The following must be adhered to whilst volunteering with the Thanet Coast Project / North East Kent Marine Protected Area - NEKMPA / (Guardians of the Deep project).

In accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, NEKMPA/ Thanet Coast Project/TDC employees, volunteers and others engaged in NEKMPA/Thanet Coast (/Guardians) activities have a duty to take reasonable care to avoid injury to themselves and/or to others in all activities.

The organisations’ Equal Opportunities policy seeks to ensure that no person is given less favourable treatment or consideration, or disadvantaged in any way on the grounds of gender, race, colour, nationality, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation or social background. Volunteers are expected to respect this policy and conduct themselves accordingly.

The consumption of alcohol and smoking are not allowed during volunteering activities. If staff find evidence of drug possession or use the parents/carers of the young people involved will be informed and a Youth Crime Reduction Officer notified.

All persons engaging in volunteering activities should take proper care of their personal belongings. Volunteer organisations cannot be responsible nor accept liability for any loss of or damage to personal belongings.

In cases of emergency, the person in charge will authorise anaesthetic or other medical treatment as required - unless otherwise agreed with the volunteer.

Volunteer organisations hold personal data in compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998. All persons have the right of access to the information being held about them and no information will be disclosed to third parties without their consent. As new Coastal Wardens & Guardians your details held by the Thanet Coast Project (Thanet Council) will also be shared with the Kent Wildlife Trust as part of the ‘Guardians of the Deep’ partnership project, with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photographs are often taken at NEKMPA/ Thanet Coast / project partners (eg Thanet District Council /Kent Wildlife Trust/Bird Wise East Kent ) activities - & these are sometimes subsequently used for publicity purposes. NEKMPA / Thanet Coast Project will always give due consideration to an individual’s right to privacy & respect before publishing any photographs or featuring any individual in writing. If anyone does not wish to be featured in this NEKMPA/ Thanet Coast Project linked publicity under any circumstances, it is your responsibility to please inform project staff.

Volunteer work often involves vulnerable groups such as the infirm, elderly, mentally ill and young people under the age of 18, and such work is considered exempt from The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. For this reason an enhanced disclosure certificate will be sought from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS – previously Criminal Records Bureau) for anyone who with, or through, NEKMPA or Thanet Coast Project will be working unsupervised with vulnerable people. Persons for whom enhanced certificates are requested will simultaneously be encouraged to disclose any convictions they have had, both spent and unspent. Disclosure information obtained by both these means will be fully and fairly considered before any persons are engaged in exempt activities with, or through, volunteering organisations reserves the right to take up references.