Policies

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: statement of commitment

We actively seek to engage diverse employees, trustees, members and supporters to promote inclusion, and diversity in aviation and maritime. Doing so strengthens our ability to serve the aviation and maritime safety communities, drives innovation and growth, and enables us to attract and retain the talent required to strive for continuous safety improvement. 

We believe that equality, diversity, and inclusion (DEI) are at the core of a safe and just culture. Best teams not only share common goals and values, but they also need diverse skills, perspectives and experiences to truly succeed. 

Confidentiality and how we use your data

CHIRP collects only the personal information needed to run its confidential reporting service, understand safety concerns, and support safety learning. This may include your contact details, information about your report, and any supporting information you choose to provide.

CHIRP processes personal data in accordance with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Why we ask for contact details

Reports cannot be submitted anonymously through CHIRP’s reporting process. We ask for contact details so we can verify and clarify safety-critical information, make sure reports are accurately understood, and protect the integrity of the reporting process.

Your identity is known only to a small number of authorised CHIRP staff. We do not share your identity externally unless we are legally required to do so, or unless there is another exceptional reason that we must act to comply with the law or protect safety.

What CHIRP does not do

CHIRP does not conduct disciplinary or enforcement investigations, determine individual fault, or seek punitive outcomes. Our role is to promote learning, improvement, and harm prevention through independent confidential reporting.

How we protect your identity

We treat the information you provide as confidential and take all reasonable steps to protect your identity.

Before information from reports is used for safety learning, publication, trend analysis, or engagement with relevant organisations, identifying details are removed or changed so that individuals are not readily recognisable.

How we use your data

We use your data to:

• receive, assess, and manage confidential reports;
• understand and clarify safety concerns;
• identify trends, risks, and lessons learned;
• support improvements in safety through independent reporting;
• communicate with you about your report where needed;
• meet legal, regulatory, governance, and security obligations.

We keep your data secure and restrict access to those who need it. We do not use your personal data for marketing.

We may use trusted service providers to help us run our services, such as secure IT, hosting, email, case management, or administrative systems. Where we do this, they are only permitted to process personal data for agreed purposes and must protect it appropriately.

We only share information externally where this is necessary to run our services, support safety learning, or comply with the law. Wherever possible, information shared for safety learning is de-identified.

How long we keep your data

We keep personal data only for as long as needed for the purpose for which it was collected, including report handling, audit, governance, legal, and safety learning purposes. Personal data is then securely deleted or anonymised.

Anonymised information may be retained for longer where it supports safety learning, trend analysis, research, reporting, or harm prevention.

Your rights

You have rights under data protection law. Depending on the circumstances, these may include the right to access your personal data, ask for inaccurate information to be corrected, request deletion, restrict or object to processing, and withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

To make a data request, please contact mail@chirp.co.uk.

CHIRP will respond to data protection rights requests within one month, unless the law allows a longer period because the request is complex or multiple requests have been made.

If you are concerned about how CHIRP has handled your personal data, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Articles of Association

Articles Agreed October 2021 AGM 11 November