View the Accessibility Plan, May 2023

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GENERAL

Summary

Seaspan ULC

Accessibility Statement

Seaspan Marine is dedicated to identifying and addressing barriers that prevent people with disabilities from fully participating as employees or customers of Seaspan Marine.

We will continue to engage with our community, our employees, and our customers to further advance our practices and ensure accessibility remains a priority.

Accessibility Committee

Seaspan Marine’s current Accessibility Plan project group includes:

Linda Wortman
Chief Financial Officer

Jordan Pechie
Senior Vice President Seaspan Marine Transportation

Jessica McHaffie
Manager, Marine Personnel

Miles Martyniuk
Health Safety Environment and Quality Coordinator

Andrew Graham
HR Business Partner

Karen Obeck
Director, Corporate Facilities and Real Estate

The Accessibility Plan project group will hand off to Seaspan Marine’s Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Committee and the D&I Committee will work with departments to implement the Accessibility Plan and respond to feedback in a timely manner.

Feedback

Seaspan Marine is committed to providing an open and transparent feedback process. For more information, to provide feedback, or to request alternative formats of this Plan, please contact Seaspan Marine through one of the following methods:

Anonymous feedback form: seaspan.com/who-we-are/diversity/accessibility-plan/feedback/
Email: [email protected]
Direct mail: 10 Pemberton, North Vancouver, BC. V7P 2R1
Telephone: 778.729.0288

Alternative Formats

Seaspan Marine’s Accessibility Plan is available in the following formats:

  • Print
  • Large Print
  • Electronic
  • Audio

A braille copy of Seaspan Marine’s Accessibility Plan may be requested by email at [email protected] or by phone at 778-729-0288.

PRIORITY AREAS

Area 1: Employment

Our Accessibility Goal

Seaspan Marine works to foster a culture that is respectful, inclusive and reflective of all the people who live in our region. Each of our employees has different career needs and goals – be it skills development, stability, variety, advancement or innovation, but share a commitment to safety and a passion for the marine industry.

We are committed to creating the same sense of safety and inclusion for people with disabilities as for all our employees.

Actions

Commitment 1: Incorporate accessibility into our recruitment practices and promote open career opportunities to people with disabilities by:

  • 1.1 Identifying accessible job boards and recruitment sources to expand our posting reach for open positions by June 2024.
    Status: Complete
    Actions: Our team is diligently exploring various niche job boards and resource services, including Immigration Services of BC, the YMCA, and the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation Employment and Training Society partnership to identify a diverse pool of candidates (including those with disabilities) who would be a great fit for Seaspan’s opportunities. We are actively reaching out and engaging with individuals who show interest in what we have to offer, ensuring that we connect with those who can contribute to our success.

    Additionally, Seaspan now partners with EQuest for our job posting. EQuest provides a much broader network than we have previously been able to reach. We are specifically part of their Canadian Diversity Network, which is regularly updated to include additional boards including ones specifically for people with disabilities.

  • 1.2 Developing a process for candidates to request accommodations during the recruitment and interview process by June 2025.
    Status: Complete
    Actions: Our job descriptions now include a dedicated statement emphasizing our dedication to Employment Equity, diversity, and inclusion. Additionally, our job application process has been simplified and now includes an opportunity for all applicants to request accommodations at all stages of the recruitment process.

    Our Equal Employment Opportunity statement is as follows: “Seaspan is committed to Employment Equity, supports diversity in the workplace, and encourages applications from all qualified individuals including, women, members of visible minorities, Indigenous persons, and persons with disabilities. Furthermore, we are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible environment. If you require accommodation during the recruitment process, please let us know, and we will work with you to support your request”.

    The final sentence of our EEO statement previously read, “If you require reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process, please let us know, and we will work with you to support your request.” However, based on the consultation process, we have removed to work “reasonable” to not impose any unintended barriers during the application process.

Commitment 2: Ensure that employees with disabilities feel that they are supported from day one on the job with Seaspan Marine by:

  • 2.1 Creating a formal process for employees to request accommodations or confidentially disclose disabilities as part of their onboarding process by June 2025.
    Status: Not Started

Commitment 3: Promote a culture that supports employees with disabilities by:

  • 3.1 Communicating to employees that Seaspan encourages employees to request accommodations at any point while employed by Seaspan, not just during recruitment and onboarding by June 2024.
    Status: Complete
    Actions: Employees are provided with the opportunity to request accommodation during the interview process and when they are first hired. Additionally, our Wellness team promotes and supports employee accommodation requests throughout the employee lifecycles to remove barriers at any point during an employee’s tenure with Seaspan.
  • 3.2 Facilitating the opportunity for employees to form an Accessibility Resource Group by June 2025.
    Status:Not Started

Commitment 4: Plan an employee communication campaign starting in 2023 to inform them of new accessibility policies and services available to them. Communications will include awareness of disability definitions and common barriers to accessibility.
Status: Complete and Ongoing
Actions: Following the publication of our Accessibility Plan in June 2023, we shared the Plan directly with employees. Additionally, the Seaspan HR team has developed a new Accessibility landing page on the employees’ intranet site. The page went live for all employees on April 3, 2024, and will be the hub for all future communications regarding accessibility.
Update: Based on feedback that we received during the consultation process, we have reworded this commitment to use more appropriate language. The Commitment previously read: “Communications will include awareness of disabilities and common barriers to accessibility.” It has been updated to read: “Communication will aim to provide a better understanding of disabilities and common barriers to accessibility.”

Area 2: Built Environment

Our Accessibility Goal

Seaspan has made recent upgrades throughout our facilities that promote a barrier-free environment. We recognize that the work is not done and are committed to continuing our efforts to provide employees with an accessible workplace that fits their needs.

Actions

Commitment 1: To continue working towards providing employees with easy and accessible signage by:

  • 1.1 Establishing a budget and potential timeline for incorporating universal design, including high-contrast, plain-language, and Braille signage throughout the interior of our Seaspan Marine building by June 2024.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: Per our Accessibility Plan commitment, we conducted meetings with several vendors to obtain cost estimates for the implementation of tactile signage. However, due to the current review of building occupancy, we have decided to postpone the project to 2025.
  • 1.2 Consulting with people with lived experiences of disabilities to ensure that signage upgrades meet their needs by December 2024.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: Our Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Committee actively engaged in consultations with employees regarding the implementation of additional signage on site to promote inclusivity and accessibility. Based on the feedback we have received so far, we’ve begun the process of getting a full report of the required signage and pricing and will be running a more formal feedback process with employees later this year.
    We have completed our External Campus Wayfinding project to ensure barrier-free access to our facilities. This includes large, high-contrast signs making each of the buildings A to E for staff and visitors to easily locate where they need to go.

Commitment 2: To understand how we can improve accessibility in our built environment for our Seaspan Marine employees we will:

  • 2.1 Develop a list of possible accessible upgrades to common spaces.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: Seaspan is currently in the process of developing a comprehensive list of potential accessible upgrades for common spaces which align with our Capital Planning efforts. We will be working with a construction firm that is familiar with and knowledgeable of accessibility compliance and upgrades.
  • 2.2 Investigate the feasibility, time, and budget for installing these features in the Seaspan Marine building by June 2024.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: Due to the ongoing review of building occupancy, this project will be postponed to 2025.

Area 3: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Our Accessibility Goal

Our goal is to provide barrier-free access to Information and Communication Technologies. We aim to identify ways to remove barriers in our existing ICT infrastructure and enable all employees and customers to engage fully with Seaspan Marine.

Actions

Commitment 1: Identify opportunities for Seaspan Marine to maximize accessibility through existing features and tools available through 3rd party providers by:

  • 1.1 Developing an accessible template to request accessibility features and information from all 3rd party ICT providers by June 2024.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: The Seaspan ICT team has started working on developing an accessibility template and is on track to have it completed by the end of June 2024.
  • 1.2 Creating an inventory of all accessibility features available to employees and identifying which features are default system settings and which need to be turned on by June 2024.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: The Seaspan Information Technology (IT) team has a comprehensive list of tools most used by our employees and has started developing accessibility matrices. We started with Microsoft 360 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, etc.), as it offers the tools most used by our employees. The matrix encompasses various application features aimed at enhancing usability for users with different types of disabilities.
  • 1.3 Providing employees with an ICT Accessibility Guide that highlights tools that can be used to remove barriers for themselves and others by June 2025.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: The Seaspan IT team has started developing an ICT Accessibility Guide for both Microsoft 365 and Windows. We are on track to have this completed by June 2025.

Area 4: Communication, other than ICT

Our Accessibility Goal

We commit to making communication easier for everyone at Seaspan Marine. We aim to implement accessible communication design standards to ensure barrier-free information to our employees and customers.

Actions

Commitment 1: Reduce barriers to internal communications for employees throughout our centralized intranet site by:

  • 1.1 Investigating SharePoint’s accessibility features to better understand how we can reduce barriers to information on our intranet by June 2024.
    Status: Complete
    Actions: Our team engaged in the review of Microsoft’s documentation to enhance our understanding of accessibility tools available within SharePoint.
  • 1.2 Consulting with professionals with lived experience of disabilities to develop a best practice guide to share with department leads to start implementing universal design on their department intranet page with support from IT by June 2026.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: Our D&I Committee is actively conducting group discussions scheduled to take place throughout 2024. In addition, preparations are being made for a comprehensive employee feedback survey scheduled for the Fall of 2024.

Commitment 2: Ensure employees can fully participate and engage in our all-hands meetings by:

  • 2.1 Providing meeting recordings with close captioning to employees who attended the meeting remotely starting in 2024.
    Status: Complete & Ongoing
    Actions: We have turned on the automatic captioning feature in Microsoft Team to ensure captions are generated for all recorded meetings. Additionally, our team has been trained to manually activate closed captioning for meetings that are not being recorded.
  • 2.2 Sharing meeting materials in alternative formats with employees with disabilities before or after meetings whenever possible starting in 2024.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: To further promote accessibility, we are conducting training sessions for meeting facilitators to ensure that closed captioning and recordings are consistently available for our all-hands meetings. We are continuing to look into additional formats that will allow our employees to fully participate in meetings.

Commitment 3: Improve accessibility to our public-facing communication tools by:

  • 3.1 Continuing to investigate and implement accessibility features on our external-facing website including the use of alt-text on all images by June 2025.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: An assessment of our external-facing website is planned for 2024 and an action plan will be developed to meet the 2025 goal.

Area 5: Procurement of Goods, Services, and Facilities

Our Accessibility Goal

At Seaspan Marine, we understand that creating a barrier-free Canada is everyone’s responsibility. We are committed to making accessibility part of our assessment criteria when selecting and working with vendors.

Actions

Commitment 1: Include accessibility as part of D&I criteria during our supplier intake process by June 2025.
Status: In Progress
Actions: In 2024, the D&I Committee has incorporated accessibility into its agenda. We are currently working on integrating accessibility questions into the supplier profile section of the Supplier Prequalification process as part of our ongoing efforts to promote inclusivity and diversity within our supply chain.

Area 6: Design and Delivery of Programs and Services

Our Accessibility Goal

We aim to better understand the barriers that our customers may encounter when interacting with Seaspan Marine and ensure that we are creating opportunities to remove barriers wherever possible in our programs and services.

Actions

Commitment 1: Understand the barriers that may exist for our customers in how our programs and services are delivered by:

  • 1.1 Developing a customer survey and feedback process using universal design standards to ask about the customer experience as it relates to accessibility by June 2024.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: We aim to have the Logistics Centre Staff conduct a customer survey by June 2024.
  • 1.2 Collecting feedback from customers regarding possible barriers to access by June 2025.
    Status: Not Started
  • 1.3 Determining actions for improving customer accessibility by June 2026.
    Status: In Progress

Commitment 2: Ensure that our customer-facing employees can effectively communicate and support customers with disabilities by:  

  • 2.1 Researching and identifying training opportunities for our customer-facing employees by June 2024.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: The Seaspan Talent Development team has begun research into training opportunities for our client-facing employees. We will be prioritizing all outsourced training to people with lived experience of disabilities and organizations that represent them. We are on track to have a list of opportunities by June 2024.
  • 2.2 Identifying priority groups of employees for accessibility training by June 2024.
    Status: Ongoing
    Actions: Training our team will be an ongoing initiative. While we are in the process of identifying more inclusive and accessible training opportunities, all employees have access to our online training resources. Our online learning platform (currently OpenSesame and will soon transition to LinkedIn Learning) has a large catalogue of courses that promote inclusive design and support people with disabilities in the workplace. LinkedIn has worked with instructors with lived experience to develop these courses.
  • 2.3 Enrolling priority employees in accessibility training starting in 2026.
    Status: Not Started

Area 7: Transportation

Our Accessibility Goal

Seaspan Marine understands the importance of providing accessible transportation. We are committed to a barrier-free future for our employees that provides ease of access for all.

Actions

Commitment 1: To ensure that all employees, regardless of their ability, have safe and accessible transportation to and from their worksite by:

  • 1.1 Including accessibility in the considerations for the future procurement of our shuttle vehicles based on the depreciation of our current assets. We anticipate that our current vehicles will be in use for at least the next five (5) years and are committed to providing more information on this goal in our annual updates.
    Status: In Progress
    Actions: We have established a transportation group and acquired three electric vehicle shuttles to transport employees to parking lots outside our campus and the North Vancouver Seabus terminal. Our efforts to introduce a park-and-ride option for staff are in the preliminary phase, with an employee survey serving as the starting point. Currently, we’re in the process of soliciting proposals from multiple bus vendors interested in collaborating with Seaspan to provide safe and accessible transportation to and from our work site.

FEEDBACK

In the first year following the publication of Seaspan’s Accessibility Plan, we have not received any feedback from employees, customers, or the general public. As such, we have been unable to incorporate any feedback into our first Progress Report.

We will continue to work with our accessibility working group to ensure we are actively seeking feedback whenever possible.

CONSULTATIONS

Summary

The concept of “Nothing Without Us” supports the notion that persons with disabilities must be involved in the ideation of Seaspan Marine’s Accessibility Plan and our Progress Reports to support us in identifying opportunities to progress accessibility in our policies and procedures and the built environment. We consulted the British Columbia Centre for Ability (BCCFA) in the development of our Accessibility Plan.

Consultation Process

We provided the BCCFA with a draft of our Progress Report as a Word document for their review. We followed this with a live session on May 23, 2024, to discuss the impact and significance of our actions towards our accessibility commitments.

The session was hosted virtually on Zoom and the consultation team from BCCFA was asked in advance about any accommodation that may be needed for the session.

During the session, participants had the option to turn on closed captioning. Each priority area of the Progress Report was discussed and accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation to act as a visual guide.

Results

During the consultation session, we reviewed each of Seaspan Marine’s accessibility commitments and the corresponding actions that we have taken over the last year.

Overall, the BCCFA said that our Report is easy to follow and written in concise, plain language. They recognized the effort that the Seaspan teams have put in to progress our commitments forward.

The BCCFA recommended that we provide more detail on the commitments that have been completed to better demonstrate how barriers have been removed. We provided additional details and adjusted our language throughout the Report based on their recommendations.

They also provided some recommended next steps for several commitments, which we will be bringing to our department representatives to review and consider.

Future Consultations

Future versions of Seaspan Marine’s Accessibility Plan will place greater emphasis on conducting a more comprehensive consultation process to fully align with the concept of “Nothing Without Us”. Our goal is to engage broader mechanisms for consultation of organizations, employees, and customers through testimonials and storytelling, feedback surveys, and facilitated consultative sessions. We recognize that a more robust consultation process for future versions of our plan will allow us to identify additional barriers and make meaningful progress on accessibility, and D&I will be achieved.