Investigating banks compliance to public building policies protecting the disabled (Act 715)

Undergraduate thesis submitted to the Department of Business Administration, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, May 2020The Persons with Disability Act obligates all public service providers to make their buildings accessible to Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). However, since the passing of this Act, several public buildings have failed to comply with this requirement. In the Financial sector, the Bank of Ghana aims to increase financial inclusion by the year 2023. Since bank branches are an access point for financial services, it is important to research considerations made to promote accessibility of bank buildings to PWDs. To do this, the study examined: (1) the influence of the Disability Act on the design and selection of bank branches in Accra, (2) challenges banks face with compliance to the Disability Act, and (3) measures to improve the level of compliance with the Disability Act in the banking industry. Data for this qualitative study was collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using the Locke and Latham model. Seven banks in Accra and a project supervisor from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly were contacted for this study. The results showed that the Bank of Ghana and standards such as the Ghana Building Code play a major role in the design and selection of branch buildings. The fundamental problem with making bank buildings compliant is the vagueness of the Disability Act. Spatial constraints, and a lack of urgency to modify non-compliant branches are additional challenges. The study recommends that the Disability Act be revised and clearly define accessibility to public buildings. Also, it must specify the bodies in charge of enforcing the requirements.Ashesi Universit