Terms and conditions

1. Who we are

Ofor is a registered Canadian non-profit organisation with its registered office at 220 Laurier Avenue West, Suite 640, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5Z9. In these terms, “we”, “us” and “Ofor” refer to that organisation; “you” refers to any person using the website, the materials or our services.

2. Educational purpose

Everything we publish and teach is general educational information for a household audience. It is not professional advice, an inspection, a certification, an engineering opinion or a legal interpretation of any code or by-law.

Building requirements differ between provinces, municipalities and building types, and they change. Always confirm a requirement with your local authority before relying on it. See our disclaimer for the full statement.

3. Acceptable use of this website

You may browse the website, download materials for the purposes permitted in section 4, and contact us through the forms provided. You may not:

• attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the site or its underlying systems;
• use automated tools to harvest content or contact details;
• submit false information, or use our forms to send unsolicited commercial messages;
• use the site in a way that damages it or interferes with anyone else’s use of it;
• republish our content in a way that implies endorsement of a product, service or organisation.

4. Licence to use our materials

We grant you a free, non-exclusive, revocable licence to reproduce and distribute our published checklists, templates and guides for non-commercial household, educational, community and public-library use, on these conditions:

• the document is reproduced in full and without alteration;
• the Ofor attribution line and the revision date remain visible on every page;
• no charge beyond the actual cost of printing is made to the recipient;
• the material is not bundled with, or used to promote, any product or service.

Commercial reproduction, resale, inclusion in paid training, translation and adaptation all require our written permission. Requests to info@ofor.info are answered within five business days.

5. Intellectual property

All content on this website, including text, illustrations, page design, source code and the Ofor name and mark, is owned by Ofor or used with permission, and is protected under Canadian and international copyright law.

Rights not expressly granted in section 4 are reserved. The licence in section 4 does not transfer ownership of anything.

6. Workshop registration and attendance

Registration is confirmed by email and is transferable to another person from the same household or organisation at any time before the session begins. Seats at free community sessions are allocated in the order requests are received.

We ask that you tell us if you can no longer attend, so the seat can be released. Repeated non-attendance without notice may mean we ask you to join a waiting list for future sessions rather than reserving a seat in advance.

7. Cancellation and rescheduling

We cancel a session only for severe weather, venue closure or instructor illness. Registered participants are contacted by email, and by telephone where we hold a number, at least three hours before the scheduled start where circumstances allow.

For booked cost-recovery sessions, cancellation more than fourteen days before the date carries no charge; cancellation within fourteen days may be invoiced at fifty per cent of the quoted fee to cover printed materials and instructor scheduling. Rescheduling once, at no charge, is always offered first.

8. Fees for organisational bookings

Sessions requested by a private organisation are quoted in writing before any commitment. Quotes are valid for sixty days, are based on cost recovery, and set out travel, materials and instructor time separately.

Invoices are payable within thirty days of the session. Fees do not create any right in our materials beyond the licence in section 4.

9. Third-party links

We link to municipal services, public health authorities and standards bodies where doing so helps a reader. Those sites are not under our control and we are not responsible for their content, availability or privacy practices.

A link is not an endorsement of any product or commercial service offered on the linked site.

10. Limitation of liability

The website and its materials are provided on an “as is” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Ofor is not liable for any indirect, incidental or consequential loss arising from use of the website, the materials or the information provided at a session.

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. Where liability cannot be excluded, it is limited to the amount you paid us, if anything, for the service in question.

11. Your contributions

If you send us feedback, a correction or a suggestion, you grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free right to use it in improving our materials. We will not publish your name in connection with it unless you have given written permission.

Please do not send confidential or sensitive personal information through the enquiry form.

12. Availability of the website

We aim to keep the site available at all times but do not guarantee uninterrupted access. Maintenance is normally carried out outside business hours, and we may suspend access without notice where security requires it.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply there. Any dispute is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Ontario.

14. Changes to these terms

We may amend these terms from time to time. The review date at the top of this page shows the current version, and continued use of the website after a change constitutes acceptance of the amended terms.

Terms that applied at the time of a confirmed workshop booking continue to govern that booking.

Questions about this document

Write to Ofor, 220 Laurier Avenue West, Suite 640, Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5Z9, telephone (613) 555-0184, or email info@ofor.info. We answer written enquiries within two business days and formal requests within the timelines set out above.