European standard on the accessibility of public buildings on its way into German law

The new European regulation

The European standard EN 17210:2021 Accessibility and usability of the built environment – Functional requirements was published at the beginning of 2021. This standard sets new requirements for the accessibility of publicly accessible buildings and must be adopted into national law by EU member states. The German version of EN 17210:2021 was published as a DIN standard¹ in August 2021. Since February 2024, it has replaced existing standards² in Germany that contradict the new standard and need to be revised – such as DIN 18040-1/2 Barrier-free construction.

A milestone towards general accessibility

The standard states that publicly accessible buildings must no longer discriminate against people with disabilities in future. Operators must enable “equal and safe use by a wide range of users, including people with disabilities”. This also applies to emergency calls.
Specific explanations of how emergency calls must be designed in future can be found in the section on elevators: “Lifts must have an emergency call system (two-way communication system) that is understandable and accessible to all persons in accordance with the multi-sensory principle.” This is because voice communication systems are not sufficient for people with hearing impairments, especially in an emergency. They must therefore be supplemented by visual communication channels in the future.

Major impact on operators of public buildings infrastructure

The scope of the standard covers all publicly accessible buildings that can be entered and used by anyone according to their intended purpose, such as

Public transport buildings
Airports
Office, administrative and court buildings
Cultural and educational facilities
Sports and leisure facilities
Healthcare facilities
Retail, catering and accommodation facilities
Parking spaces, garages and toilet facilities

In future, operators of public buildings must design all emergency call facilities to be barrier-free in accordance with the multi-sensory principle.

What operators must do now

Currently, EN 17210 only defines the goal, the multi-sensory emergency call, but not the technical details of how it should be implemented. The current draft for the revision of the German standard³ for barrier-free construction specifically describes a video or display system for emergency calls in elevators.
In public buildings, video or display systems for visual emergency call communication in elevators will therefore become mandatory in the near future. Operators are well advised to take the two-sense emergency call into account now during planning and implementation. The North American standard ASME A17.1-2019, which has been in force for several years, shows what a concrete technical implementation can look like. Here, as in Europe, the emergency call is triggered via a push button and a voice connection is established. Text-based communication with the emergency call center can also take place via a display. A video device allows the emergency call center to look into the cabin in the event of an emergency. This could also be a possible solution for Europe.

Displays: Possible applications beyond accessibility

In the event of an emergency, displays with two-senses communication meet the requirements of the new standards: They provide the text-based communication channel (in various languages) with the emergency call center. Communication can take place via the touch function of the display or via the buttons on the car control panel. It is also possible to connect a camera to the display in the event of an emergency. But display systems can also offer other benefits for operators of public buildings: In normal elevator operation, for example, they can be used to display news, information, tenant directories and site plans, as well as current dates and multimedia data.

flexyPage®: tried-and-tested display system with two-sense emergency call

The flexyPage Smart Display System with integrated two-sense emergency call is a tried-and-tested, ready-to-install solution that meets the (future) requirements of European, German and North American accessibility standards. The displays can be retrofitted in elevators and emergency call points of any brand and type and are compatible with all commercially available emergency call devices. The display solution expands existing voice emergency call systems with the text-based chat function including translation function and optional video connection in the cabin. People can communicate with the emergency call center in different languages using the touch function or buttons. The flexyPage Messenger is used in the emergency call center, which expands the existing systems for managing emergency calls. flexyPage displays are available in various designs and sizes from 7 inches to 46 inches. They are highly resistant to vandalism. In normal operation, they can display a wide range of elevator signals, multimedia data and information. Detailed information on the barrier-free two-sense emergency call can be found on the product website: flexypage.de/en/flexypage-messenger