Privacy Policy

Last updated: 23 October 2026

Who we are

Shield Water Ltd provides independent water safety consultancy. We are the controller of personal information used to manage our business enquiries, client relationships and services.

For questions about this policy or your personal information, contact:

Information we collect

Depending on your relationship with us, we may collect:

• Your name, job title, organisation and business contact details.
• Information you provide through our website, emails, telephone calls or meetings.
• Correspondence, proposals, contracts, invoices and payment records.
• Names, roles and business contact details contained in consultancy documents, reports and meeting records.
• Technical information collected through our website, as described below.

We receive information directly from you, from your organisation or through introductions. For relevant business development, we may also obtain professional contact information from publicly available sources, such as company websites and LinkedIn.

Please avoid sending identifiable medical information or other sensitive personal information unless we have agreed suitable arrangements beforehand.

Why we use your information

We use personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries and prepare proposals.
• Deliver consultancy services and communicate with clients and their representatives.
• Maintain project, business and financial records.
• Contact relevant business professionals about our services.
• Protect our business, manage disputes and meet legal obligations.

Our lawful bases depend on the purpose:

Legitimate interests: responding to business enquiries, managing relationships with client organisations, delivering consultancy through their representatives, maintaining appropriate records and conducting relevant business development.

Contract: where processing is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you personally.

Legal obligation: where we must retain or disclose information to comply with applicable law.

Consent: where required for a particular activity. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting the lawfulness of earlier processing.

Business development and your right to object

We may contact you about services relevant to your professional responsibilities, subject to applicable marketing rules.

You can object to direct marketing at any time. Email john.millgate@shield-water.co.uk or tell us when we contact you. We may retain minimal contact details on a suppression list to ensure we respect your request.

Storage and sharing

We use Microsoft 365, including Outlook and OneDrive, for business communications and document storage. Our Microsoft 365 data is stored in the United Kingdom. Telsa Media manages our website. Our website is hosted on a server provided by InMotion Hosting, Inc., and website backups are stored with Amazon Web Services. Telsa Media administers both on our behalf.

Where necessary, personal information may be accessed by IT and website providers, professional advisers, insurers and specialist consultants supporting an agreed project. Relevant project information may also be shared with authorised client representatives and their appointed advisers or contractors.

We may disclose information where required by law or necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Access should be limited to what is needed for the relevant purpose.

International processing

Some of the providers that support our website and business process personal information outside the UK:

• InMotion Hosting, Inc. hosts our website on a server in Los Angeles, United States. The server holds the website, its logs and backups, and sends enquiry-form emails.
• Amazon Web Services stores weekly backups of our website in the United States (Northern Virginia).
• Google (reCAPTCHA spam protection, Google Maps and Google Fonts) may process visitor information in the United States and other countries.
• Fonticons, Inc. (Font Awesome icons), based in the United States, delivers icon files to visitors.
• Telsa Media maintains our website. Its staff may access the website for support from the United Kingdom and India.

Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we rely on the following safeguards:

• InMotion Hosting: the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses, included in InMotion’s data processing terms.
• Amazon Web Services and Google: the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, under which both are certified.
• Telsa Media support access from outside the UK: an International Data Transfer Agreement.

How long we keep information

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for its purpose.

We assess retention by considering whether an enquiry remains active, the duration of the client relationship, continuing project and professional record requirements, applicable accounting obligations and the need to manage potential claims.

We review information and delete or anonymise it when it is no longer required.

Website information and cookies

Enquiry form. When you submit one of our enquiry forms, the details you enter (such as your name, email address, telephone number, subject and message) are sent by email from our website server to john.millgate@shield-water.co.uk. A copy of each email is kept in the website’s email log for 30 days and then deleted. Enquiries are not otherwise stored in the website. To ask for an enquiry to be deleted, contact us using the details above.

Health Check download. To download our Estate Water Safety Health Check, you provide your first name, last name and email address. These details are sent to us by email and kept in the email log in the same way as enquiries. We use them to send you the Health Check and to follow up with you about it and our related services. You can object to marketing at any time, as described above.

Server logs. When you visit our website, our hosting server records technical information, including your IP address, browser type, the pages you request and the date and time of your visit. We use this to operate and secure the website. These access logs are kept for up to one month.

Security. Our website uses security software that records IP addresses and activity in order to detect and block attacks and to monitor changes to the website. Security logs are kept for 60 days and activity logs for three months. Access to the website’s administration area is limited to Telsa Media.

Backups. Our website is backed up weekly. Server backups are kept for about two weeks, and backups stored with Amazon Web Services for about seven weeks. Information deleted from the website may remain in these backups until they are replaced.

Spam protection. Our enquiry form uses Google reCAPTCHA to protect the website against spam and abuse. reCAPTCHA collects information about your device and how you interact with the website, and sends it to Google. Use of reCAPTCHA is subject to Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Embedded map. Our Contact page includes an embedded Google Map. When the map loads, Google receives your IP address and may set cookies on your device.

Fonts and icons. Our website loads fonts from Google Fonts and icons from Font Awesome. To deliver these files, the providers receive your IP address.

Cookies and analytics.
We do not use analytics, advertising or social media tracking cookies or pixels. Our website may use strictly necessary cookies to function correctly. Third-party services, such as Google reCAPTCHA and Google Maps, may also use cookies or similar technologies.

The cookies used on this website, including their names, providers, purposes and durations, will be listed below once verified through a cookie scan.

*The 30-day periods are based on the cookie scan and should be verified against the actual cookie expiry settings. Google storage categories are consent settings and may not represent individual cookies. The cookie inventory should be confirmed against the live website before publication.

Your choices. When you first visit our website, a privacy notice lets you allow or block embedded content such as Google Maps. Blocked content is replaced with a placeholder until you allow it. Your choice is remembered for 30 days, and you can change it at any time using the Privacy Settings link in the footer of our website. You can also block or delete cookies through your browser settings.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have rights to access, correct, erase, restrict or transfer your personal information, and to object to certain uses.

You can exercise your rights using the contact details above. These rights are subject to applicable conditions and exemptions.

Complaints

Please contact John Millgate if you have concerns about how we handle your information.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office. Visit ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.

Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when our activities or arrangements change. The latest version will be available on our website.