Incident Response Policy

Underland operates under a strict set of guidelines and instructions for resolving any and all incidents that potentially or actively compromise the success of the BASH Festival of Code. This policy outlines the procedure and mechanisms that we mandate to appropriately respond to incidents so that they can be efficiently resolved.

Applicability & Scope

Any and all measures stated in this policy fall within the remit of at least one or more of the following responsible parties:

• The BASH Festival of Code are responsible for themselves, hub leaders, mentors, volunteers and participants across all hubs.
• Hub leaders - the main point of contact in each regional hub - are responsiblefor themselves and the mentors and participants in the hub.
• Week mentors are responsible for themselves and the participants in their hub.
• Weekend volunteers are responsible for themselves and the participants taking part at the weekend.

These responsible parties have a duty of care to implement this policy, and where this falls outside of their individually assigned remit, to ensure that the appropriate person takes responsibility.

Please note - unlike our other policies, we do not place any expectation upon the young people attending our events to respond to incidents other than to appropriately protect themselves.

Definitions

In the BASH Festival of Code, we define an “incident” as any occurrence or situation that violates the terms of the following “participation” policies:

• Code of Conduct
• Health & Safety Policy
• Safeguarding Policy
• Privacy Policy

Participation in the BASH Festival of Code is dependent on being first made aware of, consenting to the terms of, and (where applicable) completing appropriate training, that collectively covers all of these four sections for anybody who performs a role from the list of responsible parties defined above.

In the process of dispensing their duties, our responsible parties are thus able and obligated to complete a 4-step process for delivering an effective response to any and all incidents as defined by violation of the policies.

1. Observation

When the responsible party observes any event or occurrence that conflicts with the terms of the participation policies, they are to note:

• Who is involved?

  This is strictly a parameter to identify the person or persons involved, whether they be active or passive is purely incidental at this point, for example:

  • “There is a policy violation concerning Participant A and Participant B”
  • “There is a policy violation concerning Hub Leader C”
  • “There is a policy violation concerning all attendants at Hub Site D”

• What is the violating action?

  This is strictly a parameter to identify the action/inaction observed at this point, for example:

  • “There is a policy violation concerning insulting language”
  • “There is a policy violation concerning security of a work space”
  • “There is a policy violation concerning use of power outlets”

• Where is this happening?

  This is strictly a parameter to identify the location observed at this point, for example:

  • “There is a policy violation concerning Hub Site E”
  • “There is a policy violation concerning toilet facilities”
  • “There is a policy violation concerning the entry door ”

The purpose of these strict parameters is so that the most meaningful information can be collected quickly without any extraneous, unverified or potentially inaccurate details. This is purely about objective observation.

2. Assessment

Once the responsible party has observed the details of the violation, they can then assess the following:

• Which policy is being violated?

  This is strictly a parameter to identify the terms of the violation, for example:

  • “There is a policy violation concerning Health & Safety”
  • “There is a policy violation concerning Privacy and Safeguarding”

The purpose of this strict parameter is so that there is a clear context around which potential resolution can be formed which is appropriate to the severity of the violation and fair to the parties involved.

3. Recording

A problem might escalate quickly if unchecked, and a busy hub might distract from getting all the details so responsible parties are charged with implementing an “as we go” mentality towards recording details of violations. We expect all responsible parties to exercise good judgement in actioning this step in a timely fashion.

4. Reporting

A log of all incidents must be made in this appropriate format alongside any level of interim or definitive resolution that was made if applicable. This is for the purpose of oversight where any systemic incidents might arise and repeat, as well as for the iterative improvement of this policy’s effectiveness in minimising the occurrence of further incidents.

At each level in the operational hierarchy of responsible parties, incidents are to be reported to the next level of oversight. Logs of activity and incidents are collected daily from all hub sites and examined by Underland alongside whatever interim or definitive resolution may have been actioned, and appropriate additional guidance developed from this feedback will be disseminated accordingly.

Methods available and to be employed are:

• The dedicated incident response telephone number: +44 7449 549 868 (this will call Kevin Lewis and Sunil Patel - our lead organisers)
• Emailing our team at incidents@underland.xyz
• The anonymous online form
• Via our internal Slack channels which Hub Leaders, Mentors and Volunteers have access to

Actions & Resolutions

According to the details collected through this system, incidents will be assessed for resolution at each level in the responsible parties hierarchy. The default advised action in all cases is escalate to next level of oversight in the BASH team to make a decision on how to respond.

The intention behind this is to limit the number of interim steps or delays in achieving a response to an incident.

Appropriate to the nature and severity of violations, BASH team reserves the right to make actions including but not limited to:

• Verbal reminders of acceptable behaviour
• Formal, written notice issued reminding offenders of the agreed terms in the participation policies
• Suspension or exclusion of persons committing policy violations:
  • Until they have repeated training or undergone further instruction as deemed necessary
  • Permanent exclusion from any further participation in BASH Festival of Code

Safeguarding

As part of our commitment to the importance of a need for robust and effective safeguarding initiative, Underland recognise that it is appropriate to retain a dedicated and certified on-call safeguarding specialist throughout the BASH Festival of Code week. In instances where an incident comprises in part or whole of a violation of our safeguarding policy, we will defer to their professional guidance in adjudicating on such matters.

Changes to policy

This policy might change over time, which we reserve the right to do without notice. If we do make edits, you'll find them listed below.