Ontario, Calif. — IAPMO R&T, North America’s premier third-party certification body for plumbing and mechanical products, has added a Canadian equivalent to its popular United States Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) listing program.
Manufacturers wishing to certify that their products, such as faucets, toilets, urinals and grab bars, are compliant with all the requirements governing their use by people with disabilities can now do so easily and inexpensively for both the American and Canadian markets through IAPMO R&T certification.
Enacted by the U.S. Congress in 1990, the ADA is legislation that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It includes provisions concerning public accommodations and commercial facilities in the Americans With Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG). In the United States, applicable products can be evaluated and listed to the ICC/ANSI A117.1 standard, “Accessible and Usable Buildings and Facilities,” and now IAPMO R&T has added the CAN/CSA B651 standard, “Accessible Design for the Built Environment,” the Canadian equivalent, to the ADA listing program.
The process is simple. Manufacturers need only request that their products be evaluated against the current ADA requirements, and/or equivalent Canadian requirements, in addition to the applicable performance standards, all for a nominal fee.
“The laws governing these products for use by people with disabilities are quite clear and no mark of conformity demonstrates compliance to the necessary standards quite as clearly as IAPMO R&T’s,” said Anish Desai, director of Certification for IAPMO R&T.
One of the best ways for manufacturers to identify their products as compliant with the laws accommodating disabled persons in the United States or Canada is to list their products with a qualified third‐party certification body such as IAPMO R&T, which is accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a provider of such certification services.
For more information on having products listed, contact Brenda Madonna (brenda.madonna@iapmort.org) at (877) 4‐UPC‐MARK, or direct your Web browser to www.iapmort.org.
