AS 1428.1: the Australian standard for access to buildings, and where the law calls it up

What AS 1428.1 is

AS 1428 is the Australian Standard series on design for access and mobility, and Part 1 holds the general requirements for access in new building work (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause A3.1, Table 1). The Access Code adopts it by reference, together with the other documents in its schedule, and uses it even for its basic term: an accessway is a continuous accessible path of travel, as defined in AS 1428.1, to, into or within a building (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clauses A1.1 and A3.1).

A clause that refers to the standard does not bring in all of it. The reference is to the edition listed in the schedule, with any amendment, and only so much of it as is relevant in the context in which it is quoted; the documents that the standard itself refers to are read as they stood when that edition was published (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause A2.2). If the standard and the Access Code differ, the Access Code overrules (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause A2.3).

The Access Code is based on provisions of the Building Code of Australia (Premises Standards 2010, section 1.4, note), which is made up of Volumes One and Two of the National Construction Code (NCC 2025 adoption dates). That is why the same references to AS 1428.1 appear in both texts, with different clause numbers: D3 in the Access Code, D4 in NCC 2025 Volume One.

What parts of a building it covers

The free texts do not reproduce AS 1428.1, but each clause that calls it up says what has to comply with it. In the Access Code, for a building required to be accessible:

In NCC 2025 Volume One the same references sit in Part D4, Access for people with a disability: doorways in D4D3, ramps, stairways and passing and turning spaces in D4D4, signs in D4D7, wheelchair seating in D4D10, swimming pools in D4D11 and glazing in D4D13 (NCC 2025, Part D4, clauses D4D3 to D4D13). Its schedule lists AS 1428.1 in other parts too (NCC 2025 Volume One, referenced documents, Table 1):

• a ramp that serves as a required exit and also as an accessible ramp under Part D4 is in accordance with AS 1428.1 (NCC 2025, Part D3, clause D3D11(2));
• the threshold of a doorway that serves an area required to be accessible has a threshold ramp or step ramp in accordance with AS 1428.1 (NCC 2025, Part D3, clause D3D16);
• handrails in a required exit that serves an area required to be accessible comply with clause 9 of AS 1428.1 (NCC 2025, Part D3, clause D3D22(1));
• a Class 9c residential care building whose residents are on levels without direct access to a road or open space has at least one lift that takes a stretcher, or a ramp in accordance with AS 1428.1 (NCC 2025, Part E3, clause E3D10);
• the circulation spaces, fixtures and fittings of accessible sanitary facilities comply with AS 1428.1 (NCC 2025, Part F4, clause F4D5).

The AS 1428 family

AS 1428 has several parts. These are the ones the Access Code and NCC 2025 Volume One list, with what they call each one up for:

The tactile indicators warn people who are blind or have a vision impairment that they are approaching a stairway, an escalator, a moving walk, a ramp and the other hazards the clause lists (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause D3.8(1); NCC 2025, Part D4, clause D4D9). The full list, its exceptions and the rules for stations, stops and wharves are in the guide to tactile ground surface indicators in Australia.

Neither the Access Code nor the schedule of NCC 2025 Volume One lists a Part 5 of AS 1428 (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause A3.1, Table 1; NCC 2025 Volume One, referenced documents, Table 1), so this guide does not describe one. Hearing augmentation is set out in the Access Code itself: a system is required wherever an inbuilt amplification system, other than one used only for emergency warning, is installed in a room in a Class 9b building, an auditorium, a conference or meeting room, a room for judicatory purposes, or a ticket office, teller’s booth, reception area or the like where the public is screened from the service provider; an induction loop serves at least 80% of the floor area of the room or space (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause D3.7).

How AS 1428.1 becomes a requirement

Under the Disability Discrimination Act, the Minister may make disability standards, and contravening one is unlawful (Disability Discrimination Act 1992, sections 31 and 32). The Premises Standards are one of them: building certifiers, developers and managers of a new building, a new part or an affected part must ensure that it complies with the Access Code (Premises Standards 2010, sections 2.1 and 3.1(1)), and the Access Code adopts AS 1428.1 by reference (Premises Standards 2010, Access Code, clause A3.1).

A building that complies with the deemed-to-satisfy clauses D3.1 to D3.12, E3.6, F2.2 and F2.4 of the Access Code, and Part H2 for a public transport building, is taken to comply; so is a building that provides a level of access not less than it would have provided under those clauses (Premises Standards 2010, section 3.2). A person who acts in accordance with a disability standard is not caught by the rest of Part 2 of the Act for that act (Disability Discrimination Act 1992, section 34).

Who the Premises Standards bind, the concessions for upgrades, unjustifiable hardship and complaints to the Australian Human Rights Commission are in the guide to the Disability Discrimination Act.

AS 1428.1 on Braillito Maps

A building can follow every clause that calls up AS 1428.1 and still be unknown to the people who need it. Braillito Maps is a community map that answers ten questions about each place: step-free entrance or ramp, wide doorway, accessible toilet, accessible parking, tactile paving, braille signage, braille menu, audible signals, guide dogs welcome and a quiet environment.

Several of them match this guide. The step-free entrance or ramp, the wide doorway, the accessible toilet and the braille signage are parts of a building that the Access Code sends to AS 1428.1, and the tactile paving is what it sends to AS/NZS 1428.4.1. Each question is answered yes or no, or stays without data until someone knows, and the score of a place is the number of yes answers out of ten, always shown with its number, never by colour alone.

If you run a shop, a cafe or an office in Australia, add your place with its answers, so that customers with disabilities find it before they leave home. If what a place says is wrong, it can be reported. Meet Braillito Maps.

More accessibility guides

• Disability Discrimination Act (Australia): Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act 1992: who it covers, access to premises, assistance animals, the Premises Standards for buildings and complaints.
• Accessibility laws by country: the ADA, the UK Equality Act, the Accessible Canada Act, Australia’s DDA and the EU rules, and what each covers.
• Braille signage: which signs need braille under the ADA, how high they go, on which side of the door, and the size of the dots.
• ADA ramp slope: the 1:12 rule, width, landings, handrails and edge protection.
• Approved Document M (Part M): Part M of the Building Regulations in England, volume by volume: M4(1), M4(2) and M4(3) homes, and ramps, doors, lifts and toilets in other buildings.
• 2010 ADA Standards: what each of the ten chapters covers, since when the Standards apply and to which buildings, with the guide for each element.
• Universal design: the seven principles, with an example from a building for each.
• All accessibility guides