Middleton Railway Trust Ltd. (MRT) Policy Directive

Reference: GEN/3 (11/14)

Subject: Access to Facilities.

For the attention of: All Council members, The MRT’s Museum Mentor.

For the information of: officers of the Arts Council concerned with museum accreditation. This Directive does not form part of the Safety Management System.

Revision History

Previous versions of this Directive were as follows. Reference 11/14/2 was the initial version.

This version implemented the revised numbering scheme for directives, but made no other changes to the content.

Content Summary

This Directive contains the following sections: Introduction

Accessibility for Planning and Travelling to the MRT Accessibility for Visitors

Accessibility for Voluntary Workers

Accessibility of Collections and Interpretive Information

Introduction

1. This Directive has been created to reflect the growing importance to the MRT of two related kinds of external issues. Some of these issues are general, and are a result of the increasing desire of the MRT to take an inclusive and non-discriminatory approach to access to all of its facilities.

• The other issues are specific to the role of the MRT as having an accredited museum, and arise from changes made in 2011 to the requirements for the accreditation of a museum. These requirements are set out in the Arts Council’s Accreditation Standard for museums and galleries in the United Kingdom (which is available online at

<http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/uploads/pdf/Accreditation_standard_print_friendly.pdf>, was published in October 2011, and is referred to from now on as the Museum Accreditation Standard). The specific requirement with which this Directive is concerned is that every Accredited museum should have due regard to the issues of access to its facilities and collections, and should reflect this by having in place an appropriate access policy. This Directive therefore defines this policy.

• To provide a basis for the implementation of this policy, this Directive places various responsibilities on the MRT’s Council, which is what the Museum Accreditation Standard refers to as the MRT’s “governing body”.

• This directive will be published in accordance with the MRT’s normal procedures for publishing policy directives, as set out in its policy directive GEN/1. In accordance with the procedures in that Directive it will be reviewed at least once every five years. This Directive and the policy that it defines are therefore next due for review in 2019, unless circumstances should arise that make it appropriate to review it earlier than that.

• Before the next review of this Directive and the policy that it defines, the MRT will undertake an access audit for all of its facilities, and it will then develop an access plan to address any access issues that have been identified in the results of this audit. These results and the access plan will be incorporated into the Directive and the policy that it defines as part of the process of reviewing the policy and the Directive.

• For some of the facilities that the MRT provides there are general statutory requirements for accessibility, under legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and more recently the Equality Act 2010. Also, there are various sets of statutory regulations that impose specific requirements for Rail Vehicle Accessibility, which are collectively referred to from now on as RVAR, but these regulations also provide a variety of exemptions, including one which is specific to a particular vehicle that normally operates on the MRT’s system. These exemptions are provided to recognise the importance of maintaining the original design, construction and condition of heritage railway vehicles, even for features that are not consistent with modern requirements for accessibility.

• It is therefore the policy of the MRT that it will not only comply with the letter of these statutory requirements, but also with the spirit of them insofar as this is consistent with maintaining the original features of its heritage rolling stock. The MRT’s purpose in complying with these requirements is to provide a welcoming and accessible environment to all, both its own members and volunteer staff and those who visit its facilities. In particular, for visitors the MRT aims to ensure that for any visit this welcoming and accessible environment extends through all stages of it, from their initial planning before visiting to their provision of feedback after a visit. The MRT therefore aims to improve the accessibility of its facilities wherever possible, subject to constraints on the resources which it has available.

• Consequently, for the purposes of considering accessibility within this directive, the MRT’s facilities can be divided into four categories, as follows.
  • Facilities that are intended to support the planning of a visit and the journeys to and from the MRT’s site.
  • Facilities and buildings at the MRT’s site that are intended to be accessed by visitors.
  • Facilities and buildings at the MRT’s site that are only intended to be accessed by members of the MRT’s volunteer staff.
  • Items that form part of the MRT’s museum collection, together with the associated facilities for interpreting this collection and providing information about it, both to visitors and members of the MRT.

Accessibility for Planning and Travelling to the MRT

• The MRT uses two main facilities to provide initial information to potential visitors: its website, together with associated social media websites (primarily Facebook and Twitter); and the leaflets that it publishes to advertise its normal train operations and its special events. It also has an 0845 telephone number which is advertised as a “visitor hotline”, and forms the prime point of contact for many visitor enquiries. Calls to this number are normally handled by senior members of staff, and in this way many queries with regard to access for people with disabilities have been resolved easily.

1. The MRT’s website is run under a content management system (namely Joomla!), which ensures that the website is able to make effective use of the standard mechanisms that are available in computer operating systems for supporting accessibility of the information in the website. These mechanisms are similarly supported by the social media websites that the MRT uses. The MRT’s webmasters for these various sites are responsible for ensuring that all content which is created for those websites makes appropriate use of these mechanisms.

1. The leaflets that the MRT publishes to advertise its train operations are designed for display in the standard racks that are used for displaying leaflets for tourist attractions, and so they each consist of a single A4 sheet folded into three. Many of the outlets which display such leaflets would not be able to accommodate easily large print versions of them, since these would be difficult to fit into the standard display racks, and so it has not been and is still not cost effective for the MRT to try to print such larger versions. The MRT will investigate whether it can make large print versions available from its website.

1. For visitors coming by car there is easy road access to the MRT’s site, and on the ordinary roads there are a reasonable number of direction signs to the MRT’s site. Currently, however, there are no signs for it on the adjacent motorway, since the MRT has not yet reached the numbers of visitors that would be needed to qualify for such signs being erected. Also, to facilitate finding the MRT’s site all literature contains its post code for use with satellite navigation devices.

1. For visitors who are coming by public transport the nearest rail access point is Leeds station, which is well over a mile away. There are bus routes which pass near to the MRT’s site, with stops immediately outside the site, but the services that they provide during daytime are very limited. Furthermore, the details of the routes and timetables change sufficiently often that the MRT has had to abandon trying to publish them, and instead simply has to refer potential visitors to the sources of information published by the various bus companies. There are also taxi services available at Leeds station, and the MRT’s site is easily accessible for them. Similarly, the MRT has good working relationships with local taxi companies, and can call taxis for visitors who need them in order to get back into the centre of Leeds.

Accessibility for Visitors

1. Following the re-development of the MRT’s Moor Road site in 2005, and the completion of the Engine House building in early 2006, all parts of this site that are open to visitors are fully accessible. The specific features of the site that contribute to this are as follows.
   1. The area of the car park that is nearest to the Engine House building has a smooth asphalt surface and an appropriate number of parking bays that are marked for use by disabled visitors.
   1. There is level access via a shallow ramped pathway from this part of the car park to the front entrance of the Engine House building.
   1. There is level access throughout the ground floor of the building, and when the building is open to visitors the front entrance door is kept open.
   1. As well as ladies’ and gentlemen’s toilets, the building features an adapted toilet for disabled users that is fully equipped with appropriate handrails and a baby changing unit.
   1. Guide dogs and assistance dogs are allowed in the building, as are ordinary pets provided that they are kept under control. Also breastfeeding is permitted in the building, and appropriate publicity is displayed to make this clear.
   1. Internal doors for the building are not kept open in order to minimise heat loss and are not power- assisted, but it is part of the training for staff working in the building that they should assist visitors who would have difficulty in opening these doors themselves by doing this for them.
   1. There is level access via a shallow ramped pathway from the Engine House building to the station platform.
   1. The platform has a smooth asphalt surface, and then a strip of tactile paving between this surface and the smooth paving slabs that form its edge.
   1. There is a lift to provide access to the upper floor of the Engine House building, where the training room, offices and archive store are located.
   1. There is level access throughout the upper floor of the building between the training room and the stairwell landing that provides access to and from the lift.

1. Similarly, following the re-development of the MRT’s Park Halt in 2008 and 2009, and more recent development work undertaken on behalf of Leeds City Council, this halt is also accessible, although there is no road access to it. The specific features of it that contribute to this are as follows.
   1. The platform has a smooth asphalt surface, and then a strip of tactile paving between this surface and the smooth paving slabs that form its edge.
   1. There is level access from the platform to the adjacent footpaths that lead towards Middleton Park, although there is then considerable variation in the conditions of these footpaths, but this is beyond the MRT’s control.

1. As explained in clause 6 above, for the MRT’s passenger trains there are tensions between the requirements to maintain the heritage nature of the vehicles used and to provide maximum accessibility, so that these vehicles are exempt from many of the RVAR requirements. In particular, this applies to features such as the widths of doorways, and the consequent accessibility for wheelchairs, where the situations for the various vehicles used to carry passengers are as follows.
   1. One passenger coach has a brake compartment at one end and an open balcony at the other. The doorways for the brake compartment are not wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, and while the gateway onto the open balcony is just wide enough to accommodate the 700mm width of the RVAR “reference wheelchair”, the doorway from the balcony into the rest of the coach is not wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair.

• The other passenger coach that is currently in regular use has doorways that are wide enough to accommodate the 700mm width of the RVAR “reference wheelchair”, but do not meet the 850mm width requirement of RVAR, and so can not accommodate wider wheelchairs, such as some of the more modern motorised ones.
  • A third passenger coach is being converted from a former parcels van, and this is expected to enter service during 2015. It has doorways that do meet the 850mm width requirement of RVAR, and so it will accommodate all wheelchairs.
  • Another passenger vehicle that is used periodically is a self-propelled railbus which has a specific exemption from some of the RVAR requirements (as mentioned in clause 6 above). This has doorways that are wide enough to accommodate the 700mm width of the RVAR “reference wheelchair”, but do not meet the 850mm width requirement of RVAR, and so it too can not accommodate wider wheelchairs, such as some of the more modern motorised ones.
  • A vehicle which is sometimes used to carry passengers is a goods brake van, but this does not have doorways that are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs.

1. Many of the RVAR requirements for ordinary rail systems are intended to apply to the conditions of modern mass-transport systems, where accessibility needs to be achieved with a minimal dependence on staff and on the procedures that they are expected to follow. Unlike such systems, the MRT operates in a more traditional fashion with a higher ratio of staff to passengers, and so it can and does expect its volunteer staff to provide assistance as necessary to passengers who have particular difficulties with accessibility, and aspects of this are part of their training. Hence, the other specific features that contribute to the accessibility of train rides are as follows.
   1. A wheelchair ramp is carried on the train, and all guards are trained in the use of this ramp to facilitate access for wheelchairs into those coaches that can accommodate them, as described in clause 16 above.
   1. The heritage nature of the coaches and their liveries means that it is not appropriate for them to have doorways or internal handles painted in contrasting colours. All guards are, however, trained to assist passengers with boarding or alighting from the train if they need it.
   1. The heritage nature of the coaches and other passenger vehicles means that it is not appropriate for them to have equipment fitted to provide either visual or audible displays of the details of the train, or of the next point at which it is scheduled to stop. All guards are, however, trained to make verbal announcements when a train has reached a station, and the simplicity of the system (with just the two stations) and the short lengths of the trains means that this provides adequate information to all passengers.

Accessibility for Voluntary Workers

1. The MRT is run entirely by voluntary staff, and there are two quite distinct kinds of work that they undertake as part of this, as follows.
   1. Practical work in operating trains and in the various forms of engineering maintenance that must be carried out.
   1. Work in general management and support activities, and in particular work in the Engine House in the various roles involved in assisting, serving, supporting and catering for visitors.

1. For practical work in operating trains and in engineering maintenance, some of which is safety critical work, it is in the nature of this work that it requires (amongst other qualifications) standards of physical strength, fitness and precision of control which have to be maintained, and which for some roles have to be subject to medical inspection. Members who do not meet these standards of physical ability and fitness can therefore not be permitted access to the work involved, and the safety requirements associated with such work mean that the question of modifying it to allow such access simply can not arise.

• For work in management and support activities, and for assisting with visitor services, there are in general no particular requirements for physical ability or fitness, with the exception of a very few roles that may involve the possibility of having to take charge in an emergency. For these few roles the people carrying them out may have to help with the evacuation of visitors, and so do need adequate levels of general fitness, including satisfactory hearing and eyesight. For the other roles, which do not have such requirements, the MRT is able to make reasonable provision for those with minor disabilities, particularly since the facilities in the Engine House are accessible as described in clause 14 above. There is an important limitation to this, however, in that where these roles involve interacting directly with visitors then there is obviously a need for individuals undertaking them to

be able to do this effectively, and since this can not be compromised there are certain kinds of disabilities (such as those affecting speech or other forms of communication) for which it would not be possible to make provision.

Accessibility of Collections and Interpretive Information

• The items in the collection that are on display are all located in the Engine House, which is accessible as described in clause 14 above. The only exception to this is that there is a staircase and walkway which gives access to the cabs of two of the locomotives that are on display, but there is no special provision for access to this for wheelchairs, as they would not in any case be able to fit into the cabs. For the future the MRT will investigate the possibility of creating video material to provide an alternative to this, but only once the current HLF-funded project for the conservation and restoration of the David Monckton collection has been completed, since currently the MRT’s resources for creating video material are fully committed to that project.

• The interpretive material that has been created to provide information about the items in the collection is mainly in the form of interpretation boards for each item or group of items. These have been created using fairly large print, so as to be legible from a distance, and therefore they are reasonably accessible for those whose vision is not too seriously impaired. The MRT has investigated the feasibility of providing summary information in Braille on these boards, and plans to do this in the future.

• For some of the interpretive material translations have been created into a variety of other languages, but in general there has been little reaction to this, since the large majority of visitors speak sufficient English that they do not find that they need translations. Also, following feedback from visitors, for some items additional interpretive material has been created which is intended to be particularly suitable for children. This has been well received, and the MRT intends to create more such material as manpower resources permit.

• A further form of interpretive material is the audio-visual display in the introductory gallery, which shows a sequence of video items entitled “The Tales of Middleton”. Currently the items in this sequence are only accessible to those with reasonably normal eyesight and hearing, and the MRT will investigate how these could be made accessible to those with either impaired vision or impaired hearing.

• The items in the collection that are not on public display can for the purposes of classifying access be regarded as forming two groups. One group consists of the archive of documents and audio-visual material, which is held in the archive store. Access to this can be arranged for visitors who request it, and since the store is on the first floor of the Engine House building it is accessible as described in clause 14 above.

• The other group consists of the patterns, where limitations on available storage space mean that currently these are held in a store that is only accessible by ladder. A building project is due to start early in 2015 which will create more storage space, and it is hoped that the completion of this building will allow the patterns to be moved to a location which will be more accessible both for the MRT’s volunteer staff and for visitors alike.

Drafted by A. J. Cowling (Company Secretary) and D. Martin (MRT’s Museum Mentor), and approved on 25th November 2014.