WEBSITE PRIVACY POLICY
Last updated: 25th March 2018
The policy: This privacy policy is for this website; and served by Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors, Quattro House, Castle Road, Chelston Business Park, Wellington, Somerset TA21 9JQ and governs the privacy of its users who choose to use it. It explains how we comply with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), the DPA (Data Protection Act) [pre GDPR enforcement] and the PECR (Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations).
This policy will explain areas of this website that may affect your privacy and personal details, how we process, collect, manage and store those details and how your rights under the GDPR, DPA & PECR are adhered to. Additionally, it will explain the use of cookies or software, advertising or commercial sponsorship from third parties and the download of any documents, files or software made available to you (if any) on this website. Further explanations may be provided for specific pages or features of this website in order to help you understand how we, this website and its third parties (if any) interact with you and your computer/device in order to serve it to you. Our contact information is provided if you have any questions.
DPA & GDPR May 25th, 2018
This website complies with the DPA (Data Protection Act 1998) and already complies with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) which comes into effect on the 25th May 2018. We will update this policy accordingly after the completion of the UK’s exit from the European Union.
Summary
Here is a summary of our Privacy Information Notice; click on any of the linked headings to view further information.
- Who are we?
We are Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors, a surveying company providing a full range of land surveying services. - How do we collect information from you?
We obtain information about you when you contact us to inquire about our services and when you use our website. - What information do we collect & how is it used?
We collect information to allow us to fulfil our obligations to our clients and to respond to business enquiries. - Controlling your information
You have certain rights concerning the information we hold about you, as defined under the General Data Protection Regulation. If you wish to exercise these rights, please contact us. - Use of ‘cookies’
This website uses cookies; by using and browsing the Lewis Brown website, you consent to cookies being used in accordance with this Policy. If you do not consent, you must turn off cookies or refrain from using the site. Cookies offer a better user experience while visiting the website. As required by legislation, where applicable this website uses a cookie control system, allowing the user to give explicit permission or to deny the use of /saving of cookies on their computer/device. - Security
Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors takes security seriously. Our internal Data Security Policy details the steps we take to safeguard and secure the information we collect. - Data Breaches
Our Data Security Policy includes a clear process for handling a personal data breach, should one occur. Where appropriate, Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors will promptly notify you of any unauthorized access to your personal information. - Complaints
If you wish to raise a complaint about how we have handled your personal information, you can contact us directly and we will investigate the matter. If you are not satisfied with our response you can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). - Downloads and Media Files
We provide sample drawings and occasionally other files for visitors to this website to download. - Contact and Communication with us
We make initial contact with the majority of new clients primarily through our website via our contact form or live chat facility. Ongoing communication is generally undertaken via email. All correspondence is kept confidential and secure and is not provided to any third party without your explicit consent. - Email Mailing List & Marketing Messages
We maintain a mailing list which we use periodically to inform subscribers to the list of our latest projects or news within our business and sector. - External Website Links & Third Parties
Occasionally we may provide links from our website to other websites. We may use a link shortening service for this purpose. We only ever link to reputable sites. - Social Media Policy & Usage
We regularly use social media, publishing photographs and other information that our followers would find interesting. We have a social media usage policy that governs the information we publish together with guidelines for content use. We also use social media tools and plugins to facilitate the publishing and sharing of content. - Resources & Further Information
We have compiled a list of useful resources relating to privacy and GDPR.
1. Who are we?
We are Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors, a company providing land surveying services to clients in the UK and occasionally further afield. Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors is a company limited by guarantee (Registration Number: 4193534); our registered address is Quattro House, Castle Road, Chelston Business Park, Wellington, Somerset TA21 9JQ. Full contact details can be found on our contact page
2. How do we collect information from you?
We obtain information about you when you contact us to inquire about our services. This information is obtained from you via the following methods.
- A Telephone conversation with you.
- The contact form on our website.
- Information entered during a ‘Live Chat’ session.
- Information entered if you leave a comment on our blog. If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to save your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment.
3. What information do we collect & how is it used?
We collect information to allow us to fulfil our obligations to our clients and to respond to business enquiries. We also collect your information if you leave a comment on our blog. The table in section 3.3 below outlines exactly what information we collect, and for what purpose together with retention periods for your information
3.0 Sensitive Data
We do not gather sensitive personal data (e.g. health, genetic, biometric data; racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, sexual orientation, and criminal convictions). We expressly request that you do not provide any such sensitive data to us.
3.1 Children’s information
Our services are not directed to children under 13. If you learn that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information without consent, please contact us
3.2 Third Parties
We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.
We will not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes.
We may pass your information to third party service providers who we have engaged for the purpose of completing tasks or providing services to you on our behalf. We disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service.
We also use a number of 3rd party services to help us fulfil our contractual obligations – for example, our website is backed up using a 3rd party automated service called ManageWP. These 3rd party services are listed in full below; we have verified that these 3rd party services are GDPR compliant (or are working towards GDPR compliance), and are certified under the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework (or are working towards certification) where these organisations are based outside of the EU.
3.3 Details
The following table outlines the personal data we collect and for what purpose. The table also outlines the 3rd parties the data is processed by or shared with, and how long the data is stored for:
[fusion_table]
| Name | What | Legal Grounds | Purpose | 3rd Parties | Retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prospect, client & supplier contact information | Contract and Project | To allow initial and ongoing contact with prospects, clients, suppliers, etc. | Office 365 | Until a deletion request is received. | |
| Blog Comments | Website commenter name, email address and website (No IP) | Legitimate interests | To allow website users to comment on and discuss blog posts, or ask questions. | Held within WordPress database, hosted by First4IT Solutions. | Until a request for deletion is received. To maintain the flow of conversation comments may not be deleted on request, but all personally identifying information will be removed. |
| Live Chat | Name, the email address provided by contact and comments (No IP) | Legitimate interests | To allow initial contact with prospects and to answer service-related questions. | Transcript emailed to site owner and if requested to contact on completion | Until a request for deletion is received. |
| Contact Form | Name, the email address provided by contact and comments (No IP) | Legitimate interests | To allow initial contact with prospects and to answer service-related questions. | Email sent to site owner and response sent to contact on submission | Until a request for deletion is received. |
| Newsletter Subscription | Name and email address provided by contact | To provide periodic updates on projects, services and news. | Marketing and Information | Service provided by MailChimp (Privacy Policy) | User must explicitly sign up and can unsubscribe at any time. |
[/fusion_table]
4. Controlling your information
You have certain rights concerning the information we hold about you, as defined under the General Data Protection Regulation. If you wish to exercise these rights, please contact us, including your email address in the first instance (this is the unique identifier we use to identify and collate personal information).
4.0 Requesting a copy of your information.
You may request a copy of any data we hold about you. Upon request, we will provide a CSV file (which you may open in a program such as Microsoft Excel) containing the personal data we hold about you. You can send a request for a copy of this information to admin@lewisbrown.co.uk
4.1 Updating or correcting your information
The accuracy of your information is important to us. If you change email address, or any of the other information we hold is inaccurate or out of date, please contact us so we may correct our records.
4.3 Deleting your information
You have the right to request erasure of all of your personal information we hold for you. Unless there is a compelling reason for the data not to be erased (for example, if we need to use that data to fulfil our contractual or legal obligations), your personal data will be deleted on request.
Users have the ability to leave comments on our blog. To maintain the flow of conversation, blog comments will not normally be deleted (unless there is a compelling reason to do so), but all personally identifying information will be removed.
4.3 Automated decision making
We do not use any personal information for automated decision making or profiling; your data is not subject to automated decision making or profiling.
5. Use of ‘cookies’
Like many other websites, the Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors website uses cookies. Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website.
What are cookies? Cookies are small files saved to the user’s computers hard drive that track, save and store information about the user’s interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website, through its server to provide the users with a tailored experience within this website. Users are advised that if they wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website on to their computers hard drive they should take necessary steps within their web browsers security settings to block all cookies from this website and its external serving vendors or use the cookie control system should it be available upon their first visit. For further information, view our Cookie Policy.
Cookies can offer a better user experience while visiting this website. As required by legislation, where applicable this website uses a cookie control system, allowing the user to give explicit permission or to deny the use of /saving of cookies on their computer/device.
The cookies we use are ‘1st party’ cookies. We don’t use any ’3rd party’ cookies (these are often used to track behaviour across a range of websites, so targeted advertising can then be applied. We don’t do this!!) The following list outlines what we use cookies for:
- Google Analytics: Google Analytics sets cookies to help us accurately estimate the number of visitors to the website and what content is most popular. This helps to ensure that our website is responding to your needs in the best way possible.
- WordPress Comments: When you leave a comment on our blog, three cookies are set to store your name, email address and website. This is so that if you wish to leave another comment, you won’t have to re-type this information.
If you do not consent, you must turn off cookies or refrain from using the site. Most browsers allow you to turn off cookies. To do this, look at the ‘help’ menu on your browser. Switching off cookies should not noticeably restrict your use of this website.
6. Security
Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors take security seriously. In order to protect your information from loss, misuse or unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect. These steps include the following:
- Password best practices
- Security best practice concerning devices (PCs, laptops, mobile devices), online accounts, website hosting, physical access and storage
- Staff training, accountability on data protection and the assignment of a data controller who maintains policies and best practice.
A copy of our internal Data Security Policy is available on request.
7. Data Breaches
Our Data Security Policy includes a clear process for handling a personal data breach, should one occur. Where appropriate, Lewis Brown Chartered Land Surveyors will promptly notify you of any unauthorized access to your personal information.
8. Complaints
If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal information, you can contact us directly and we will investigate the matter.
If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal information not in accordance with the law you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
9. Downloads & Media Files
Any downloadable documents, files or media made available on this website are provided to users at their own risk. While all precautions have been undertaken to ensure only genuine downloads are available users are advised to verify their authenticity using third-party anti-virus software or similar applications.
We accept no responsibility for third party downloads and downloads provided by external third party websites and advise users to verify their authenticity using third-party anti-virus software or similar applications.
10. Contact & Communication With us
Users contacting this us through this website do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. Your personal information is kept private and stored securely until a time it is no longer required or has no use.
Where we have clearly stated and made you aware of the fact, and where you have given your express permission, we may use your details to send you products/services information through a mailing list system. This is done in accordance with the regulations named in ‘The policy’ above.
11. Email Mailing List & Marketing Messages
We operate an email mailing list program, used to inform subscribers about products, services and/or news we supply/publish. Users can subscribe via an online automated process where they have given their explicit permission. Subscriber personal details are collected, processed, managed and stored in accordance with the regulations named in ‘The policy’ above. Subscribers can unsubscribe at any time through an automated online service, or if not available, other means as detailed in the footer of sent marketing messages. The type and content of marketing messages subscribers receive, and if it may contain third party content, is clearly outlined at the point of subscription.
Email marketing messages may contain tracking beacons / tracked clickable links or similar server technologies in order to track subscriber activity within email marketing messages. Where used, such marketing messages may record a range of subscriber data relating to engagement, geographic, demographics and already stored subscriber data.
Our EMS (email marketing service) provider is; MailChimp and you can read their privacy policy in the resources section.
12. External Website Links & Third Parties
Although we only look to include quality, safe and relevant external links, users are advised to adopt a policy of caution before clicking any external web links mentioned throughout this website. (External links are clickable text/banner/image links to other websites, similar to; Cottages on the River or www.celticinst.com.)
Shortened URL’s; URL shortening is a technique used on the web to shorten URL’s (Uniform Resource Locators) to something substantially shorter. This technique is especially used in social media and looks similar to this (example: http://bit.ly/zyVUBo). Users should take caution before clicking on shortened URL links and verify their authenticity before proceeding.
We cannot guarantee or verify the contents of any externally linked website despite our best efforts. Users should, therefore, note they click on external links at their own risk and we cannot be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.
13. Social Media Policy & Usage
We adopt a Social Media Policy to ensure our business and our staff conduct themselves accordingly online. While we may have official profiles on social media platforms users are advised to verify the authenticity of such profiles before engaging with, or sharing information with such profiles. We will never ask for user passwords or personal details on social media platforms. Users are advised to conduct themselves appropriately when engaging with us on social media.
There may be instances where our website features social sharing buttons, which help share web content directly from web pages to the respective social media platforms. You use social sharing buttons at your own discretion and accept that doing so may publish content to your social media profile feed or page. You can find further information about some social media privacy and usage policies in the resources section below.
