Stop putting lives at risk

When London was getting ready for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, Action on Hearing Loss revealing that "many of the capital's hotels could be putting the lives of visitors with hearing loss at risk by not having appropriate alert procedures in place for emergency situations." Their reporting at the time found that:

"Some of the responses from hotel staff showed extraordinary levels of poor deaf awareness or lack of concern for guests with hearing loss. One receptionist said: “The alarm is very loud – it wakes everyone up!”. Another revealed their hotel’s shocking lapse of care for guests with hearing loss by saying that in emergency situations: “if there is an alarm, everyone vacates and then, when we know it is safe, we can check the rooms – but we can't help otherwise."

Under the Equality Act 2010, services must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to be accessible to people with disabilities so not only are inaccessible hotels missing out on potential income, they’re also putting their customers’ safety at risk.

The experience of Tanvir Ahmed, a Senior Trainer at Action on Hearing Loss who communicates by British Sign Language (BSL), illustrates the problems often faced by deaf and hard of hearing guests. Tanvir says: “I’ve stayed in hotels where there has been a shocking lack of deaf awareness which has left me feeling extremely frustrated. For example, a hotel in Brighton didn’t have a way for me to contact room service so I ended up texting my daughter in Walsall and she called the reception to place my dinner order. She then texted to let me know the room service was at the door. Hotels often just need to make simple adjustments to ensure their services are accessible for me and it’s about time they met their legal requirements!” Action on Hearing Loss’s tips to help hotels meet the individual needs of guests with hearing loss include:

Train your staff in basic deaf awareness so that they can communicate effectively with guests who have hearing loss.
Make sure you have a hearing loop at your reception desk and there is a regular process to check that is works. Loop systems can help hearing aid wearers to hear the receptionist’s voice over background noise.
Make sure you have alternative ways for people with hearing loss to contact your hotel other than telephone. For example, offer SMS or email contact, or train your staff how to use theText Relay service.
Make sure you have clear procedures for staff to alert people with hearing loss when the hotel’s fire alarm is activated, and invest in alerting systems designed for guests with hearing loss. Ensure the availability of your alerting system is well advertised to guests.
Consider providing amplified telephones with an in built hearing loop for your guests with hearing loss so that they can contact reception.
Check that subtitles are available on your televisions and make sure clear instructions are available.
Set aside a quiet area in the hotel’s restaurant where people with hearing loss can have a conversation without too much background noise."