The Tribune

By Neil Hartnell

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The level of access disabled people have to Bahamian commercial buildings is “awful” because of an inability to enforce the law, a private sector executive blasted yesterday.

Peter Goudie, a member of the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities, told Tribune Business that it simply had no inspectors or regulations to ensure the private sector and public buildings comply with the Persons with Disabilities Equal Opportunity Act.

That Act imposed a December 31, 2017, deadline for private and public buildings to provide full access for disabled persons, and Mr Goudie said several companies - including Baha Mar and Bahama First - had been called the Commission out to conduct inspections on their buildings.

Arguing that much more needs to be done, Mr Goudie said compliance with the Act was simply good business sense for Bahamian companies as it ensured they received more customers while also performing a wider social need.

The former City Markets human resources chief, who sits as one of the private sector representatives on the National Tripartite Council, added that studies had also shown that disabled employees - when given proper access to their workplace - helped reduce workforce recruitment costs and turnover due to their loyalty to the company.

Explaining why Bahamian companies needed to comply with the Act, Mr Goudie told Tribune Business: “One, it’s the right thing to do for society, and two, it brings them more business. 

“Number three, there are programmes - and I’m going to bring them in with Rotary - that show when you hire a disabled person and they’re able to get access to work, they tend to be very loyal employees so it reduces your employee costs and turnover.

“There are programmes in the US and Canada. One business in Canada, and I know this through Rotary, said: ‘Do the math. An average employee working in a super market, doughnut shop, usually lasts a year. It costs me $3,500 to recruit an employee’,” Mr Goudie continued.

“A disabled person, if they get a job, will last seven to eight years. Do the math. You and I are not stupid. If you don’t have to recruit a person for seven to eight years, you are saving $3,500 a year for every one of those years. I’d rather have a disabled person working for me that can do the job than an average employee. That’s a fact, and you can quote me on that.”

Mr Goudie said a further obstacle to enforcing the Act, and building access, resulted after the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities effectively ceased to exist for a year after the May 2017 general election. He blamed this on efforts to “put people in places that they were not qualified for”, and said the matter was only addressed when Frankie Campbell took ministerial responsibility for social services.

“The issue is that the Government has yet to hire any inspectors, and we also gave to get regulations in place,” Mr Goudie told Tribune Business. “Unfortunately we don’t have everything in place and are not able to enforce things.

“That’s where things stand. It’s really unfortunate we’re not in a position to enforce things because we don’t have inspectors. We need building inspectors, and people to inspect parking lots and issue fines and all that good stuff. It’s awful. You can quote me on that. It is awful. We don’t have people in place to inspect anything and we need some resources in place. It’s really, really sad.”

Mr Goudie, who is disabled himself, voiced optimism that the appointment of former Salvation Army head, Lester Ferguson, as the National Commission for Persons with Disabilities chairman, would help turn the situation around. 

“Some companies have been coming to us and asking us to help them,” he added. “We did an inspection at Melia and we did an inspection at Baha Mar. We had done an inspection at Bahamas First.

“People have been working with it but we don’t have the inspectors to go around and see what they’ve been doing. We need resources to go around and inspect these buildings and try and get people to comply. We’re trying with our very limited resources but we really need to do more. We really need help to move this forward.”