Accessibility Accreditation for Volunteer Hub - Department of Fire and Emergency Services

A technical evaluation of 30 pages/screens was conducted. The pages selected constitute an accessibility audit of the website. These pages/screens were selected by GrackleDocs and agreed on by the client as representative of the overall accessibility and functionality of the website/application.

The evaluation was completed in accordance with the WCAG Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) which can be viewed at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG-EM/.

The pages were audited manually and cross-checked using a team of website evaluators to ensure that the results and comments presented are valid and comprehensive.

There are some aspects on this website, including some third-party content, which the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) do not have the ability to bring into conformance with WCAG 2.1 to Level AA.

Third party applications on this website include:

• Google Maps
• Kendo/Telerik Sitefinity scheduler

Some videos may not contain additional audio descriptions of visual content not described in the standard audio description.

On the Contacts page (https://volunteerhub.dfes.wa.gov.au/home/contacts) there is no alternative text for the (font-awesome) phone icons, however in the ‘Search All Contacts’ tab has all information is available in text.

Whilst the DFES has gone to great lengths to make all of its online content AA accessible, borders and focus indicators for some element in some browsers will be using the default border which may have a low colour contrast ratio. There may also be some empty headings which DFES is unable to edit due to an auto-generated widget.

Department of Fire and Emergency Services is making every attempt to provide an accessible solution to these aspects.

WCAG 2.0 also forms the content of the ISO Standard ISO: IEC 40500:2012

The procurement standard for digital accessibility for the European public sector is EN 301549. In Australia, it is known as AS EN 301549. This requires WCAG 2.1 Level AA for web, documents, and software.

Section 508 in the United States refers to WCAG 2.0 Level A & AA for web content and most electronic documents.

In the United States ADA Title II prohibits disability discrimination in state/local government services and explicitly references WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the standard for web content and mobile apps.

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) references and leverages WCAG, incorporating WCAG 2.1 Level AA as a key component of its technical requirements.

In Canada, the Accessible Canada Act (ACA) points to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

WCAG 2 has been designed to be more testable than its predecessor, WCAG 1.0. However, while some tests can be accurately performed with automated testing, some require a combination of automated tools and human judgement, and others rely solely on human review by knowledgeable website assessors. In such cases, there is always a possibility that results may be disputed among assessors. Every reasonable effort has been made to cross-check findings and ensure the validity of the results presented to mitigate the likelihood of oversights. However, due to the human element of website evaluation, errors may, on occasion, occur. These errors, should they have happened, should not materially affect the information or conclusions outlined in the results presented.