scope:

This International Standard includes a range of requirements and recommendations for many of the elements of construction, assemblies, components and fittings which comprise buildings. These requirements relate to the constructional aspects of access to buildings, to circulation within buildings, to egress from buildings in the normal course of events and evacuation in the event of an emergency. An informative annex is also included which deals with aspects of accessibility management in buildings. The intention of this International Standard is to meet the needs of the greatest feasible number of people and to accommodate the diversities of age and of human condition on a minimum level reached by consensus between the different countries all over the world. In some countries higher requirements are common due to their long experience in accessible building standards and regulations. This International Standard contains provisions with respect to features in the external environment directly concerned with access to a building or group of buildings from the edge of the relevant site boundary or between such groups of buildings within a common site. However, this International Standard does not deal with those elements of the external environment, such as public open spaces, whose function is self-contained and unrelated to the use of one specific building, nor does this International Standard deal with single family dwellings, other than those circulation spaces and fittings that are common to two or more such dwellings. At present, consideration is being given to the development and publication of additional parts to this International Standard to deal with the types of external environments described above and single family dwellings. For existing buildings there are options included in some paragraphs which appear as "exceptional considerations for existing buildings in developing countries" (see "Guidance on the Implications of the ISO Global Relevance Policy for CEN Standardization", 2005) and as "exceptional considerations for existing buildings" where a lower order of provisions than expected in new constructions are accepted due to technical and economic circumstances only. NOTE - This International Standard is primarily written for adults with disabilities but it includes some specifications regarding the specific accessibility requirements that would suit children with disabilities. However, more detailed requirements are envisaged to be included in future revisions of this International Standard.