§ 44.6. Access.
(a) Every place of employment or public accommodation for which final design and construction plans are completed after November 6, 1978 shall be designed and constructed without architectural and other barriers or omissions that interfere with effective use and enjoyment of, benefit from, ingress to, egress from, and mobility within buildings, work areas, offices, facilities, and the like, by handicapped or disabled persons.
(b) After November 6, 1978, when all or part of a place of employment or public accommodation is subject to substantial alteration or alteration that could affect use by persons with a handicap or disability, alterations shall be planned and executed without architectural and other barriers or omissions that interfere with effective use and enjoyment of, benefit from, ingress to, egress from, and mobility within the altered portion by handicapped or disabled persons.
(c) With respect to existing facilities, employers and owners, operators or providers of public accommodations shall make reasonable accommodations to handicapped or disabled persons by eliminating architectural and other barriers or omissions that interfere with effective use and enjoyment of, benefit from, ingress to, egress from and mobility within buildings, work areas, offices, facilities, and the like by handicapped or disabled persons.
(d) An employer or owner, operator, provider of a public accommodation shall be deemed:
(1) To be exempt from the requirements of this section to the extent that they impose an undue hardship.
(2) To have complied with this section if design, construction or alteration is in conformance with relevant specifications of one of the following:
(i) The American National Standard Specifications for Making Buildings and Facilities Accessible to, and Usable by the Physically Handicapped, published by the American National Standards Institute, 1430 Broadway, New York, New York 10018.
(ii) The Department of Labor and Industry Standards, 34 Pa. Code Chapter 47 Subchapter D (relating to facilities for handicapped), promulgated under the act of September 1, 1965 (P. L. 459, No. 235) (71 P. S. § § 1455.1—1455.3a), known as the Architectural Barriers Law.
(e) Departures from the particular standards noted in subsection (d) shall be deemed to have satisfied the requirements of this chapter if it is evident that equivalent access or equivalent opportunity to use, enjoy or benefit in an integrated setting is thereby provided.
Comment Section 2122 of the Federal Tax Reform Act of 1976 provides tax credits for alterations of property to promote accessibility.
The concept of effective use and enjoyment as used in this section relates not merely to physical and architectural barriers but also to those barriers or omissions such as inadequate warning or directional information systems which render a facility less usable for or less ‘‘accessible’’ to a person with a visual or communicative handicap or disability.
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