The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has created new guidelines to ensure that people with disabilities “are not left out” when they need to perform tasks involving commonly used office equipment.

The new standard — called ISO/IEC 10779:2008, Information Technology — “provides guidelines for the design and evaluation of office equipment to facilitate their operation by persons with the widest range of capabilities, including persons with disabilities or temporary disabilities,” an ISO news release stated.

ISO and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) jointly developed the standard, which provides guidelines “to be used when planning, developing and designing office equipment such as copying machines, page printers and multi-function devices.”

The standard gives specifications for such office machine functions as operation, displays, mechanical controls and maintenance.
ISO develops international standards and is a network of the national standards institutes of 157 countries. In describing itself, ISO says it “enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society.”