TV Enclosures Used in Public Spaces May Need to Be ADA Compliant

Whenever you are installing televisions with TV enclosures in public spaces you have to verify whether your business is required to follow the American Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements in regards to how far the object is allowed to project outwards into the room. Part of what determines if you need to follow the requirements is your type of business and the purpose of the enclosed displays. For instance, if you are using a television display as your bulletin board in a hospital, nursing home, or other medical facility, you may have to comply with the ADA requirements which limit the projection of the bulletin board enclosure to four inches into the public space (i.e. room). One purpose for using public TV enclosures around television displays is to protect them against accidental damage. The other purpose is to prevent the HD displays from being stolen. In order to satisfy the ADA regulation you will want to obtain a slim LED HD television to use as your display with a slim wall mount. The reason you want to use an LED display is because LEDs give off much less heat than LCD and plasma displays. Keep in mind, you are going to be enclosing the display, and heat builds up inside the enclosure and could damage the television unless you use an LED HDTV. Once you have your LED HDTV displays and slim wall mounts, your next step is to order your custom built TV enclosures. The TV enclosures can be built in such a manner as to comply with the ADA enclosure requirement in public spaces. However, the TV enclosure is not able to be built with cooling fans, since these make the enclosure bigger, and they would be outside of the four inch requirement. But, by using LED televisions, any heat they generate is easily vented from inside the enclosure through ventilation slots incorporated into the design of your custom built enclosures. The custom built television enclosures can be installed after your LED HDTVs have been installed and mounted to your walls. When mounting the television displays to the wall, it is your responsibility to verify the height placement as outlined in the ADA guidelines. The display panels and mount should not extend further than three inches from the wall, because the television enclosures cannot extend more than four inches from the wall. Once the public TV enclosure is installed over your LED television displays, you will have a small gap between the front of the HDTV enclosure and the display screen. This gap is necessary in order to protect the front panel of the enclosure from touching the screen. In the event there is an accidental impact on the front of the enclosure, it does not make contact with the TV screen. Otherwise, the protective TV enclosure is not able to protect the screen against accidental damage since it would be touching the TV screen. For more information about our ADA-compliant custom-built TV and display enclosures, contact us today at 800-890-0073. We build each custom enclosure based upon your specifications and requirements.