Draft CoC

This Code of Conduct borrows heavily from the Dallas Makerspace Code of Conduct

Primary Rules

All guests and members must follow the Code of Conduct.
It is the responsibility of each member to help enforce the Code of Conduct. If someone is violating the Code of Conduct politely explain to them why their behavior is not acceptable. Egregious violations should be reported to the Directors.
Safety is paramount and Members are expected to act in a safe manner.
1. If you are unsure of how to safely do something, don’t do it.
2. Everyone is expected to wear or set up PPE appropriate to the task they are performing (eye protection, face shielding, ear protection, gloves, welding screens, etc.)
3. If you are asked to don appropriate PPE, a belligerent response is not appropriate and may result in revocation of tool privileges.
4. Immediately report injuries to the Directors at directors@protospace.org
5. If you encounter a broken tool or a tool whose safety mechanisms are nonoperational, clearly label the tool as broken and post a message in the Admin section of the Members’ Forum (Spacebar) with the tool and details of the damage (if known).
6. No person shall deliberately defeat a physical safety or security mechanism.
7. No person shall be permitted to operate a tool without the proper training or certification from an authorized trainer.
8. No person shall deliberately ignore or violate an approved safety rule or policy.
9. Members who repeatedly violate safety rules may have their tool privileges revoked or their membership terminated without reimbursement.
10. No person shall deliberately hack, tamper with, or attempt unauthorized access to production computers or Web sites used for membership records, finance, equipment control, or facility operations.
Don’t merely respect each other; be excellent to each other.
1. We are all here to make things and learn. Collaboration is important.
2. When you break something, own up to it. If you have any doubt about fixing it, ask for help. Don’t make someone feel bad for breaking things, help them understand what went wrong.
3. Clean, Maintain, Organize, Improve. Always leave the space better than you found it.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Answer them kindly; eventually you’ll have to ask for help too.
5. Remain civil, even when you disagree.
6. Tools/resources must stay on the premises so that other members may use them. Removing tools/resources from the space without a successful pitch is theft.
Everyone must sign a liability waiver.
All members are expected to maintain a safe and clean environment at all times.
Smoking cigarettes/cigars, use of vaporizers (also known as electronic cigarettes) is not allowed inside the building.
Don’t catch fire, set others on fire, or set anything on fire which has not been designated or designed to be on fire.
Harmful behavior, harassment, stalking, theft, hazing, and otherwise being the opposite of excellent is unacceptable.

Guests

Guests can not inhabit Protospace without another non-probationary Member present.
Guests are encouraged to become Members.
Guests are not allowed to use tools and equipment, except as part of a scheduled class/workshop.
Members are responsible for their Guests and their actions.

Minors

Young Members

Protospace has traditionally welcomed children and youth to the Maker culture. Young people have participated individually, in organized groups, and with their families. Some have been members since near the beginning, and some now hold adult memberships of their own.

It is necessary, however, to establish certain "ground rules" for the participation of a Young Person wishing to be a member.

For the purpose of this policy, a Young Person means a person who has not yet reached the age of majority in the Province of Alberta.
Prior to granting a membership to a young person, a director or designate will meet with the parent or guardian of the young person to discuss the relationship between the young person, the parent/guardian and Protospace.
The parent/guardian must sign or co-sign all legal documents on behalf of the young person.
The parent/guardian must agree that the parent/guardian is legally and personally responsible for the Young Person and their involvement with Protospace.
The parent/guardian and the young person will be asked to confirm their understand by signing a statement that includes at least these key points:
1. The Young Person must be accompanied at all times while at Protospace by a parent, guardian or designated caregiver.
2. The Release of Liability and Waiver of Claims applies jointly to the parent/guardian and to the Young Person.
3. Protospace is not a youth program and does not provide care or supervision. Protospace does not conduct background checks or use Internet Filtering software. It is the parent/guardian who must determine if an environment or activity is suitable for their young person.
4. The parent/guardian is responsible for the behaviour of the young person and ensuring that the young person is trained, aware of safety rules, and dressed properly (including PPE) before operating any equipment.
5. The parent/guardian is responsible for keys, fobs, access codes, accounts, etc., whether in the name of the parent/guardian or of the young person.
6. Some activities may be designated as "adult only." Some equipment may be designated "adult use only."
If the young person does not apply to be a member, but attends as a guest of their parent/guardian, a "Release of Liability, Waiver of Claims, Assumption of Risks and Indemnity Agreement" must be signed by the parent and include the child.
Groups of young people participating in organized activities (such as FLL, Robotics Teams, School Tours, etc.) must still provide a signed "Release of Liability, Waiver of Claims, Assumption of Risks and Indemnity Agreement" that names each young person. The amount of supervision required can be established on a case-by-case basis, depending on the number of young people, ages, and type of activity.

Unaccompanied Young Persons

This policy should be read along with the Young Members section.

Some of our older youth members have expressed an interest in working in the space when it is not possible for their parent or guardian to accompany them.

Under this policy, a young person who is over 16 years of age, may apply to have the restriction of parental accompaniment waived, under the following conditions:

Young People under 16 years of age are not eligible and must be accompanied by a parent, guardian or designate while at Protospace.
A Young Person who is 16 or 17 may apply for a waiver of this condition. A written application must be submitted to the Directors.
The Young Person and a parent or guardian must sign a document understanding the conditions that apply. In the absence of a formal agreement, a copy of this policy and a list of any specific conditions may be used.
The Young Person’s membership must be kept current and paid. A Young Person who has been granted a free or reduced rate membership must continuously comply with the conditions of that sponsorship.
The Young Person must have a current Indemnity and Liability Release form on file that has been signed by a legal guardian and the Young Person.
The Young Person must have completed the New Member orientation and General Safety course. If more than four months have passed between when the Young Person has taken the orientation and their application for unaccompanied access, the Young Person shall attend the orientation again as a refresher or meet with a Director, Trainer or designate to ensure that expectations are clearly understood.
The Directors may require that the Young Person have been an active member for a period of time in order to get to know the Young Person and their abilities.
Upon approval:
1. Clause 5.1 of the Young Person Membership Policy shall not apply to this Young Person. All other conditions of that policy remain in effect.
2. The Directors or the Young Person’s parent/guardian may set restrictions on hours that the Young Person may be at Protospace (such as: Until Midnight on weekends, 10pm on Weekdays)
3. The Directors or the Young Person’s parent/guardian may require that the Young Person use a "buddy system" with another member; or participate only in a group setting (such as a robotics team build).
4. The Young Person may not use large stationary power tools (such as the lathe, the table saw, etc.) without the supervision of a guardian or an adult member willing to do so. Stationary Power tools may not be used by a Young Person who is alone in the space.
5. In rare circumstances, exceptions to the previous paragraph may be granted to qualified Young People, and confirmed in writing.
6. In rare circumstances, the Directors may refuse to approve the applications. In such cases, the Young Person and their parent/guardian shall be advised of the reasons.
7. The name of a Young Person who has been approved shall be posted to the membership and/or noted on the membership list on the web portal.
Conditions set by the Directors or a declined application may be appealed by the Young Person to the membership as a whole (Note: doing so cannot be done confidentially).
It is the responsibility of the Young Person to understand and abide by these conditions and all safety and security rules and clean-up standards without being reminded. Rules and conditions may also be enforced by access controls and lockouts based on PINs, passwords, or the Member’s keycard, including time-of-day restrictions. Behaviour may be investigated by reviewing the camera recordings.
It is recommended that a Young Person attending without a guardian not work alone, and be equipped with a mobile telephone.
If the Young Person disregards any of these conditions, or is observed by the Directors or Members to be acting unsafely or foolishly, the Directors may revoke the approval of unaccompanied access, or require the Young Person and/or their guardian to meet with one or more directors.

Emergency Suspensions and Formal Complaints

Emergency Suspensions

Emergency suspension powers are designed to deal with very rare but immediately harmful situations.

A Director may immediately suspend anyone who violates the Code of Conduct from the premises, online systems, or at sponsored events provided that the member presents a serious, immediate threat to health or safety, engages in illegal or threatening behavior, disturbs the peace, is forcibly removed from the premises by law enforcement, or other behavior that presents a major risk to the organization.
The member being suspended, and the other Directors must be informed in writing as soon as possible.
An email sent to the email address on file in the Members’ Portal (SpacePort) shall be considered sufficient written notice. It is the member’s responsibility to keep this email address up to date.
An emergency suspension will trigger an automatic motion to reinstate the member at the next available Members Meeting. Actions occurring within 72 hours of the next Members’ Meeting will be deferred to the following Meeting to give the membership sufficient time to review the incident.
Details of the reason for expulsion will be posted on the Members’ Forum (Spacebar) without identifying details.
A 75% majority vote is required to reinstate the member.
An expelled or suspended member is not entitled to a refund of their membership fees.

Formal Complaints

The formal complaint process exists for members to request a discussion be held by the Directors and/or membership regarding specific actions of another member. Members are expected to discuss their complaints in a calm and polite manner. Mediation is available to resolve issues without the need of a formal complaint.

Formal complaints against another member must be submitted, in writing, to the Directors or to any member of the Board of Directors. The complaint must have two parts outlined at minimum, a “Complaint” part and a “Recommended Solution” part.
The Directors will respond to formal complaints within 72 hours.
The Directors are not required to act in accordance with the grievance or complainant’s “Recommended Solution” part and may devise its own remediation.
In cases where the complaint involves illegal activity or egregious violations of the harassment, discrimination or safety policies, the Directors may decide to immediately suspend the member in question with a “Unamimous-1” consensus.
1. Such suspensions will be handled according to the procedures outlined in the Emergency Suspensions procedures.
Complaints will be added to the agenda of the next meeting and posted on the forum, without identifying information. Complaints occurring within 72 hours of the next Members’ Meeting will be deferred to the following Meeting to give the membership sufficient time to review it.
Minutes for the meeting will not be scrubbed of identifying information.
Any disciplinary action for which one or more of the Directors are involved require that a written record of the action, reason(s) for the action, and acknowledgement of the accused be sent to the Directors for keeping.

Non-Discrimination Policy

Protospace does not promote or discriminate against any person, population group, or organization with regard to categories protected by applicable Canadian law. These include, but are not limited to race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, family status, genetic characteristics, disability and conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted or in respect of which a record suspension has been ordered.

Anti-Harassment Policy

Harassment is prohibited and will not be tolerated. Any person who feels they have been the victim of harassment should ask the harasser to cease the behavior, if they feel safe doing so. Members or guests asked to stop any harassing behavior are expected to comply immediately. Harassment includes the following, without limitation:

Offensive comments related to race, religion, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, or physical appearance
Gratuitous sexual or obscene images or behavior in spaces where not appropriate
Unwelcome physical contact or sexual attention without consent or after a request to stop
Threats or incitement of violence towards any individual, including encouraging a person to engage in self-harm
Deliberate intimidation by words, gestures, body language, or menacing behavior
Stalking
Harassing photography or recording, including logging online activity for harassment purposes
Continued one-on-one contact or communication after requests to cease
Deliberate “outing” of a sensitive aspect of a person’s identity without their consent
Deliberate misgendering. This includes deadnaming or persistently using a pronoun that does not correctly reflect a person’s gender identity

Commercial Use

Protospace is based on open-source ideals and thus encourages its membership to embrace those ideals as well, however members reserve the rights to all of their creations.
Custom scripts and software written specifically for Protospace infrastructure must be open source with the source code provided to Protospace. Commercially available, off the shelf packages are exempt.
Commercial use of the space is permitted on the condition that the member(s) benefitting commercially share 10% of the gross revenue of the item with Protospace.
Protospace may invoice members for incurring costs to Protospace significantly in excess of their monthly dues. Determination of excess to be submitted to the Directors and the member billed by after discussion and vote in the next Members’ Meeting.

Intoxicating Substance Policy

The possession or consumption of illegal drugs is prohibited anywhere on or within the premises, parking lot, or common walkways of Protospace.
Anyone suspected of being intoxicated or impaired while using equipment will be asked to leave the premises immediately and may be subject to additional disciplinary action. Refusal to leave will result in a call to local Police.
Anyone observing this behavior should escalate to a director. If there is not one present, a message should be sent to directors@protospace.org with the date, time, location of the incident, name of the offender, witness names and any other relevant details.

Member Storage

The Protospace is not a storage facility, personal property left at the space that does not follow these rules, will be considered donations and/or disposed of.
Personal property can only be stored in designated Member Storage Shelves.
1. Member shelves must be labeled with a name and a phone number or email address. Other methods of contact are not acceptable.
Personal property stored elsewhere must be successfully pitched on the Members’ Forum (Spacebar).
1. The pitch must include a description of the item, proposed location, date of arrival and approximate date of departure.
2. This personal property must be labeled with the name of the member, date of arrival, estimated date of departure and a phone number or email address.
3. Members acknowledge that if their property is in the pitched location substantially past the estimated date of departure, it may be considered a donation or disposed of.
Personal property left outside of designated storage areas for more than 24 hours without a successful pitch will be considered abandoned and will be dealt with how Protospace sees fit. Please ask for permission rather than forgiveness for storing unusual items.
The designated storage areas must be used in a safe manner.
1. Personal property cannot be stored on the floor or obstruct a hallway or egress.
2. Personal property cannot be leaning or piled up by a wall, or work or storage area.
3. Personal property cannot present a hazard to other members including but not limited to falling, fire, chemical or biological.
Members finding items stored improperly are encouraged to use Parking Tickets to inform the offender of their infraction. Items not removed after 14 days may be considered donations and/or disposed of.
1. Parking tickets must have the name and signature of the finder, the date of the infraction, along with the reason for the parking ticket.