Many businesses and organisations use the National Relay Service in order to be accessible to people who are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment.
It's just good business.
The NRS is an Australian Government initiative and helps people with hearing and speech impairments to contact your organisation by phone and to do business in the same way as anyone else.
A relay officer becomes the central link in the phone call relaying exactly what is said or typed. They stay on the line throughout each call to make sure it goes smoothly but do not change or interfere with what each person says.
See more on relay calls and how they work.
Benefits for your organisation
There are lots of good business reasons to make it easy for people to contact you through the National Relay Service. It helps you:
- retain existing customers or clients who are deaf, or have a hearing or speech impairment
- attract new customers or clients from a group of Australians that is rapidly growing as the population ages, and
- provide access and information to as wide a range of people as possible.
More and more businesses, government departments and other organisations are making sure that those Australians who are deaf or have hearing or speech impairments can access their organisation's products and services using the National Relay Service. We call this, becoming Relay Service friendly.
Equal access under disability laws
All phone users have equal rights of access to information and services. This is guaranteed in disability legislation around Australia.
People with hearing or speech impairments have difficulty using the phone but still need to be able to discuss options, make appointments, get important information and do all the things that other phone users do through your organisation.
The Australian Human Rights Commission provides useful information on the rights of people with disabilities to access your goods, services and facilities:
Remember if it's a customer on the line - you must accept the call.
Relay calls and privacy
The use of NRS relay officers in phone conversations is recognised as conforming with privacy legislation.
The Officer of the Federal Privacy Commissioner has said that in relation to people using the NRS to contact a financial institution:
"... the customer is impliedly consenting to the financial institution disclosing his or her financial information as required for the purpose of the call."
Relay officers receive extensive training about their role and their legal and ethical responsibilities. They sign a confidentiality agreement when they start work.
See more on privacy and relay calls.
No cost to you
There is no cost to receiving calls through the NRS. Even if you need to return a call to a customer through the NRS, the cost is about the same as a local call.
Resources and support
We can help you become Relay Service friendly with:
See a list of our free resources for business and government.
You can get these through our online order form.
Becoming Relay Service friendly
If you want to make sure people who have a hearing or speech impairment can phone you - just let them know they can call you through the National Relay Service.
It's that simple.
There are five key steps to becoming Relay Service friendly:
