Gathering data

When you visit this site some information is automatically collected. For example, your computer's operating system, Internet Protocol (IP) address, access times, browser type and language, and/or the site you came from may be logged automatically. We collect information about usage and activity on our sites and for this reason may link your IP address to other personal information, such as your login ID or information you provided at registration.

We also collect information when you choose to submit it to us.  Throughout this site, for example, we provide opportunities to register to use the site, register for events, request a standard or other document, make an enquiry, subscribe to an e-newsletter, or participate in an online survey.  When we collect this type of information, we will notify you of the reason we are asking for information and how this information will be used.

You should note that you will be required to provide your email address, name, company details and job role. Your name, company and job role shall be made available to all registered users. By default, your email address shall be available for SPARK Contributors to view and your telephone number, if provided, shall be concealed from all other users. You can opt to further share or conceal your email address or telephone number.

Where you have contributed material to SPARK and that material includes personal information about a third party, you must do so only with that individual's permission. Do not include information of a sensitive, non-professional nature (e.g. personal email addresses, phone numbers, health information), You are reminded of RSSB's terms regarding contributions as set out here.

If you have registered to use our site using a social media login, the terms of use and privacy and cookies policies for that login facility will apply to your use of that login facility to use this site. The relevant social media provider may use your information differently to RSSB. Please follow the links below:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/policies/ 
Google - https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/policies/terms/regional.html
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/legal/user-agreement
Twitter - https://twitter.com/tos?lang=en

Our use of cookies

To support our web platform functionality, cookies may be temporarily installed on your computer.  You may delete and block all cookies from this site, but parts of the site may not work.

We may use cookies to monitor which areas of this site are popular, to count visits to this site, to fill in forms and customise this site based on your preferences.  There may be third party cookies published on our sites by third parties acting on our behalf.

If you continue, we will assume that you are happy to receive all cookies from this RSSB website and some of the tools and services it links to.

If you wish you can restrict or block cookies from RSSB, or any service or tool that we link to, by changing your browser settings.

What are cookies?

Cookies are used to improve services for you by:

  • Enabling a service to recognise your computer so you don't have to give the same information several times during one task.
  • Recognising that you may already have given a username and password so you don't need to do it for every web page requested.
  • Measuring how many people are using services, so that popular services can be made easier and faster to use.
  • Analysing anonymous data to help us understand how people interact with government services so we can make them better.

What do cookies look like?

If you click on a cookie you'll see a short string of text and numbers. The numbers are your identification card, which can only be seen by the website server that gave you the cookie.

You will find details on how to restrict or delete cookies on a wide variety of browsers, as well as more general information about cookies, on the About Cookies website.
Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the way our website works for you.

Third-party cookies

Google analytics

The RSSB.co.uk website uses Google analytics to allow us to measure how the site is used and to improve the service. The following cookies are used:

Google analytics cookies
Name, typical content and expiry: 

_utma - Random number - 2 years 
_utmb - Random number - 30 minutes 
_utmc - Random number - End of session
_utmz - Random number and referring website - 6 months
Google Analytics opt out
To stop Google collecting this information, use the following link to opt out of all Google analytics.
Google Analytics opt out.

Recording IP addresses

This site records your IP (Internet Protocol) address.  Your IP address identifies the computer that you used to register your subscription (where required).  This information is used only to verify the computer that was used to register your subscription.

Each page visited within this site is recorded in a log file.  The contents of the log file are analysed to determine how many visitors we serve, which pages are most frequently viewed and where visitors connect from. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual.  

Using your data

We store this information on our servers and in third-party applications (e.g. our email distribution services such as MailChimp) so that we can keep a record of your subscription preferences and to enable us to contact you regarding your subscription.  It may also be used to determine what is most effective about this site, to help us identify ways to improve this site and to determine how we can make it more effective.

If we use this data for other purposes, we will describe the purpose to you at the point of collection, for example if you are invited to register for an event, or to subscribe to a newsletter.

Unsolicited Email (SPAM)

We will not send you unsolicited email as a result of your visit to this site. Where you have registered as a SPARK user, you will be sent a quarterly email newsletter which you may unsubscribe from at any time.

Sensitive personal data

We do not seek to collect sensitive personal data through this site.

Accessing your information

You are entitled to know whether we hold information about you and, if we do, to have access to that information and require it to be corrected if it is inaccurate.  You can do this by writing to:

The Data Protection Officer
RSSB
The Helicon
1 South Place
London
EC2M 2RB

A fee is charged for this service, and you will be required to provide verification of your identity.

Links to Other Sites

Our site contains links to and from other web sites. If you follow a link to any other web sites, please note that these web sites have their own privacy statements, policies and terms and conditions of use and that we do not accept responsibility or liability for these. Please check all statements and policies before you submit any personal data to any website, including where you use a social media login as described above here. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Data Protection Register

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998, the data controller is “Rail Safety and Standards Board Limited”. Our entry in the register may be viewed by visiting the website of the Information Commissioner's Office and searching the register of data controllers.  Entering our registration number (Z8378773) will yield all purposes, data subjects, data classes, sources, disclosures and transfers that we are registered to process.

Data security and storage

We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy statement.

In some circumstances the data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA") for example where it is used by our email distribution partner MailChimp. By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing.

The transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmission to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to prevent unauthorised access.

Changes to our privacy statement

Any changes we make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page.

Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this statement are welcome and should be addressed to the Data Protection Officer at the address above under "Accessing your information".