Accessibility Plan – 2025 Progress Report

View the Accessibility Plan, April 2025

The Seaspan Accessibility Progress Report, May 2025 is also available as a PDF.

On this page

The Accessibility Plan project group will hand off to Seaspan Marine’s Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee, and the DEI Committee will work with departments to implement the Accessibility Plan and respond to feedback in a timely manner.

Feedback Process

Seaspan Marine is committed to providing an open and transparent feedback process. For more information, to provide feedback, or to request alternative formats of this Plan, please contact Seaspan Marine through one of the following methods:

Anonymous feedback form:
seaspan.com/who-we-are/diversity/accessibility-plan/feedback/
Email: [email protected]
Direct mail: 10 Pemberton, North Vancouver, BC. V7P 2R1
Telephone: 778.729.0288

Alternative Formats

Seaspan Marine’s Accessibility Plan is available in the following formats:

• Print
• Large Print
• Electronic
• Audio

A braille copy of Seaspan Marine’s Accessibility Plan may be requested by email at [email protected] or by phone at 778-729-0288.

PRIORITY AREAS

Area 1: Employment

Our Accessibility Goal

Seaspan Marine works to foster a culture that is respectful, inclusive and reflective of all the people who live in our region. Each of our employees has different career needs and goals – be it skills development, stability, variety, advancement or innovation, but share a commitment to safety and a passion for the marine industry.

We are committed to creating the same sense of safety and inclusion for people with disabilities as for all our employees.

Actions

Commitment 1: Incorporate accessibility into our recruitment practices and promote open career opportunities to people with disabilities by:

• 1.1 Identifying accessible job boards and recruitment sources to expand our posting reach for open positions by June 2024.

  Status: Completed in 2024

  2023/2024 Actions: Our team is diligently exploring various niche job boards and resource services, including Immigration Services of BC, the YMCA, and the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation, and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Employment and Training Society partnership to identify a diverse pool of candidates (including those with disabilities) who would be a great fit for Seaspan’s opportunities. We are actively reaching out and engaging with individuals who show interest in what we have to offer, ensuring that we connect with those who can contribute to our success.

  Additionally, Seaspan now partners with EQuest for our job postings. EQuest provides a much broader network than we have previously been able to reach. We are specifically part of their Canadian Diversity Network, which is regularly updated to include additional boards, including ones specifically for people with disabilities.

• 1.2 Developing a process for candidates to request accommodations during the recruitment and interview process by June 2025.

  Status: Completed in 2024

  2023/2024 Actions: Our job descriptions now include a dedicated statement emphasizing our dedication to Employment Equity, diversity, and inclusion. Additionally, our job application process has been simplified and now includes an opportunity for all applicants to request accommodations at all stages of the recruitment process.

  Our Equal Employment Opportunity statement is as follows: “Seaspan is committed to Employment Equity, supports diversity in the workplace, and encourages applications from all qualified individuals including women, members of visible minorities, Indigenous persons, and persons with disabilities. Furthermore, we are committed to providing an inclusive and accessible environment. If you require accommodation during the recruitment process, please let us know, and we will work with you to support your request”.

  The final sentence of our EEO statement previously read, “If you require reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process, please let us know, and we will work with you to support your request.” However, based on the consultation process, we have removed the word “reasonable” to not impose any unintended barriers during the application process.

Commitment 2: Ensure that employees with disabilities feel that they are supported from day one on the job with Seaspan Marine by:

• 2.1 Creating a formal process for employees to request accommodations or confidentially disclose disabilities as part of their onboarding process by June 2025.

  Status: In Progress

  2024/2025 Actions: We have made good progress in setting up a clear process for new employees to ask for accommodations or share disability-related information confidentially. The Human Resources Employee Services (HRES) team and the Wellness group have created updated request forms that are available to new employees during onboarding. To make things even easier and more inclusive, we are working with our Human Resources Information System (HRIS) to include the form directly in our digital onboarding process. This will give new employees the chance to request accommodation without asking for a form. Existing employees will have access to the form through our intranet, The Hub.

Commitment 3:Promote a culture that supports employees with disabilities by:

• 3.1 Communicating to employees that Seaspan Marine encourages employees to request accommodations at any point while employed by Seaspan Marine, not just during recruitment and onboarding, by June 2024.

  Status: Completed in 2024

  2023/2024 Actions: Employees are provided with the opportunity to request accommodation during the interview process and when they are first hired. Additionally, our Wellness team promotes and supports employee accommodation requests throughout the employee lifecycle to remove barriers at any point during an employee’s tenure with Seaspan Marine.

• 3.2 Facilitating the opportunity for employees to form an Accessibility Resource Group by June 2025.

  Status: In Progress

  2024/2025 Actions: A stand-alone Accessibility Group has been approved. This group will be dedicated to enhancing accessibility and inclusivity at Seaspan, making sure all employees can thrive and contribute effectively.

Commitment 4: Plan an employee communication campaign starting in 2023 to inform them of new accessibility policies and services available to them. Communication will aim to provide a better understanding of disabilities and common barriers to accessibility.

Status: Complete & Ongoing

2023/2024 Actions: Following the publication of our Accessibility Plan in June 2023, we shared the Plan directly with employees. Additionally, the Seaspan HR team has developed a new Accessibility landing page on the employees’ intranet site. The page went live for all employees on April 3, 2024 and will be the hub for all future communications regarding accessibility.

Update: Based on feedback that we received during the consultation process, we have reworded this commitment to use more appropriate language. The Commitment previously read: “Communications will include awareness of disabilities and common barriers to accessibility.” It has been updated to read: “Communication will aim to provide a better understanding of disabilities and common barriers to accessibility.”

2024/2025 Actions: After the publication of the Accessibility page, we launched a promotional campaign during Accessibility Week in May 2024. We will continue to update the page with more information as it becomes available and promote it with our employees.

Additionally, we have a DEI Learning Series available to our staff, which showcases the following topics:

• Engaging in Meaningful Allyship to Create a More Inclusive Workplace
• The Power of Empathy in our Workplace and our Communities
• How Effective Communication Fosters Trust & Collaboration in the Workplace

Area 2: Built Environment

Our Accessibility Goal

Seaspan Maine has made recent upgrades throughout our facilities that promote a barrier-free environment. We recognize that the work is not done and are committed to continuing our efforts to provide employees with an accessible workplace that fits their needs.

Seaspan Tug & Barge

Commitment 1:To continue working towards providing employees with easy and accessible signage by:

• 1.1 Establishing a budget and potential timeline for incorporating universal design, including high-contrast, plain-language, and Braille signage throughout the interior of our Seaspan Marine building by June 2024.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: Per our Accessibility Plan commitment, we conducted meetings with several vendors to obtain cost estimates for the implementation of tactile signage. However, due to the current review of building occupancy, we have decided to postpone the project to 2025.

  2024/2025 Actions: We’ve made some progress by bringing in a signage consultant and getting a cost estimate for braille signage. However, the project has hit some roadblocks. The Marine division may be moving to a different building, and we will need to assess how we prioritize adding braille or tactile signage with other accessibility requirements from our DEI Committee.

• 1.2 Consulting with people with lived experiences of disabilities to ensure that signage upgrades meet their needs by December 2024.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: Our DEI Committee actively engaged in consultations with employees regarding the implementation of additional signage on site to promote inclusivity and accessibility. Based on the feedback we have received so far, we’ve begun the process of getting a full report of the required signage and pricing and will be running a more formal feedback process with employees later this year.

  We have completed our External Campus Wayfinding project to ensure barrier-free access to our facilities. This includes large, high-contrast signs, making each of the buildings A to E for staff and visitors to easily locate where they need to go.

  2024/2025 Actions: We had a signage consultant look at the requirements for braille signage and received a cost proposal for the installation. However, we’re unsure how long the Marine group will stay in the current building, and we’re also weighing this project against other accessibility priorities from the DEI committee.

Commitment 2: To understand how we can improve accessibility in our built environment for our Seaspan Marine employees, we will:

• 2.1 Develop a list of possible accessible upgrades to common spaces.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: Seaspan is currently in the process of developing a comprehensive list of potential accessible upgrades for common spaces that align with our Capital Planning efforts. We will be working with a construction firm that is familiar with and knowledgeable about accessibility compliance and upgrades.

  2024/2025 Actions: We have identified the barriers in our built environment, and our next step is to prioritize the updates that will have the biggest impact, for example, adding a lift to the main stairwell. We’ll consider multiple options and costs for each upgrade.

  The facility was upgraded in 2020 to include certain accessibility features, including accessible washrooms and counter tops.

• 2.2 Investigate the feasibility, time, and budget for installing these features in the Seaspan Marine building by June 2024.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: Due to the ongoing review of building occupancy, this project will be postponed to 2025.

  2024/2025 Actions: The review of building occupancy is still ongoing and under review.

*NEW* HaiSea Actions

Commitment 1: To understand how we can improve accessibility in our built environment for our HaiSea employees given the constraints of the facility by:

• 1.1 Conducting an accessibility audit of the administration office to identify possible barriers to access to be considered for accessibility upgrades by June 2026.

  Status:Not Started

  2024/2025 Actions:This goal was added to our Accessibility Plan in 2025. HaiSea operations were previously not included under the ACA because of a small employee headcount. In 2025/2026, we’ll be auditing the HaiSea facilities to find ways to improve accessibility.

Area 3: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Our Accessibility Goal

Our goal is to provide barrier-free access to Information and Communication Technologies. We aim to identify ways to remove barriers in our existing ICT infrastructure and enable all employees and customers to engage fully with Seaspan Marine.

Actions

Commitment 1: Identify opportunities for Seaspan Marine to maximize accessibility through existing features and tools available through 3 ^rd party providers by:

• 1.1 Developing an accessible template to request accessibility features and information from all 3 ^rd party ICT providers by June 2024.

  Status:In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: The Seaspan ICT team has started working on developing an accessibility template and is on track to have it completed by the end of June 2024.

  2024/2025 Actions: We’ve made progress on creating an easy way for employees to request accessibility features or information from third-party ICT providers. Working with the IT team, we have developed a special request form just for ICT accessibility requests. Employees can access the form using a link provided on our IT support page, OneSource-this is now the main tool for employees to make these requests or report issues. We will be communicating the details of the form through multiple communication channels to make sure employees are aware of the form and know when and how to use it.

• 1.2 Creating an inventory of all accessibility features available to employees and identifying which features are default system settings and which need to be turned on by June 2024.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: The Seaspan Information Technology (IT) team has a comprehensive list of tools most used by our employees and has started developing accessibility matrices. We started with Microsoft 360 (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Teams, etc.), as it offers the tools most used by our employees. The matrix encompasses various application features aimed at enhancing usability for users with different types of disabilities.

  2024/2025 Actions: We’ve made good progress on building a list of accessibility features available to employees, especially within the Microsoft 365 apps. A full catalogue of these features is now available on our internal DEI web page, giving employees a go-to resource to learn about these tools. The next step is to promote this resource through internal communication channels to ensure employees are aware of and able to access the information.

• 1.3 Providing employees with an ICT Accessibility Guide that highlights tools that can be used to remove barriers for themselves and others by June 2025.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: The Seaspan IT team has started developing an ICT Accessibility Guide for both Microsoft 365 and Windows. We are on track to have this completed by June 2025.

  2024/2025 Actions: We have created a quick reference guide focused on accessibility tools within the Microsoft 365 suite. This guide is accessible to employees via the provided link on the Seaspan Marine Group’s DEI web page, offering immediate support for individuals seeking to use these features.

Area 4: Communication, other than ICT

Our Accessibility Goal

We commit to making communication easier for everyone at Seaspan Marine. We aim to implement accessible communication design standards to ensure barrier-free information for our employees and customers.

Actions

Commitment 1:Reduce barriers to internal communications for employees throughout our centralized intranet site by:

• 1.1 Investigating SharePoint’s accessibility features to better understand how we can reduce barriers to information on our intranet by June 2024.

  Status: Completed in 2024

  2023/2024 Actions: Our team engaged in the review of Microsoft’s documentation to enhance our understanding of accessibility tools available within SharePoint.

• 1.2 Consulting with professionals with lived experience of disabilities to develop a best practice guide to share with department leads to start implementing universal design on their department intranet page, with support from IT by June 2026.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: Our DEI Committee is actively conducting group discussions scheduled to take place throughout 2024. In addition, preparations are being made for a comprehensive employee feedback survey scheduled for the Fall of 2024.

  2024/2025 Actions: Seaspan DEI Committee hosted several “Listening and Learning” sessions with both office workers and mariners. All employees in the marine group were invited to join these sessions, including those with lived experience. Invites were sent by email, posted on The Hub, and displayed on digital display screens on our boats. These sessions focused on better understanding what resources and support our employees wanted from the DEI Committee. Some of the ideas that came out of these sessions include:

  Creating a “Did you know” campaign to increase awareness around various DEI topics, including accessibility.

  Adding DEI topics to team and individual goals.

  Promoting a more cohesive culture that includes both office workers and mariners.

  Including DEI training at the Mariner Conference.

Commitment 2:Ensure employees can fully participate and engage in our all-hands meetings by:

• 2.1 Providing meeting recordings with close captioning to employees who attended the meeting remotely starting in 2024.

  Status: Complete & Ongoing

  2023/2024 Actions: We have turned on the automatic captioning feature in Microsoft Teams to ensure captions are generated for all recorded meetings. Additionally, our team has been trained to manually activate closed captioning for meetings that are not being recorded.

• 2.2 Sharing meeting materials in alternative formats with employees with disabilities before or after meetings, whenever possible, starting in 2024.

  Status: Complete & Ongoing

  2023/2024 Actions: To further promote accessibility, we are conducting training sessions for meeting facilitators to ensure that closed captioning and recordings are consistently available for our all-hands meetings. We are continuing to look into additional formats that will allow our employees to fully participate in meetings.

  2024/2025 Actions: We have continued to build communication training and support for employees to make sure they have access to the information they need from meetings. This will now be an ongoing action for our team.

Commitment 3: Improve accessibility to our public-facing communication tools by:

• 3.1 Continuing to investigate and implement accessibility features on our external-facing website, including the use of alt-text on all images by June 2025.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: An assessment of our external-facing website is planned for 2024, and an action plan will be developed to meet the 2025 goal.

  2024/2025 Actions: Work is underway to include alt-text on images by June 2025. All videos will have captions. Alt text captions are being added to images on Seaspan’s website

Area 5: Procurement of Goods, Services, and Facilities

Our Accessibility Goal

At Seaspan Marine, we understand that creating a barrier-free Canada is everyone’s responsibility. We are committed to making accessibility part of our assessment criteria when selecting and working with vendors.

Actions

Commitment 1:Include accessibility as part of DEI criteria during our supplier intake process by June 2025.

Status: In Progress

2023/2024 Actions: In 2024, the DEI Committee has incorporated accessibility into its agenda. We are currently working on integrating accessibility questions into the supplier profile section of the Supplier Prequalification process as part of our ongoing efforts to promote inclusivity and diversity within our supply chain.

2024/2025 Actions: We have added a question to our supplier portal that asks if any of their team member require accommodations. We planned to track responses using a spreadsheet so that we could effectively engage with our suppliers. This process was not compatible with our security team’s process. We are currently working with the security team to find another solution that will work with their process.

Additionally, we are looking into other actions we can take to increase accessibility in the procurement of goods, services, and facilities.

Area 6: Design and Delivery of Programs and Services

Our Accessibility Goal

We aim to better understand the barriers that our customers may encounter when interacting with Seaspan Marine and ensure that we are creating opportunities to remove barriers wherever possible in our programs and services.

Seaspan Tug & Barge Actions

Commitment 1:Understand the barriersthat may exist for our customers in how our programs and services are delivered by:

• 1.1 Developing a customer survey and feedback process using universal design standards to ask about the customer experience as it relates to accessibility by June 2024.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: We aim to have the Logistics Centre Staff conduct a customer survey by June 2024.

  2024/2025 Actions: Progress on this goal has slowed over the past year because of changes to the Marine team and the departure of a key stakeholder. The recent reorganization of the Commercial team (our customer management team) will likely delay the customer survey. To keep things moving, the next step is to create an electronic survey that can be sent to current customer contacts. This survey could also help make the environment more accessible by gathering direct feedback from customers.

• 1.2 Collecting feedback from customers regarding possible barriers to access by June 2025.

  Status: Not Started

  2024/2025 Actions: See update above for 1.1

• 1.3 Determining actions for improving customer accessibility by June 2026.

  Status: Not Started

  2024/2025 Actions: See update above for 1.1

Commitment 2: Ensure that our customer-facing employees can effectively communicate and support customers with disabilities by:

• 2.1 Researching and identifying training opportunities for our customer-facing employees by June 2024.

  Status: In Progress

  2023/2024 Actions: The Seaspan Talent Development team has begun research into training opportunities for our client-facing employees. We will be prioritizing all outsourced training to people with lived experience of disabilities and organizations that represent them. We are on track to have a list of opportunities by June 2024.

  2024/2025 Actions: The Seaspan Talent Development & Training team has received a few recommendations to add to the employee onboarding program as part of our onboarding redesign. This includes training on accessibility and accommodation policies.

• 2.2 Identifying priority groups of employees for accessibility training by June 2024.

  Status: Ongoing

  2023/2024 Actions: Training our team will be an ongoing initiative. While we are in the process of identifying more inclusive and accessible training opportunities, all employees have access to our online training resources. Our online learning platform (currently OpenSesame and will soon transition to LinkedIn Learning) has a large catalogue of courses that promote inclusive design and support people with disabilities in the workplace. LinkedIn has worked with instructors with lived experience to develop these courses.

  2024/2025 Actions: We have identified key managers and staff to participate in Accessibility training. We are now using LinkedIn Learning as our main online learning platform. This has provided a much larger course catalogue that promotes inclusive design and supports people with disabilities in the workplace. Training our team will be an ongoing commitment. We have seen an increase in employee engagement and training using this platform.

• 2.3 Enrolling priority employees in accessibility training starting in 2026.

  Status: Not Started

  2024/2025 Actions: Key groups and individuals have been identified to take the training in 2026 once the appropriate training program has been selected from LinkedIn Learning.

Area 7: Transportation

Our Accessibility Goal

Seaspan Marine understands the importance of providing accessible transportation. We are committed to a barrier-free future for our employees that provides ease of access for all.

Seaspan Tug & Barge Actions

Commitment 1:To ensure that all employees, regardless of their ability, have safe and accessible transportation to and from their worksite by:

• 1.1 Including accessibility in the considerations for the future procurement of our shuttle vehicles based on the depreciation of our current assets. We anticipate that our current vehicles will be in use for at least the next five (5) years and are committed to providing more information on this goal in our annual updates.

  Status: Complete & Ongoing

  2023/2024 Actions: We have established a transportation group and acquired three electric vehicle shuttles to transport employees to parking lots outside our campus and the North Vancouver Seabus terminal. Our efforts to introduce a park-and-ride option for staff are in the preliminary phase, with an employee survey serving as the starting point. Currently, we’re in the process of soliciting proposals from multiple bus vendors interested in collaborating with Seaspan to provide safe and accessible transportation to and from our work site.

  2024/2025 Actions: Our transportation services for employees now include 5 shuttles with pick-up locations at various parking lots and off-site offices. We have also expanded our services to include Park & Ride options for staff with 5 pick-up locations throughout the BC Lower Mainland.

  We have partnered with Universal Coach Lines to provide transportation services to our employees. All vehicles are equipped with Wi-Fi and a washroom for employee comfort. Additionally, Universal can provide accessible transportation options if and when needed.

  As Seaspan Marine grows, we will continue to evaluate the need to expand and enhance our employee transportation services.

FEEDBACK

Seaspan Marine has not received any feedback from our employees or customers directly related to our Accessibility Plan or Progress Report. We want to take this opportunity to identify more active ways to collect feedback from our stakeholders to make sure we are providing everyone with an opportunity for their voice to be heard.

CONSULTATIONS

Summary

The concept of “Nothing About Us Without Us” supports the notion that persons with disabilities must be involved in the ideation of Seaspan Marine’s Accessibility Plan and our Progress Reports to support us in identifying opportunities to progress accessibility in our policies and procedures and the built environment. We consulted the British Columbia Centre for Ability (BCCFA) in the development of our Accessibility Plan.

Consultation Process

We provided the BCCFA with a draft of our Progress Report as a Word document for their review. We followed this with a live session on May 5, 2025, to discuss the impact and significance of our actions towards our accessibility commitments.

The session was hosted virtually on Zoom, and the consultation team from BCCFA was asked in advance about any accommodation that may be needed for the session.

During the session, participants had the option to turn on closed captioning. Each priority area of the Progress Report was discussed and accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation to act as a visual guide.

Results

During the consultation session, we reviewed each of Seaspan Marine’s accessibility commitments and the corresponding actions that we have taken over the last year.

Overall, the BCCFA said that the Report demonstrated a strong commitment to accessibility. They were impressed with the actions that Seaspan has taken over the past two years.

The BCCFA made suggestions on where to adjust the wording of the report and the details provided to increase comprehension. For example, they identified a couple of uses of jargon, some repetitive language, and a few instances of unclear language. We’ve revised the language and added additional context where relevant to provide a more inclusive and thorough report.

Future Consultations

Future versions of Seaspan Marine’s Accessibility Plan will place greater emphasis on conducting a more comprehensive consultation process to fully align with the concept of “Nothing Without Us”. Our goal is to engage broader mechanisms for consultation of organizations, employees, and customers through testimonials and storytelling, feedback surveys, and facilitated consultative sessions. We recognize that a more robust consultation process for future versions of our plan will allow us to identify additional barriers and make meaningful progress on accessibility, and DEI will be achieved.