided, including a summary of the content, when it’s to be provided, the number of people trained and the dates.
- Policies can be a collection of separate documents or combined into one policy document.
- Ensure you know your organization’s procedure for taking a request for your policy document(s).
- Work with the customer to find a format that is accessible to them.
- If the customer asks for large print, be clear about what “large print” means to them. For some, it may be an 18-point size in a font style like Arial, while others may need larger print.
