Code of Conduct

This document details your expected behaviour as a member of Bristol Hackspace. Please read it through in its entirety. There is a table of contents to the top right of this page if you need to find anything in the future.

When you become a member you will be given a keycard that gives you 24/7 access to the Hackspace and induction protected equipment.

Do not give your card to any other person. This includes other members and guests.

We charge a fee of £5 per keycard issued. This includes the card you are offered when you join, as well as any replacements.

If your keycard is lost or stolen, please tell us as soon as you can so we can cancel it.

Please don't mark your keycard with “Hackspace” or with the address, as this makes it very easy for someone to break in if they find your keycard in the street.

Membership is available to anyone who is 18 or over unless they have an outstanding ban at the Hackspace.

Memberships are issued for named individuals only, we do not offer corporate, shared, or family memberships.

We are happy to accept members whose memberships are paid by a sponsoring organisation, but these memberships are still solely for the use of the named individual.

To end your membership, you need to:

• Inform the committee through our contact form.
• Cancel your standing order (if applicable).

You may wish to return your door card, however this is not required.

Your membership will expire exactly one month after your last payment was received. Please remember to take any project materials you have stored at Hackspace away with you.

The directors can terminate your membership if they decide your continued participation is harmful, or likely to be harmful, to Hackspace. This may be made as a result of:

• An investigation into formal complaints made against you.
• You failing to respond to multiple requests to settle a significant debt to Hackspace.
• Your membership payments having stopped.

See our Complaints procedures for how this termination will be handled.

By becoming a member of Bristol Hackspace you become a voting member of Bristol Open Technology Lab C.I.C., the incorporated entity that controls Hackspace. This gives you the legal right to vote at general meetings and other rights in accordance with our policies, for example putting forward or supporting purchase proposals.

As Bristol Open Technology Lab C.I.C. is a company limited by guarantee without share capital all members, and persons who have ceased to be a member within one year, carry a financial liability in the unlikely event the company is wound up due to insolvency. The amount of this liability is a maximum of £1 (one GBP) per member, if demanded by the administrator of Bristol Open Technology Lab C.I.C.

Bristol Open Technology Lab C.I.C. (encompassing Bristol Hackspace) strives to provide an inclusive space, forum, and community where everyone feels welcome, respected, and safe, regardless of their age, ethnicity, race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, or socio-economic background.

We will not tolerate harassment in any form. Harassment includes, but may not be limited to:

• Offensive comments related to gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, religion, or socio-economic background.
• Deliberate intimidation.
• Stalking or following.
• Inappropriate or unwanted physical contact.
• Unwelcome sexual attention.
• Inappropriate or unrequested photography or recording.
• Sustained or repeated disruption.
• Lack of respect for personal space.
• Any other action that makes someone uncomfortable.

We expect anyone asked to stop a harassing behaviour to do so immediately. Do not ever put your opinions or desires before the comfort of others.

If you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, do not ignore it. If you can, challenge the behaviour directly. If you can not challenge the behaviour, please contact the Directors. If the offender is a Director, you can contact another Director directly.

Hackspace is is open 24 hours a day, and you are welcome to get as much use of it as you like, provided:

• Your use of the space is within the remit of Hackspace’s aims.
• You don’t monopolise the space or equipment to the detriment of other members.
• Your use of Hackspace resources, for example water, electricity, or consumables, is not excessive.

If you are a heavy user of Hackspace consider increasing your membership donation.

Remember this is a shared space, so don’t treat it like your home. This means:

• Hackspace is not your bedroom. Power naps are fine. All-night hacking sessions are fine. Intentionally sleeping the night is not.
• Hackspace is not your kitchen. Our small kitchenette is for making tea and snacks, not for cooking three full meals a day.
• Hackspace is not your shed. We have limited storage, which is in high demand. Ensure your possessions left at the space comply with our storage rules, and don’t store stuff here that’s not related to your current projects.
• Hackspace is not your address. Do not get any personal post sent to the Hackspace. If you need to get materials for a project delivered here, you must be here to receive them yourself.

We don’t employ any staff, so to keep Hackspace running smoothly we rely on all members giving a little of their time in proportion to usage get they out of the space.

When you visit, try to set aside 10-15 minutes before you leave to do some of the quick tasks that keep the space safe and usable for everyone. These include:

• Sweeping the floors.
• Emptying the bins and vacuum cleaner.
• Putting stuff away in the right place.
• Maintaining tools, and reporting faulty ones. See our maintenance policy for what to do when a tool requires maintenance or repair.
• Restocking consumables.
• Taking things to the tip.

If you’re a more frequent user, please also consider offering to help with bigger or more regular jobs. These include:

• Machine inductions.
• Open evening tours.
• Administration.
• Organising skill-shares and events.
• Standing for a role on the Committee

Using the space for business purposes (such as prototyping your start-up’s products) is fine, but remember that your business is no more important than any other member’s project. You do not get priority access to equipment, storage, or workspaces. You can’t expect other members to stay out of your way, stay quiet, or give up their turn on equipment, just because you’re doing “business stuff”.

Do not use Hackspace as your business’ registered address.

Guests are welcome in the Hackspace, however they remain the direct responsibility of the member who brought them and must not use any equipment that requires induction.

• Do not leave your guests unattended in Hackspace.
• Explain all relevant Hackspace rules to your guests.
• If you see someone’s guest being unsafe or using induction-protected equipment, challenge them and report this as an incident.
• Do not let people into the space if you don’t know them, or if you not sure whether they are a member. If you let a non-member in, they become your guest and you are responsible for them!
• Memberships are never transferable or sharable between people.
• Do not share your keycard/fob with anyone else, both other members and guests.

Children (under 18s) are welcome in Hackspace as guests of members, but they cannot join as members until they turn 18, and must be closely monitored at all times by the member who brought them.

If you bring a child to hackspace, they are your guest, and you must be aware of the following:

• Like any guest, you are responsible for the child’s safety and actions at all times while in the space.
• The Hackspace environment is not specifically designed to be child-friendly, and you must remain more alert to their well-being and actions than you would in other settings.
• Like all guests, children cannot use induction-protected equipment.

In the Woodshop, Metalshop, and CNC Room, there are some extra stipulations:

• You must closely visually supervise your guest children at all times in these spaces. If you are not watching them, they must not be in these spaces.
• Children must never use any power tools or machinery.
• You must remove your guest children immediately from the room, if another member feels the environment is currently unsuitable for children, or if they feel the child’s behaviour is inherently unsuitable for the environment.

Well-behaved pets are welcome at Hackspace. It’s your responsibility to keep your pets out of mischief and to clean up after them. Remember that Hackspace is not specifically designed to be pet-friendly, and may well have hazardous or toxic items at within easy reach of inquisitive animals.

The Hackspace does not have any car parking, however there is plenty of free on-street parking in the surrounding area.

The area in front of our roller shutter is reserved for loading or for working on a vehicle, as well as keeping access to the shutter clear. The rest of the building forecourt is let to other tenants of Meridian Studios. Please do not park your vehicle anywhere on the forecourt.

There is a secure bicycle storage facility behind the building. Please note that this space is provided to support people who want to cycle in, not as a storage opportunity for heaps of spare bikes (or anything else). Bike are stored at the Hackspace at your own risk.

Please don't park your bicycle in the building. It makes the Hackspace less safe and less accessible.

Hackspace tools must only be used in the Hackspace (or on the forecourt). You cannot take them away and you cannot use them anywhere else. This is a strict requirement imposed by our liability insurers.

Bristol Library of Things has locations in Kingswood and Brislington, and is worth a look if you need to borrow tools to use at home.

Consumables are common useful items, materials, and other supplies that hackspace aims to keep in stock for everyone's convenience.

Consumables are for the reasonable light use of all members in their projects. If you are using a large proportion of our stock of any item, you should consider buying it it yourself rather than depleting the Hackspace's communal supply. Common janitorial, maintenance, and PPE items are also classed as consumables.

If you spot that we are getting low on a consumable item, you can post an entry to this thread requesting replenishment and one of the committee will restock the item(s).

Any overstock of consumables are stored in the consumables cabinet in the corridor. Please check here before posting.

If you think a new item should be added to the consumables list, please request on the same thread and the committee will vote to get this consumable approved. A majority vote from the committee is required for this approval to pass.

The full consumables list can be found here.

This stuff is one of the things that makes Hackspace special, so we encourage everyone to donate useful quality surplus stuff for others to hack. That being said, there are rules around what we will accept. See our Donations policy for the full rules, but in summary:

We have dedicated areas for donations. If there is no room for your donation, or it doesn't fit on the shelves, please take it away again. You can offer it to other members via the forum instead.

Never leave donations anywhere else in the space, especially the Woodshop or Metalshop

We encourage donations of:

• Sorted common parts, hardware, components, and materials.
• Weird or interesting stuff.

We don't want:

• Junk, cheap consumer electronics, scrap materials, etc.
• Tubs of unsorted parts, hardware, or components.
• Stuff we already have lots of.
• Printers. Seriously, no printers.

Sometimes members wish to donate a tool to the hackspace for other members to use. Donating a tool for general use requires prior approval through our proposals process. Do not 'donate' your surplus tools to Hackspace without raising a proposal first to see if we actually want them.