General information, not building, legal or medical advice. Call Triple Zero (000) in an emergency, or go to the emergency department of your nearest hospital. The rules themselves are in Part D4 of the NCC and the Premises Standards.
SHEET A-103 · ACCESSAccess for everyone in a clinic
For a Class 9a building, Part D4 of the National Construction Code (NCC) says “access must be provided to and within all areas normally used by the occupants”, unless an area is exempted under D4D5. The Disability (Access to Premises - Buildings) Standards 2010 add a legal duty: a building certifier, building developer or building manager of a relevant building must ensure it complies with the Access Code, which is taken to be part of the Standards.
- Sheet
- A-103
- Subject
- Access and the Premises Standards
- Scale
- Not to scale
- Date checked
- 8 Oct 2026
- Sources
- Foot of this page
Accessible areas
Part D4 “covers which buildings, and parts of a building, must be accessible”, along with accessible carparking, braille and tactile signage, hearing augmentation, tactile ground surface indicators, seating in assembly buildings and access to swimming pools. The clause that decides the first question, D4D2, opens with a general rule and then takes the classes one at a time.
“(1) Buildings and parts of buildings must be accessible as required by this clause, unless exempted by D4D5.”
“(6) For Class 5, 6, 7b, 8 and 9a buildings, access must be provided to and within all areas normally used by the occupants.”
D4D5 lists three kinds of area that are not required to be accessible. The first two are “An area where access would be inappropriate because of the particular purpose for which the area is used” and “An area that would pose a health or safety risk for people with a disability”; read the clause, and any state variation of it, for the third. The ABCB’s explanatory text on D4D5 gives examples, among them “waste containment areas” and “plant and equipment rooms”, beside loading docks and foundry floors. It says these areas may be assessed as not required to be accessible, and that nothing in the code stops a designer from providing more access than the provisions require.
Entrances, ramps and glazing
“In D4D3(2) the principal pedestrian entrance is to be accessible in all cases and not less than 50% of all pedestrian entrances, including the principal pedestrian entrance, are to be accessible. In buildings with a total floor area more than 500 m2, an inaccessible entrance cannot be more than 50 m from an accessible entrance.”
“A ramp cannot be used on an accessway to connect one level to another if the vertical rise is greater than 3.6 metres.”
“On an accessway, where there is no chair rail, handrail or transom, all frameless or fully glazed doors, sidelights and any glazing capable of being mistaken for a doorway or opening, must be clearly marked in accordance with AS 1428.1.”
AusHFG doors and rooms
The Australasian Health Facility Guidelines (AusHFG) come at access from inside the room. Their Health Planning Unit for ambulatory care and community health, HPU 155, says doorways need to be placed, turned and sized so wheelchairs, trolleys and equipment can be moved through without damaging the doorway or the load, and without creating manual handling risks. It gives two clear openings: 910 mm will do in most cases, and 1,400 mm is needed to give large wheelchairs, trolleys and beds access and room to turn.
The guideline also points to its Standard Component “Consult Room – Universal Access”, which it says allows enough space for a patient using a wheelchair, a bariatric wheelchair included, or needing a hoist to transfer. It suggests a mobile or ceiling-mounted hoist in a selected number of consult or treatment rooms, so immobile or bariatric patients can be moved and examined properly, and says the management of bariatric patients needs thought, so that the setting is safe and dignified.
Accessible carparking
D4D6 sets accessible carparking by the class of building a carpark serves. Each rate below is a row of its table, under the class it belongs to; read the clause itself for where it applies and its exceptions. A clinic classed as Class 5 takes the Class 5 rate; the clinic row applies only where the building is Class 9a, which sheet A-101 covers.
| Building | Accessible spaces |
|---|---|
| Class 5 buildings | “1 accessible space for every 100 carparking spaces or part thereof.” |
| Clinic or day surgery not forming part of a hospital (Class 9a) | “1 accessible space for every 50 carparking spaces or part thereof.” |
| Hospital, non-outpatient area (Class 9a) | “1 accessible space for every 100 carparking spaces or part thereof.” |
The Premises Standards
The Standards place their duty on the people who certify, develop and manage a building. “A building certifier, building developer or building manager of a relevant building (other than an existing public transport building) must ensure that the building complies with the Access Code.” The Access Code’s own definitions refer to the Building Code of Australia 2019, so the code text this sheet quotes from NCC 2022 and the Access Code are two documents to read side by side.
The Standards allow for unjustifiable hardship, within limits. “It is not unlawful for a person to fail to comply with a requirement of these Standards if, and to the extent that, compliance would impose unjustifiable hardship on the person.” But “compliance is required to the maximum extent not involving unjustifiable hardship.”
Two Access Code lines touch a clinic fitout directly. Where a building required to be accessible has a passenger lift, the lift has to suit people with a disability. And “An inbuilt communication system for entry, information, entertainment, or for the provision of a service, must be suitable for occupants who are deaf or hearing impaired.”
Staff are covered by work health and safety guidance as well: Safe Work Australia’s model code for healthcare says every worker needs access to clean toilets at work, workers with a disability included.
Whether the building is Class 9a at all is on sheet A-101, what building class is a clinic, and where HPU 155 sits in the AusHFG is on sheet A-105, the health facility guidelines. The full set is in the index of sheets.