Where do these people come from in government code compliance? Do they have to have any experience or common sense to get their position? There seems to be nobody interested in viewing the big picture and applying some common sense, only a desire to apply the rules of their microcosm and shuffle you off to the next bureaucrat.
So while the government is busy telling me that my production facility is a really dangerous and hazardous place (nevermind that your neighborhood gas station handles 10-20 times more hazardous liquids per month than we do), they are now insistent that we be handicap compliant. We’ve already had to put in handicapped parking, handicap access exit routes, a handicapped bathroom (and shower), a dual height water fountain, and now we have to put in a handicap access ramp to the temporary work trailer.
All this for a manufacturing facility that isn’t open to the public, doesn’t have visitors, and has no positions suitable for handicapped employees. Now, I have absolutely nothing against handicapped people, but really, come on. Our facility is one of the last places any handicapped person could ever work. No handicapped person in their right mind (or left mind, wouldn’t want to discriminate against them either) would ever want to or be able to work at our facility. It requires heavy lifting, full dexterity of your hands to operate machinery, extensive safety training, good vision and hearing, full ambulatory capability to gain access to ladders, and climb over berms and containment walls. So what’s left? It’s like saying you can’t be blind if you want to be a bus driver… OF COURSE YOU CAN’T! It’s not discriminatory, it’s simply the job. I understand the law. I get it that there are business and public entities that have historically been discriminatory (unintentionally or otherwise) against handicapped people in the past, and that the only way to motivate them is to legislate it into existence. Fine. But apply a little common sense, will ya? We’re a startup. A private, small business, with limited resources and four employees. So instead of purchasing production equipment or filling staff positions, I’m spending tens of thousands of dollars on handicap access provisions which will never be used. Thanks.
So, back to my frustration about the lack of logic and common sense in government. Here’s the question Mr. Bureaucrat, is my business really a dangerous entity, or handicap accessible facility? Is such a dangerous place really a good location for handicapped personnel? If I wanted to ban handicapped people from my facility (think of a handicapped placard with a slash through it), would that be illegal? Probably so. Yet, I’m a private company. Shouldn’t I be able to keep whomever I want off my property? So if a healthy, white male named Timmy comes to my property, and I simply don’t like the way he looks, I can ban him from my property all day long (think of a sign that says “Timmy” with a slash through it.). Right, I can ban ALL people named Timmy without any fear of incrimination. Turns out that there’s currently no protection for white men named Timmy. What a wonderful country we live in.
Stunned and disgusted as I am? Then call your local government official and tell him how governement has no business bullying around small business. If we fail as a business, it will be because of stupid, imbicilic laws like this that were created in a vacuum and applied without any notion of common sense.