We love answering YOUR questions! Whether it's a phone call, email, or responses to our blog and monthly newsletter, we love to be your go to resource. There is one question that comes up the most and we wanted to answer it here today! (If you have other topics you want us to cover, just send them over to Erika@lrsarchitecture.com)
"What is a CASp Report?"
It is one of our favorite questions to answer! We love having the chance to tell business owners and/or building owners and those serving them the benefits of the CASp program. Let's start at the beginning.
CASp stands for "Certified Access Specialist" and is a program created by California legislators to provide resources for the business community to navigate disability access. A CASp is an individual who has voluntarily passed an assessment administered by California to prove their knowledge of disability access laws and codes.
WHAT IS CRASCA?
CRASCA stands for Construction Related Accessibility Standards Compliance Act. These standards were created by Senate Bill 1608 in 2008 and are chaptered in the Civil Code Sections 55.51-54. This bill created the qualified defendant status and legal protections for businesses who had a CASp report completed before a claim is filed against their business. The legal protections include:
90 Day Court Stay
Early Evaluation Conference
And reduced fines- from $4,000 per occasion to $1,000 per occasion (if the plaintiff agrees to correct the violation of the claim within 60 days and was in the process of correcting the violation within a reasonable time frame before the claim was filed.)
In order for a business to earn qualified defendant status their CASp report must meet the requirements set in CRASCA which we discuss below.
There are different types of reports a CASp can provide.
A CASp report is a written document provided to a business owner or building owner of architectural barriers found at the physical location. An architectural barrier is any condition the CASp measured at the site that is not in compliance with the CBC and/or federal standards. They can range in complexity and severity from the closing speed of a door being too fast to a ramp with a slope greater than 8.3%. At a minimum the CASp report should tell you all architectural barriers found on the site. Some, including our own reporting, will list all elements measured on site both compliant and non-compliant. Photos are also used in reports to help identify architectural barriers. Many reports will give you recommendations for barrier removal, but it is important to note that those recommendations should never take the place of architectural drawings and specifications.
A CRASCA Report is required for Qualified Defendant Status.
In order for the business to earn qualified defendant status, CRASCA has certain reporting requirements that must be met. Those requirements are:
A determination of "meets applicable standards" or "inspected by a CASP"
A determination of the applicable standards
An identification and description of the facility inspected
The date of inspection
A clear statement of whether the inspection includes an assessment of readily achievable barrier removal
An identification and description of areas of the site or structure that need correction and the correction needed
A schedule of completion for each of the corrections within a reasonable time frame
Your project needs will determine what kind of CASp inspection you will want to have performed and what type of report you will need. For instance someone involved in a lawsuit will not be able to reap the benefits of qualified defendant status so having a CRASCA report is less important for them. Someone who is looking at renovating their building may want to have the property inspected to current codes instead of applicable codes since they will be remodeling to the current standards, therefore they would not want a CRASCA report either.
Regardless of what type of project you have, having a CASp review it for accessibility is always a great idea. Call our offices to find out which report is best for your project today.
