Applying the Forest Service Outdoor Recreation Accessibility Guidelines (Continued)
Providing Creature Comforts and Conveniences—Constructed Features
Constructed features are the site furnishings and other elements provided in picnic areas, campgrounds, and other recreation sites. The constructed features addressed in sections 4, 5, and 6 of the FSORAG include picnic tables, cooking surfaces, camping units, parking spurs, tent pads and platforms, fire rings, wood stoves, fireplaces, utilities, utility sinks, benches, trash containers, and recycling containers. Also included are viewing areas, telescopes, periscopes, storage facilities for assistive devices, pit toilets, warming huts, outdoor rinsing showers, and signs.
The Forest Service policy of universal design directs the agency to construct, purchase, and install only elements and constructed features that are accessible. For example, even if steep terrain or other conditions in an alteration project at a recreation site preclude complying with the slope provisions for the ORAR to a picnic table or camping unit, all the components and furnishings still must comply with the relevant sections of the FSORAG. Individuals can select the location where they want to picnic or camp without being limited by the location of accessible features of the picnic or camping unit. This requirement includes all picnic tables, pedestal grills, and other features in a picnic area or campground if they are purchased or constructed by or on behalf of the Forest Service. The few exceptions to this general rule are explained below.
CONSTRUCTION TIP—Is It Really Accessible?
Manufacturers don't necessarily understand accessibility requirements. Some manufacturers advertise their products as "accessible" or "ADA compliant," even though they aren't. The only way to make sure that a product such as a picnic table or fire ring is truly accessible is to compare the dimensions of the product to the ABAAS or FSORAG requirements. Ask the manufacturer for the shop drawings or for the location of a retailer or campground near you where you can examine the product.
The FSORAG doesn't require that any particular constructed feature be provided in a picnic area or campground. If there were no plans to provide outdoor rinsing showers, utility sinks, or utility hookups at a campground, the FSORAG wouldn't require them to be installed. However, if a feature is provided, the FSORAG requirements must be met. The same principle applies in general forest areas (GFAs). The FSORAG doesn't require constructed features and site furnishings to be provided in GFAs, but if they are provided, they must meet the requirements of the FSORAG.
Constructed features are addressed in three sections in the FSORAG: picnic areas, campgrounds, and other. The divisions aren't absolute, as some features addressed in one section may also be found in another. For example, picnic tables are addressed under Constructed Features for Picnic Areas, but the same technical provisions apply to tables provided in campgrounds. Trash receptacles are covered under Other Constructed Features, even though trash receptacles are commonly found in picnic areas and campgrounds.
Clear floor or ground space is required at each constructed feature, but the size of the clear area varies with the feature. The differences are based on how each feature is used and whether users need to approach just one side of the feature or all sides of it. For instance, users may only need to get to the front of a water hydrant, but they need to get to all sides of a picnic table or fire ring. When several constructed features are grouped together, their clear spaces may overlap. For example, the 48-inch (1,220-millimeter) clear space around a picnic table may overlap the 48-inch (1,220-millimeter) clear space around a pedestal grill provided in a picnic unit. The clear space of a constructed feature is not allowed to overlap the ORAR connecting the feature to the rest of the site.
DESIGN TIP—Unlisted Features
What if a designer wants to provide a constructed feature that isn't addressed in the FSORAG? Lantern hooks often are provided in campgrounds, but the FSORAG does not address lantern hooks. In this case, designers would need to go back to the basic building blocks of accessible design—wheelchair dimensions, clear space, and reach ranges found in the ABAAS.
Using that information and the principles of universal design, designers would know that if the hooks were to be usable to the greatest number of campers of all ages, with and without disabilities, the hooks would need to be placed within the reach range of someone in a seated, as well as a standing, position.
This could be accomplished by a mechanical device to raise the hook or by installing two hooks at the proper levels. The lantern hook also would need to have the appropriate clear space around it to allow someone in a wheelchair to approach it from the front or the side. The clear space for the lantern hook shouldn't overlap the ORAR.
Reach Ranges and Operability Requirements
In this guide, you will see the requirement "Controls and operating mechanisms must comply with the provisions for reach ranges and operability specified in ABAAS sections 308 and 309" whenever a site feature has buttons, knobs, handles, or other controls or operating devices. One of the basic principles of universal design and accessibility is to provide controls that almost everyone can reach and use.
The ABAAS section 309 requires that controls and operating mechanisms have to be operable with one hand without tight grasping, pinching, or wrist twisting, using a force no greater than 5 pounds (2.2 newtons).
DESIGN TIP—Forward Reach and Side Reach
When the terms forward reach and side reach are used in the context of accessibility, they don't refer to the object a person is trying to reach. They refer to the position of the person doing the reaching. A forward reach means that the person is facing the object and reaching forward toward it (figure 45). A side reach means that the person's side is closest to the object, and the person is reaching either to their right or left towards the object (figure 46). People using wheelchairs can't reach as far forward over their laps as they can reach to the side. They also need different sized spaces to position their wheelchairs to be able to reach objects from the front and from the side. This is why there are different height and clear floor space requirements for forward and side reaches.
Section 308 of the ABAAS identifies the following reach requirements:
- Unobstructed Reaches—Where a forward or side reach is unobstructed, the object to be reached must be no higher than 48 inches (1,220 millimeters) and no lower than 15 inches (380 millimeters) above the floor or ground (see figures 45 and 46). For side reaches only, an object that isn't more than 10 inches (255 millimeters) wide and is below the object to be reached doesn't count as an obstruction.
 Figure 45—The requirements for unobstructed forward reach. |
 Figure 46—The requirements for unobstructed side reach. |
- Obstructed Forward Reach—Where an object must be reached over an obstruction, the clear floor space must extend beneath the obstruction for at least as far as the reach depth over the obstruction. The object to be reached can't be under the obstruction. If the obstruction is 20 inches (510 millimeters) deep or less, the object to be reached must be between the top of the obstruction and 48 inches (1,220 millimeters) above the floor or ground (figure 47). If the obstruction is more than 20 inches (510 millimeters) deep, the object to be reached must be between the top of the obstruction and 44 inches (1,120 millimeters) above the ground or floor (figure 48). The obstruction can't be more than be 25 inches (635 millimeters) deep.
 Figure 47—The requirements for obstructed high forward reach, narrower obstacles. |
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- Obstructed Side Reach—For side reaches, obstructions can't be more than 34 inches (865 millimeters) high or 24 inches (610 millimeters) deep. The object to be reached can't be under the obstruction. If the reach depth is 10 inches (255 millimeters) or less, the object to be reached must be 48 inches (1,220 millimeters) or less above the ground or floor (figure 49). If the reach depth is between 10 and 24 inches (255 and 610 millimeters), the object to be reached can't be more than 46 inches (1,170 millimeters) above the floor or ground (figure 50).
 Figure 49—The requirements for obstructed high side reach, narrower obstacles. |
 Figure 50—The requirements for obstructed high side reach, wider obstacles. |
Grab Bars
Grab bars are usually provided in buildings to provide stability and allow a person to use his or her arms to assist in movement over short distances. The most common location for grab bars is in restrooms. However, grab bars are also necessary at outdoor rinsing showers and at pit toilets that have walls around them. Grab bars must comply with the reach range requirements of ABAAS section 308, as explained in Reach Ranges and Operability Requirements. They must also comply with the size, strength, finish, and position requirements in ABAAS section 609, as explained below.
Grab bars with circular cross sections must have a diameter no less than 1¼ inches (32 millimeters) and no more than 2 inches (51 millimeters). Grab bars with noncircular cross sections can't be more than 2 inches (51 millimeters) across and must be 4 to 4.8 inches (100 to 120 millimeters) around. Figure 51 shows how this is measured.
Figure 51—The requirements for the
diameter and circumference of grab bars.
The space between the wall and the grab bar must be 1½ inches (38 millimeters). There must also be a space of 1½ inches (38 millimeters) between the grab bar and any projecting objects below or at the ends of the grab bar. There must be at least 12 inches (305 millimeters) between the grab bar and any projecting objects above it, except for shower controls, shower fittings, and other grab bars, which only have to be 1½ inches (38 millimeters) from the grab bar.
Grab bars and any wall or other surfaces adjacent to grab bars must have rounded edges and can't have sharp or abrasive surfaces. Grab bars must be installed so they don't rotate within their fittings. They have to be strong enough to support 250 pounds (1,112 newtons) of pressure at any point on the grab bar, fastener, mounting device, and supporting structure.
More specific location requirements are explained in the sections for Pit Toilets in General Forest Areas and Outdoor Rinsing Showers.
