Air Carrier Access Act Technical Assistance Manual (2005)

F. Safety Briefings

Individual Safety Briefings

Under certain circumstances, you must provide individual safety briefings to a passenger with a disability. Federal safety regulations require you to conduct an individual briefing for each passenger who may need assistance to move expeditiously to an emergency exit. You must brief the passenger and the attendant, if any, on the routes to the appropriate exit and on the most appropriate time to move toward the exit in the event of an emergency. In addition, you must ask the passenger and the attendant, if any, the most appropriate manner of assisting the passenger. [14 CFR 121.571(a)(3)] You may offer such briefings to other passengers. [Sec. 382.45(b)(2)]

In the case of private safety briefings for passengers with a disability:

• You must conduct the briefing as inconspicuously and discreetly as possible. [Sec.382.45(b)(3)]

• You must not require a passenger with a disability to demonstrate that the person has listened to, read, or understood the information presented, except to the extent that you or other employees impose such a requirement on all passengers with respect to the general safety briefing.

• You must not take any action adverse to a passenger with a disability on the basis the individual has not “accepted” the briefing. [Sec. 382.45(b)(4)]

Accommodations for Passengers Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

If the safety briefings are presented to passengers on video screens, carriers must ensure that the video presentation is accessible to passengers who are deaf or hard of hearing. [Sec. 382.47(b)] More specifically, carriers must implement this requirement by using open captioning or an inset for a sign language interpreter as part of the video presentation. [Sec. 382.47(b)(1)] A carrier may use an equivalent non-video alternative to this requirement only if neither open captioning nor a sign language interpreter inset could be placed in the video presentation without so interfering with it as to render it ineffective or if it would not be large enough to be readable. [Sec. 382.47(b)(2)] Carriers must implement these requirements by substituting captioned video materials for uncaptioned video materials as the uncaptioned materials are replaced in the normal course of the carrier’s operations. [Sec. 382.47(b)(3)]

Timely and Complete Access to Information

Carriers must ensure that, upon request, passengers with a disability, including those who are (i) blind or visually impaired; or (ii) deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind, have timely access to information being provided to other passengers, including but not limited to, information concerning ticketing, flight delays, schedule changes, connections, flight check-in, gate assignments, the checking and claiming of luggage, and aircraft changes that will affect the travel of passengers with a disability. [Sec. 382.45(c)] Passengers who are unable to obtain the information from the audio or visual systems in airports or on board must request the information from you. In other words, as a practical matter, passengers may have to identify themselves as (i) blind or visually impaired; or (ii) deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind in order to obtain the information. See Chapter 7 in general and “Tips for Assisting People Who Are Blind or Visually-Impaired” and “Tips for Assisting People Who Are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or Deaf-Blind” in particular.