Accessibility Statement
This accessibility statement applies to the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service website located at www.essex-fire.gov.uk
This accessibility statement tells you how:
- Accessible this website is
- You can get in touch about an accessibility issue
- We're improving accessibility on our website
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- Zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- Navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
- Navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
- Listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
We are committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- Most older PDF or Word documents are not fully accessible to screen reader software, as well as some newer ones
- Live video streams do not have captions (although this is exempt from the most recent accessibility regulations)
We are aiming to reduce the amount of documents on our website by replacing them with web pages where possible in the future.
- Maps are sourced and embedded via Ordnance Survey using Leaflet JS.
We aim to ensure that these are only used where necessary, and use addresses where possible.
Get in touch about an accessibility problem
If you need information to be provided in a different format, such as an accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please click here to contact us or call 01376 576000
Technical information about this website’s accessibility
Essex County Fire & Rescue Service is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
2.1.1 Keyboard
The keyboard cannot be used to access links in the menu. For example, "About us" and "Children and education" is not accessible as the drop down menus cannot be expanded.
2.4.6 Headings and Labels
Heading elements are not always in a sequentially-descending order. For example on the "Incident map listing" and "Related content".
4.1.1 Parsing
IDs used in ARIA and labels are not unique. Example ID in the website header - id="block-website-header-menu-block-menu".
4.1.2 Name, Role, Value and 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context)
Some links do not have discernible names. Example: "Latest news" and "Quick link" cards on the homepage.
We are currently in the process of correcting these issues and should have them resolved by 28 February 2023.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
PDFs and other documents
As a public regulator, we rely on using PDF and other format text documents to capture important information. Many of these documents are essential to providing our services or contain important information not available elsewhere. We are working towards making these documents accessible, or making the information available in HTML formats.
The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
Reporting accessibility problems with our website
We will be constantly improving the accessibility of this website and our online services.
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us.
We will endeavour to reply to your request in five working days.
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’).
If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was prepared on 1 December, 2022. It was last reviewed and updated on 16 January 2023 and it will be reviewed again on 1 July 2023.
This website was last tested on 16 January 2023. The test was carried out by Big Blue Door via the Axe Accessibility tool, Google Lighthouse, and validated using WAVE.
Using our website
We’ve designed our website so you can easily change how it looks if you need to.
Changing colours, font, text size and other settings
All modern browsers allow you to change colours and font sizes. We’ve tried to create a site which doesn’t get in the way when you change these settings.
Change text size and font
You can use your browser options to change the text size or font for web sites that you visit. The way you do this varies depending on the browser that you are using.
Change colour scheme
You can set your web browser to choose your own colour scheme for our website.
Access keys
We haven't used access keys as they can interfere with keyboard shortcuts used by modern browsers.
The content is easily tab-navigable and screen-reader friendly.
Readability
We have made every effort to ensure this web site is easily readable using 'plain English'.
In addition, we have ensured that the design of this website is not an obstacle to its usability and readability.
Useful links
The following websites have useful advice and information about web accessibility: