Digital Accessibility - A Practical Checklist for Internal Training Content

Could gaps in digital accessibility be stopping your employees from completing the training they need to do their jobs?

Imagine a new starter opening a mandatory course, only to discover they can't follow the audio, navigate the quiz with a keyboard or read a document saved as an image. 

The training has been delivered, but the employee still can't use it.

The World Health Organization estimates that 16% of the global population—around 1.3 billion people—experiences significant disability.

That figure doesn't tell you how many employees in your organisation have a disability, but it shows why accessibility belongs in everyday training design.

For HR and learning teams, these barriers can leave employees struggling to understand essential procedures or complete onboarding. An overdue course may look like a performance problem when the real issue is the material itself.

In this article, you'll get a practical checklist for reviewing training videos, documents, slides, onboarding pages and assessments. 

You'll also learn who should own accessibility checks, how to test the employee experience and what to do when someone needs a different way to learn.

Putting training online makes it easier to share—but can everyone complete it?

Moving training online makes sense. 

Employees can revisit instructions, new starters can follow a consistent onboarding process, and HR teams can organise learning across different locations. 

Whether you use a free LMS platform or a wider digital workplace, the opportunity is the same: make useful training easier to reach.

But making a course available doesn't mean everyone can use it. 

A video without accurate captions, a document with confusing reading order or a quiz that requires a mouse can put a barrier between an employee and the knowledge they need.

That leaves businesses with a difficult question: are you measuring what employees have learned, or whether they could get through the course?

The practical response is to check accessibility before publishing, test the full learning journey and give employees a clear way to request support. Start with whether they can find and open the training, then check whether they can understand the material and complete its activities.

What does digital accessibility mean for employee training?

Digital accessibility means designing training content and tools so people with disabilities can find, understand and use them.

That includes employees who rely on screen readers, keyboard navigation, captions or magnification.

In practice, an employee should be able to open a course, follow its instructions and complete its activities using the tools they need. Accessibility therefore involves more than making text bigger or adding subtitles to a video.

Before you publish, run this internal training accessibility checklist

Before sharing a course, follow the same steps an employee will take—from finding the training to submitting their final answer.

Check it using a learner account, because administrator access can hide permission problems.

Use the checklist below to identify common barriers.

Record what needs fixing, assign an owner and test the changes before publishing. This is a practical starting point; completing it does not establish full accessibility conformance.

Test the complete course, not just its individual files

A document might work well on its own but become difficult to use inside an embedded viewer. A quiz might accept keyboard input until a pop-up appears. Test the materials inside the platform employees will actually use, including third-party content.

Combine automated checks with manual review and feedback from employees with access needs. W3C's preliminary testing guidance makes clear that basic checks provide an initial review rather than a complete accessibility evaluation. 

Before approving the course, answer one practical question: can an employee reach the learning objective without an avoidable access barrier? 

If a problem remains, document it, assign responsibility and provide a workable learning route while the fix is completed. 

Videos need more than a subtitle button

 Adding captions is a useful step, but check what they actually say. Automatically generated captions can mishear names, technical terms or instructions. A missing word such as "not" could change the meaning of a safety demonstration.

Captions, transcripts and audio description serve different purposes:

• Captions provide synchronised text for speech and relevant sounds, such as an alarm.
• Transcripts provide a text version that employees can read at their own pace. A descriptive transcript also explains important visual information.
• Audio description explains essential visual details that someone might otherwise miss, such as an on-screen action or a chart.

Imagine a software tutorial where the presenter says, "Click here," while pointing at an unnamed button. Accurate captions repeat those words, but they don't explain which button to select. Naming the control in the narration makes the instruction clearer.

The appropriate accessibility measures depend on whether the material is audio-only, prerecorded video or a live session, and on the accessibility level being targeted. A transcript does not automatically replace required captions or audio description.

A document can look clear and still be difficult to navigate

A handbook might look organised on screen while presenting its information in a confusing order to someone using a screen reader. 

Making a heading bold and increasing its size doesn't necessarily give it a meaningful place in the document's structure.

Before sharing training documents:

• Apply proper heading styles.
• Check that the reading order follows the intended explanation.
• Give meaningful images suitable text alternatives.
• Identify table headers and keep layouts straightforward.
• Use descriptive links that explain their destination.

Run the authoring tool's accessibility checker, then review the file employees will receive. Microsoft's guidance includes checking slide reading order and preserving accessibility information when exporting presentations to PDF.

A scanned PDF needs particular attention. Converting its images into selectable text is a start, but the resulting document still needs a sensible structure and reading order. 

Brand colours still need readable contrast

Your company colours may look good in a presentation without making every instruction easy to read. Pale text, coloured backgrounds and text placed over photographs can all create problems.

For WCAG Level AA text contrast, the minimum is generally 4.5:1 for ordinary text and 3:1 for qualifying large text, subject to the criterion's exceptions. Measure the actual colour combination instead of judging it by eye.

Also check whether colour carries information on its own.

If a quiz marks correct answers in green and incorrect answers in red, add explicit labels or symbols. Employees should be able to understand the result without distinguishing those colours.

You can keep your branding while choosing clearer combinations for training materials. 

Check whether the quiz measures learning or someone's ability to use the interface

An employee may understand the subject perfectly and still struggle to complete a poorly designed assessment. 

Drag-only activities, unclear buttons or unexpected time limits can interfere with demonstrating that knowledge.

Review each assessment against its learning objective:

• Can employees select and submit answers using a keyboard?
• Are questions, answer options and instructions clearly labelled?
• Does an error message explain what happened and how to correct it?
• Is dragging essential, or can the same answer be entered another way?
• Is a time limit necessary, and how will relevant adjustments be handled?

W3C's forms guidance recommends avoiding time limits where possible so people can complete interactions at their own pace.

Keep genuine competence requirements clear. The aim is to remove avoidable interface barriers so the assessment measures the skill or knowledge you intended.

Test as a learner, then involve people with access needs

Start with a learner account and work through the entire course.

Find it, open its resources, operate the video player, complete the quiz and check that completion is confirmed.

Try keyboard navigation and enlarged text. Use automated checkers to identify detectable issues, then review the meaning and behaviour of the content manually. 

A clean automated report does not prove that the experience is accessible.

Involve employees with access needs through a voluntary, supported testing process. Ask where they encountered difficulty and what would help, without requiring public disclosure of a medical condition.

Record the course version, devices and tools tested, the barriers found and who will resolve them. Basic accessibility checks are an initial review; more complex issues may need specialist evaluation.

Imagine being marked late for training you couldn't use

Imagine a warehouse employee opening a mandatory safety course before starting a new assignment. 

This is an illustrative scenario, but it shows how an access problem can become a management problem.

The employee relies on captions to follow the video, yet several safety instructions have been transcribed incorrectly. 

The accompanying checklist is a scanned image that their text-to-speech tool cannot read. When they reach the assessment, the questions require dragging answers into boxes, with no usable alternative.

They try to complete the course, get stuck and leave it unfinished. Their manager sees an overdue training record and assumes they haven't made the effort.

The overdue record doesn't explain what happened

The employee hasn't been given a workable way to understand the instructions and demonstrate their knowledge. Sending another reminder won't correct the captions, make the checklist readable or fix the assessment.

The consequences go beyond a missed deadline. Essential safety information remains unclear, and the employee may lose confidence in asking for help—especially if their first request is treated as an excuse.

Fix the barrier before judging the employee

The content owner should have checked the captions, provided a structured checklist and tested the quiz interactions before publication. The manager should have asked what prevented completion and escalated the issue.

Once the problem is reported, the organisation should:

• Identify the specific barriers with the employee.
• Provide a usable route to the same learning objective, such as accessible materials and an appropriately supported assessment.
• Agree a revised completion date where appropriate.
• Correct the course and check whether other employees are affected.
• Confirm understanding of the safety procedure before assigning work that depends on it.

Who should actually be responsible for this?

Accessibility needs a named owner, but that person cannot fix every issue alone. HR manages employee support, L&D oversees learning quality, IT checks the delivery system, and authors shape the materials employees use.

Make these responsibilities part of the normal publishing process.

In a smaller business, one person may cover several roles.

The essential point is that employees know where to report a problem, someone owns the response, and the team knows who can authorise a fix.

A simple arrangement is to make L&D responsible for coordinating course accessibility, with HR owning employee support and IT owning technical issues. Give every published course a content owner, a review date and a clear escalation contact.

What should HR know about legal duties and employee privacy?

Start with your actual obligations

Using the UK as an example, GOV.UK explains that employers must make reasonable adjustments so disabled workers are not substantially disadvantaged at work. Its guidance includes training opportunities, making access to learning part of the wider responsibility to support employees. 

For internal training, practical responses might include providing an accessible document, adapting an assessment or arranging additional support. What is appropriate depends on the employee's needs and the circumstances.

Keep technical standards and legal duties distinct. WCAG provides accessibility criteria; it is not automatically a universal legal requirement for every organisation. Ask Legal or Compliance to identify which laws, standards and contractual requirements apply to your locations, sector and systems.

Use that assessment to set a clear policy covering training design, employee adjustments, testing and escalation.

Ask what support is needed without turning a request into a public disclosure

 An employee should have a private way to explain that they cannot use a course.

Start with the barrier: "Which part is difficult to access, and what would help?"

A general feedback form can ask about unreadable documents, missing captions or unusable controls without requesting a diagnosis. Where further information is necessary to arrange support, handle it through the appropriate confidential process.

Records revealing an employee's health or disability can be special-category personal data. ICO guidance explains that processing health information requires a lawful basis and an applicable special-category condition under UK GDPR. 

In practice:

• Collect only information needed to assess and provide support.
• Explain why it is collected and how it will be used.
• Restrict access to people who need it.
• Keep sensitive details out of shared course comments and dashboards.
• Set appropriate retention periods and security controls.

A manager may need to know that an alternative assessment has been agreed without needing access to the employee's medical history.

Make vendor evidence specific

 When a supplier says its platform is accessible, ask for evidence that relates to the system your employees will use.

Request an accessibility conformance report or equivalent documentation, then ask:

• Which product version was assessed?
• Which learner functions were included, such as sign-in, navigation, video playback and assessments?
• Which standard and level were used?
• What limitations remain?
• Who owns remediation, and what is the planned timeframe?
• Does the evidence cover mobile access, embedded content and customisations?

Treat the report as a starting point for evaluation. Test your own materials and important learning journeys inside the platform. An accessible interface can still contain an inaccessible uploaded document or third-party course.

The useful outcome is a clear understanding of what works, what needs fixing and how employees will receive support while those fixes are completed.

Start with one important course and build a repeatable process

You don't need to rebuild your entire training library at once. Start with one course employees depend on, check the complete learning journey and use what you discover to improve your publishing process.

Choose something where blocked access has a clear consequence, such as safety training, mandatory onboarding or instructions for a critical task. 

These provide useful digital accessibility examples because you can connect each barrier to something an employee needs to understand or do.

1. Inventory mandatory and onboarding materials

List your courses, videos, documents, assessments and embedded resources. 

Record where they live, who maintains them and which employees use them. Include third-party materials. 

2. Prioritise courses where blocked access has serious consequences

 Review safety-critical and mandatory learning first, alongside courses with reported problems.

Consider the impact of a barrier, how many people encounter it and whether another usable learning route exists.

3. Assign owners and authoring rules

Give each course a named owner. 

Turn your chosen digital accessibility guidelines into practical authoring rules covering headings, images, captions, documents and assessments. Define who reviews the material and who approves publication. 

4. Review one course from sign-in to completion

 Use a learner account to find the course, open its resources, complete activities and confirm progress. Check the experience inside the platform employees actually use, including external viewers and embedded content.

5. Consult employees about barriers

 Invite feedback from employees with access needs through a voluntary, supported process. Ask which tasks are difficult and what would help. Provide a confidential route for individual support requests.

6. Fix issues and provide an interim learning route

Correct the underlying problem. While that work continues, offer a usable way to reach the same learning objective—for example, a structured document or an appropriately supported assessment. 

Assign an owner and a target date for the permanent fix. 

7. Test and document the findings

Combine automated checks with manual review and appropriate user testing. 

If you're evaluating Crownpeak Accessibility or another checking tool, assess how it fits your testing process. Keep responsibility for reviewing findings and validating fixes with your team.

Record the course version, test methods, barriers found and remaining issues.

8. Publish the approved version

Publish the reviewed materials, remove confusing outdated copies and confirm that learner permissions work. Include a content owner, review date and accessible support contact. 

9. Train authors and managers

Show authors how to create accessible materials from the start. Help managers recognise when incomplete training may reflect an access problem.

If your team searches for "ADA digital accessibility" while reviewing US requirements, route legal questions to someone qualified to assess the obligations that apply. Keep legal review connected to the practical work of removing barriers. 

10. Monitor unresolved barriers and review after changes

 Track outstanding issues, resolution times and employee feedback. Recheck affected learning journeys when documents, assessments, platforms or suppliers change.

The goal is a repeatable process: create carefully, test before publication, respond to barriers and keep the materials usable as they evolve.

Tool changes need the same review. For example, a team moving guides from iorad to a video-first iorad alternative should review caption accuracy and whether the narration explains essential on-screen actions and results. 

The player, transcript and surrounding course also need keyboard and screen reader testing. Test a few sample guides inside your own LMS, from opening the content to completing its activities, before migrating the rest of the library.

Keep approved training and support easy to find

 Employees need to know which training materials are current, where to find them and who to contact when something doesn't work. When resources are scattered across emails, shared folders and chat messages, even carefully prepared content can be difficult to locate.

AgilityPortal can bring onboarding resources, company knowledge and employee communication into a shared workplace hub. Organisations can use that central location to organise training guidance, communicate updates and direct employees to support.

Example: one procedure, several competing versions

 Imagine a new starter finding a safety checklist in an old email while their manager shares a newer copy from a team folder. The two documents contain different instructions, and neither clearly identifies the approved version.

A better approach is to maintain one approved resource in the workplace hub, identify its owner and review date, and direct employees to it when communicating changes.

The impact: employees have a clearer source to consult, managers spend less time resolving conflicting instructions, and content owners have a defined place to maintain updates.

Centralising content is one part of the work. The document still needs a usable structure, and employees must be able to navigate the platform, open the resource and request help. Digital accessibility depends on both the material and the route used to reach it.

As training becomes easier to produce, review becomes more important

 AI tools can help draft captions, descriptions, summaries and translations. Each output still needs checking against the original material and the learning objective.

For training teams, that means making review part of production. 

Someone needs to verify accuracy, someone needs to check accessibility, and someone needs authority to approve the final version.

Example: a missing word changes a safety instruction

Imagine a demonstration that says, "Do not restart the machine until the guard is secured." Its automatically generated captions omit "not."

An employee relying on those captions receives the opposite instruction. A summary or translation created from the same faulty text could repeat the mistake.

The impact: an error intended to save editing time can undermine understanding and introduce a safety risk. Reviewing the captions against the recording—and checking related versions—helps prevent that error from spreading. 

Give authors, buyers and managers clear responsibilities

As more employees create training materials, organisations should strengthen the skills and processes around them:

• Authors need to check generated text, describe meaningful visuals and structure documents properly.
• Procurement teams need to ask how tools support accessible output, correction and export.
• Managers need to recognise access barriers and give employees a route to report them.
• Course owners need to approve updates and review translated or reformatted versions.

The practical benefit is greater control over training quality. Employees receive material that has been checked for meaning and usability, while teams have a clear process for correcting problems. 

Final Thoughts on Make Digital Accessibility Part of Every Training Update

 Digital accessibility starts with a practical question: can employees use the training you expect them to complete?

Answering it means looking beyond whether a course has been published and checking how people find, understand and interact with it.

Choose one important course—perhaps safety training or new-starter onboarding—and follow the complete learner journey. 

Sign in with a learner account, open the materials, complete the assessment and check the support route. Involve employees with access needs, record the barriers and give each fix a named owner.

Then turn what you learn into a repeatable process. 

Build checks into authoring, review exported files and revisit the experience when content or technology changes. A shared workplace hub such as AgilityPortal can help organise approved resources and support information, while careful creation and testing make those resources more usable.

The goal is to give employees a fair opportunity to learn, demonstrate their knowledge and ask for help.

People shouldn't have to overcome your training materials before they can benefit from the training itself.

Frequently Asked Questions About Digital Accessibility in Employee Training

What is digital accessibility in the workplace?

 To define digital accessibility simply, it means designing workplace content and tools so people with disabilities can use them. For employee training, that includes finding a course, understanding its materials and completing its activities.

Accessible digital design considers these needs from the beginning, rather than waiting for someone to report a barrier.

What is eLearning accessibility?

eLearning accessibility means making online learning materials and their delivery systems usable by people with disabilities. It includes digital content accessibility, such as structured documents, and digital media accessibility, such as accurate captions and descriptions of important visual information.

Examples of digital accessibility include a keyboard-operable quiz, a handbook with meaningful headings and a video that explains essential on-screen actions. 

Which accessibility standard should we use for internal training?

WCAG 2.2 AA is a useful technical target for relevant web-based training. These digital accessibility guidelines provide testable criteria covering content and interaction.

Confirm which digital accessibility requirements apply to your organisation, sector, contracts and locations; a technical standard and a legal obligation are not automatically the same thing.  

Are captions enough to make training videos accessible?

No. Captions convey speech and relevant sounds, but employees may also need descriptions of essential visual information. The video player must be usable too.

Requirements differ for prerecorded video, live sessions and audio-only material, so check the relevant media type and accessibility level.

How do we make training PDFs more accessible?

Create accessible digital content in the source document first: use proper headings, meaningful links, text alternatives and a logical reading order. Preserve accessibility information during export, then check the actual PDF. 

Making scanned text selectable is helpful, but it does not establish a usable document structure.  

Can a SCORM course still have accessibility problems?

 Yes. SCORM packaging does not establish that a course is accessible. Its videos, documents, controls and assessments can still contain barriers. Test the package inside your actual learning platform, including navigation, embedded resources and the steps needed to complete it.

How can HR test training without being an accessibility expert?

Start with document checkers and practical checks for captions, headings, contrast and keyboard navigation.

Follow the whole course using a learner account, then involve employees with access needs.

For organisations evaluating tools, Siteimprove WCAG checks align with accessibility standards, while UsableNet accessibility testing combines automated and guided manual methods. These can support a review process, but basic checks cannot establish full conformance. 

Who owns accessibility in employee training?

 L&D should coordinate course quality, with authors responsible for materials, IT responsible for technical access and HR responsible for employee support. Managers should recognise and escalate barriers. 

Assign a named owner to each course and make the support route clear.

What should happen when an employee cannot complete mandatory training?

Ask what prevented completion, investigate the barrier and provide a workable route to the same learning objective. Agree appropriate support and record who will fix the issue. 

Digital accessibility for disabled employees should support participation without requiring public disclosure of a health condition.

How should we assess accessibility products and vendor guidance?

Check what the evidence covers: product version, learner functions, testing methods, known limitations and remediation plans.

For example, Crownpeak accessibility checkpoints form part of its Digital Quality Management scanning. Contentsquare accessibility guidance discusses accessible websites and the value of testing with people with disabilities. 

These serve different purposes, so assess their relevance to your training workflow rather than treating every vendor reference as an equivalent solution