accomodating sensory processing disorder

ninanewbie

An employee has self-identified as having a sensory processing disorder, also called sensory integration dysfunction, that makes her anxious around loud noises.

We have moved her workstation so she is away from office machines that create noise.  Now she says she wants to be told before scheduled fire drills so she can leave ahead of them. She said that a surprise fire drill could cause her to have an anxiety attack or worse.

Is this a legal accommodation?  Would we have to give her a separate "silent" fire drill walk through?

I tried to research this on the internet but only found info on children who have this disorder, not adults.

TXHRGuy

There are a few things you can do.

First -- find out if it is legal to let someone know when a fire drill will occur. If the fire code in your area prohibits telling people when they'll occur, then that's not really a reasonable accomodation. The point of the drill is to ensure that people know what to do in the event of a fire without being pre-warned of the fire's occurence.

Second -- find out if fire drills are scheduled through anybody the company has control over.  It may well be that the fire fighters just show up and tell building maintenance that "now is the time," in which case you are not really in a position to accomodate unless a) it's legal and b) you can trust either the fire fighters or the building management team to let you know before they pull the alarm lever.

Third -- check with counsel.  What is reasonable varies from circuit to circuit.  While it may be a good idea to give this person a "silent" fire drill walk through for their own safety, it may be the price forof this person working in an office building that they learn to cope with fire drills or accept that they will have panic attacks from time to time due to disturbances that are not in the employer's control.

IT HR

TXHRGuy gives some good advice.  The only thing I would add is that you may want to look up what OSHA says about Fire Drills.  If you are in an industry that requires strict compliance with OSHA regulations regarding fire safety then you may have additional rules to follow above and beyond what the fire code says.