Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Usage Policy

This policy applies to all Buckinghamshire Council staff that use Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) on behalf of the Authority. All drone flights are given risk assessments and follow strict operations manual procedures, which have been approved as safe by the CAA.

We use qualified unmanned aerial systems (UAS) pilots to fly drones. Each one has passed a theory assessments with an organisation approved by the CAA. The operator has overall responsibility for making sure every flight takes place within the law and its amendments.

The operator and a qualified team will make sure that:

• drone recordings are stored securely on a cloud based storage system
• any recording that is not relevant to the purpose of the flight will be securely destroyed

This policy applies to the use of UAVs on all Buckinghamshire Council owned sites as well as any Buckinghamshire Council related work with UAVs that is carried out on third party sites.

Supervisors and managers have a duty of care placed upon them to actively monitor the implementation of this policy.

As persons directing the work or managing a site, supervisors and managers have a crucial role in ensuring that any operation of UAVs is carried out safely and in accordance with all relevant legislation.