These pages provide information on how to use the SafetyWorks! site effectively including how to make use of accessbility features built into the site, the copyright of information on this site, how your information is stored and how you can access information stored about you and within Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service.
If you feel there is any information missing from this section that you would find useful for using this site, please contact us
Help using this site
Printing
All pages are printed ‘print friendly’ style, so no irrelevant information is viewable (eg navigation, header etc).
Viewing
The SafetyWorks! web-site has been designed to work in web browsers on both PC and Apple Mac including: –
- Internet Explorer 4.0 and above
- Mozilla 1.0 and above
- Opera 3.5 and above
- Netscape 4.0 and above
- Safari 2.0 and above
In addition, a ‘Low Graphics’ version of the site can be viewed by clicking the ‘low graphics’ link located at the top left of every page.
Searching
This site’s search facility searches page titles, content of pages, keywords associated with a page, attachments directory entries.
To carry out a full site search, enter your term(s) into the search box located at the top right of every page and then press the ‘Go’ button (or press ‘Enter’ on your keyboard).
To search an individual directory (for example Our Locations), click on the ‘New Search’ button and enter keywords and press ‘Search Directory’. This will search key elements of each entry in the directory and return the most relevant results.
Opening Links
Any links to web-sites external to the SafetyWorks! site will open in a new window. Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service are not responsible for the content or reliability of any content contained within sites linked from this page. We have no control over the availability of these sites and cannot guarantee that these links will be available all of the time.
Downloading Documents
Downloadable files will normally be located at the bottom of a page and will generally be made available in Adobe’s ‘Portable Document Format’ (pdf), MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, MP3 and Windows Media Format (wmf).
Free viewers for each of these files have been made available for download at the bottom of this page.
In addition to indicating the format of the file, it is our policy to provide an indication of the file size for all downloads so that you can judge how long it will take to dowload using your particular Internet connection.
Website Accessibility
Our commitment to accessibility
We want the SafetyWorks! website to be accessible to everyone – that is why we strive to ensure that our site meets the AA standard of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.
While our web standards are geared towards providing a totally accessible site, it is often hard to make every page validate 100% so please contact us if you encounter any problems which affect your enjoyment of the website.
Accessibility features
Features of the site that have been designed with accessibility in mind include:
- Information is set out to enable screen-reader to read the content – including correctly ordered and formatted headers, bulleted lists and correctly marked-up data tables. Images have alternative text describing what is in the image – unless the image is used for decorative effect only – with long descriptions used for images that convey a lot of information.
- Videos used on the site have captions and text transcription available – this is explained in detail whenever a video is used.
- The site’s Hyper Text Mark-Up Language (HTML – the written code that makes up the website) and the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS – the code that determines the style of the sites) are valid according to the World Wide Web Consortium’s automated checks. Some exceptions do occur in the site due to presentation but we try to negotiate this by providing alternative links.
- Our site content is separated from presentational elements, which makes it available to any visitors that use technologies such as a screen reader or text only browser.
- Users can use the Tab key to navigate all links on the site.
- Users can increase and decrease text size – using the icons on the top-right of the screen.
- The print friendly nature of the site means pages can be printed without any heading or navigation shown.
- A text-only version of the site is available.
Which sections of the website may not be accessible?
The following issues have been identified and, while they may not have an impact on the site’s conformance with conforming to AA accessibility guidelines, each one is being investigated to see how we can make the site more accessible. Please contact us if any of these issues are causing you problems when accessing the site:
- The site provides the option for visitors to set their own access keys – this is currently not working as expected and awaiting a fix.
- The website is not currently optimised for mobile phone use and therefore may be difficult to browse using a handheld device.
- We do not currently allow visitors to download videos for viewing on their own PCs – all videos are instead embedded onto the site. For visitors that do not have javascript enabled, this means they may not be able to view the video.
- ‘Inline Styling’ is used throughout the site to present information. This could potentially interfere with users’ own use of personal stylesheets.
- When navigating to a deep level within our site, our left-hand navigation does not show the links from a few levels above. However this is consistent throughout the site and the ‘breadcrumb’ links at the top of the page can take the user back through the levels.
If you come across any other aspect of the site which causes you any problems please contact us. Your feedback is vital to ensure the site is as accessible as possible.
Accessibility testing
Samples of up to 30 website pages are audited as part of the accessibility testing and we choose a varied range of pages within different sections and with different features to capture the widest-possible selection. However some pages may cause problems that have not been identified – if you come across a page or section of our website which is causing you problems, please let us know using the website feedback form and this will be addressed.
Our site on web browsers
The Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service web-site has been designed to work in web browsers on both PC and Apple Mac including: –
- Internet Explorer 4.0 and above
- Mozilla 1.0 and above
- Opera 3.5 and above
- Netscape 4.0 and above.
In addition, a ‘Low Graphics’ version of the site can be viewed by clicking the ‘Low Graphics’ link located at the top of every page.
Changing the Text Size
To alter the text size across this site, select the options at the top of the screen.
Alternatively, most browsers allow you to resize the text on a web-site through the browsers own menu systems: –
Internet Explorer 4:
Choose: View > Internet Options > Accessibility and check the ‘Ignore font sizes specified on web pages’ and then click ‘OK’ and ‘OK’ to apply the changes. From then on, you can alter the text size choosing: View> Text Size followed by the text size you wish to use.
Internet Explorer (version 5+):
Choose: Tools > Internet Options > Accessibility and check the ‘Ignore font sizes specified on web pages’ option and then click ‘OK’ and ‘OK’ to apply the changes. From then on, you can alter the text size choosing: View> Text Size followed by the text size you wish to use.
Opera:
Zoom the contents of a document (text and images) from 20% to 1000% either from the drop-down zoom box at the top of the browser or by simply pressing ‘+’ to zoom in or ‘-‘ to zoom out.
You can also alter the font size and colour by choosing: File > Preferences > Fonts and colors. Change the fonts and colours of the text, links, background and minimum text size to those that you wish to use.
Mozilla/Firefox
Select: Tools > Options > General > Fonts & Colors. You can then select a minimum font size to be used on screen so as the text on any pages that you look at will be displayed in a font no smaller than that specified. Press ‘OK’ to apply the changes.
If you have a mouse with a scroll wheel, many browsers will also allow you to ‘zoom’ and increase/decrease the text size on the page by pressing the ‘Ctrl’ key and rotating your mouses scroll wheel.
Report an accessibility problem
To report an issue that you encounter that relates to your access and enjoyment of the site please use our contact form and select ‘website feedback’ as the subject of your message. Your query will be dealt with as soon as possible.
Further guidance
Further guidance on accessibility can be found on the following websites:
- BBC Website Accessibility Guidance
- WCAG 2.0 Guidelines
- W3C
Copyright and access to information
All material contained on the SafetyWorks! website (including any text, graphics, photographs, logos, video material, audio material or downloadable documents) is the copyright of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, falls under crown copyright or alternative copyright is explicitly stated.
Any material under copyright of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service may be freely reproduced for non-commercial purposes providing that:
- The source (i.e. www.safetyworks.org.uk) and copyright status of the material is explicitly stated as shown in the box below.
- The
material reproduced from the site is not modified in any way without
prior permission from The E-Communications Officer, Tyne and Wear Fire
and Rescue Service Headquarters, Nissan Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear,
SR5 3QY.
- No
graphics, photographs, audio or video available on the site may be
copied or distributed separate from the copyright text shown in the box
below.
- No
graphics, photographs, audio or video may be modified in an way without
prior permission from The E-Communications Officer, Tyne and Wear Fire
and Rescue Service Headquarters, Nissan Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear,
SR5 3QY.
- The material is reproduced accurately, is not used in a derogatory manner or in a misleading context.
Any other proposed use of material, other than that permitted above is subject to request and approval of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service. Applications to use any material from this site for commercial purposes or for any other purpose not permitted above must be made in writing to The E-Communications Officer, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Nissan Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR5 3QY stating how and why you would like to use this information and how widely it will be distributed.
The permission to reproduce material subject to copyright of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service does not extend to any material on this site identified as being copyright of a third part.
Any material or suggestions volunteered to Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service via any consultation, web forms or to any ‘@twfire.gov.uk’ email addresses may be used freely by Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service in line with our privacy statement.
© Copyright (2008) of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, Nissan Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR5 3QY.
Access to Information
The public have the right to access certain categories of information held by Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service under the Data Protection Act 1998 (personal information) and the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (non personal information).
To request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please complete the Freedom of Information Act request form or provide it in writing to The Information Officer, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Nissan Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR5 3QY.
To request information under the Data Protection Act 1998 please provide it in writing via the Data Protection page on this site, or in writing to The Information Officer, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Nissan Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR5 3QY.
Privacy
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service respects and protects the privacy of individuals that use any of its websites that it operates and will only use your personal information in accordance with the guidelines outlined below.
- Tyne
and Wear Fire and Rescue Service provides anonymous access to all pages
on its site and does not capture or store any personal information
unless you volunteer it via an email form, quiz, mailing list
subscription or direct email to an ‘@twfire.gov.uk’ email account.
- Tyne
and Wear Fire and Rescue Service does log a users IP address provided
by your Internet Service Provider. This information is recorded solely
to collect anonymous information about website use (such as page views
and browser version etc). This information is collected in order to
ensure that we can provide a better service to you as a citizen of Tyne
and Wear and to assist us in analysing the profile of our visitors and
the areas of our site which are most and least visited.
- Personal
data volunteered by any user of this site will not be shared with any
individual or organisation outside of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue
Service except where explicitly stated by the user or exemplified by the
Data Protection Act 1998.
- Whilst
third parties may occasionally be granted access to our site and its
associated databases for maintenance purposes, all must confirm that
they will not copy nor make use of any personal data collected and
stored by Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service.
- All
personal data submitted to Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service for
use in a website based mailing list (e.g. firefighter recruitment) will
be kept indefinitely, or as long as the mailing list exists unless you
delete your account or request for your account to be removed in writing
to The E-Communications Officer, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service
Headquarters, Nissan Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR5 3QY stating
your full name, username and email address used to register with us.
- We will only collect information that you volunteer to us via our website or any email address within the twfire.gov.uk domain. Such information will be solely used for the purpose and intent in which it was submitted.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.
A European Union Directive has enforeced website visitors to opt-in to any non-essential cookies on websites.
The following is a list of cookies used by our website. Please contact webmaster@twfire.gov.uk if you require any more information about cookies.
Tabs
Our website uses, a cookie to identify which tab is selected and open on a page. The data stored is just the page ID and the tab ID, therefore the EU Directive does not apply to this cookie.
ASP.NET Session Cookie (ASP.NET_SessionId)
This cookie is used in order to track you during your visit. It expires when you exit our website, and does not store personal information. This cookie is, therefore, not relevant to the EU Directive.
YouTube Videos
To comply with the legislation we have provided all our embedded YouTube videos without cookies.
Each of the points outlined above only cover pages and sites belonging to and maintained by Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service. Any third party sites linked from our site are not covered by any of the above points and we advise you to contact the owners of these sites should you have any queries regarding privacy and use of personal information.
Should you have any questions or enquiries about any of the information outlined above or uses of personal data within Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, please use the main contact form on our website or write to The E-Communications Officer, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Nissan Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR5 3QY.
Each of the points outlined above only cover pages and sites belonging to and maintained by Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service. Any third party sites linked from our site are not covered by any of the above points and we advise you to contact the owners of these sites should you have any queries regarding privacy and use of personal information.
Should you have any questions or enquiries about any of the information outlined above or uses of personal data within Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, please use the main contact form on our website or write to The E-Communications Officer, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters, Nissan Way, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, SR5 3QY
Site Map
Cookies
On this page you will find information on which cookies may be set when you visit the SafetyWorks! website and details on how to reject or delete those cookies if necessary.
What are cookies?
A cookie is a small data file which a web server stores on your computer to enable a website to remember information about you. This information could include things like preferences you have set, browsing history, log in details or an ID number. Some cookies are essential to make a website operate correctly, others can be used to remember details to enhance your visit to a website.
The SafetyWorks! website does not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you, however we do use several cookies to ensure that our website functions correctly and to allow us to analyse usage of our site and make improvements according to the data.
Stored information
When you visit our website to view pages, download documents, etc. we automatically store the following information on a cookie:
- The domain name (if available) and IP address from which you accessed our site
- The date and time you visited
- The pages you viewed
- The type of browser and operating system you used
This information enables us to analyse usage of our site and help us to improve the website services we offer. This monitor does not include personally identifiable information. This is not unique as the majority of web site servers on the Internet will store this information every time you visit their site.
How to control and delete cookies
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service will not use cookies to collect personally identifiable information about you. However, if you wish to restrict or block the cookies which are set by our website, or indeed any other website, you can do this through your browser settings.
You may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of browsers. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer as well as more general information about cookies. For information on how to do this on the browser of your mobile phone you will need to refer to your handset manual.
Please be aware that restricting cookies may impact on the functionality of the TWFRS website.