SOAG has policies in place for:

• Insurance
• Child Protection
• Health and Safety
• Data Protection and Privacy
• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

SOAG carries insurance. Our policy provides cover under the following categories:

• Public liability
• Employers’ liability (note that in this context all signed-in participants in SOAG activities count as employees)
• Legal defence costs under the Health and Safety at Work act)
• All risks to SOAG-owned property
• Hired in plant equipment and machinery
• Property damage

(Note that the insurance does include personal accident cover.)

Here are SOAG’s current insurance documents:

• The Certificate of Insurance

As part of our insurance policies, SOAG prepares a risk assessment for each fieldwork project and our risk assessment template can be found here.

If an insurance issue arises, please contact the leader of the relevant SOAG activity, or any SOAG committee member.

SOAG’s child protection policy is as follows. (A pdf version of this policy is available here)

General Principles

SOAG is a community-based organization open to all.  SOAG recognizes its legal responsibility under The Children’s Act 1989 to fulfill its duty of care towards young people and children under the age of eighteen by supporting them so they can participate in its activities.  It will do this by ensuring that the welfare of each individual child and young person is of the most paramount importance.  

This policy covers all SOAG activities and other activities in which SOAG is the “lead partner”.

Guidelines

• SOAG has a health and safety policy to ensure it undertakes its activities in a safe manner.
• Children and young people up to and including the age of seventeen must be accompanied by a parent (s), guardian(s) or other responsible adult(s).  This person will be responsible for the child/young person.
• Each child or young person must supply written consent from a parent or guardian to attend if a parent or guardian cannot accompany them.  This consent must include the following: –
  • the name of the child/young person.  If there is more than one child or young person with that responsible adult, separate written permissions must be given.  The maximum number of permissions per responsible adult to be four
  • the address of the child/young person.  This is to include a landline telephone number and if possible, a mobile telephone number.  This is to enable contact to be made with the parent/guardian if needed
  • the name of the parent(s)/guardian(s)
  • the name, address and landline and if possible, the mobile telephone number of the responsible adult accompanying the child/young person.
• A pro-forma consent form is included in the pdf version of this document.
• The leader of any SOAG activity will be alert to any possible trespassing.
• Written consent to use pictures of children on the website and any other publications of SOAG must be obtained from the relevant parent(s)/guardian prior to publication.
• All SOAG activities take place subject to the policy and guidelines above.
• This policy may be amended at any time.

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires all employers, regardless of the size of the organisation, to have in place an effective risk-based Health and Safety Policy. SOAG is an employer within the meaning of Health and Safety legislation.

SOAG recognises that all meetings of the Group and archaeological fieldwork should be undertaken in accordance with current Health and Safety legislation. SOAG accepts that both organising bodies and individual members/volunteers have a duty of care to those working for them, to each other, and to the general public.

SOAG specifically recognises its individual archaeologist’s responsibilities. An archaeologist undertaking fieldwork shall give due regard to the requirements of Health and Safety legislation relating to members/volunteers or to other persons potentially affected by his/her archaeological activities. Lead archaeologists must ensure that:

• an adequate risk analysis is undertaken and available for inspection
• any remedial and protective measures are in place
• adequate on-site safety training is provided.

General and specific requirements will be further defined in Field Manuals and/or individual Project Designs.

SOAG will treat any complaint against a member regarding fulfilment of Health and Safety obligations very seriously and if necessary, may expel such member under clause 5.8 of the SOAG Constitution.

Useful guidance is given in the following Health and Safety Executive publications:

• Health and Safety Regulation…a short guide: HSC13
• Successful Health and Safety Management: HSG65
• Managing Health and Safety…Five steps to success: INDG275

We hold and process information about you in order to provide you with membership services. The legal grounds for this are (in GDPR terminology) “legitimate interests” – which means: “when personal data needs to be processed for an activity which is in the ‘legitimate interests’ of the organisation”. A further criterion supporting our practice is that it is “a reasonable expectation of the individual based on their relationship with the organization”.

In summary, the key points of our policy are:

• The information we hold about you is that which you provided when you joined SOAG. This will not be provided to third parties without your permission
• The use we make of your data is:
  • The administration of SOAG
  • The distribution to members of documents that are part of the defined service provided by SOAG to its members; specifically, the society’s newsletters and journals
  • The communication of information about events, projects, products and services relating to history and archaeology in the geographical area of South Oxfordshire that we deem will be of interest to our members
• You have full rights over your data including those of access, rectification & erasure.

This is explained in SOAG’s Data Protection Policy and Privacy Notice the full version of which can be found here.

SOAG aims to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) among its members and all those who volunteer on its projects.  This policy’s purpose is to:

• provide equality, fairness and respect for all who participate in SOAG either as members or guests
• not unlawfully discriminate because of the Equality Act 2010 protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation
• oppose and avoid all forms of unlawful discrimination in terms of opportunities to take part in any of the group’s activities.

SOAG commits to:

• encourage equality, diversity and inclusion in all its activities and projects in a spirit of learning, amiability and fun
• create a volunteering environment free of bullying, harassment, victimization and unlawful discrimination, promoting dignity and respect for all, and where the individual differences and contributions of all volunteers are recognized and valued
• ensure that all project plans remind potential participants of their responsibilities under the EDI policy and outline the steps to be taken to ensure inclusion
• take seriously any complaints of bullying, harassment, victimization and unlawful discrimination by fellow volunteers, visitors, members of the public and any others in the course of the organization’s activities. Any complaints received will be referred to the committee for investigation and resolution.