Maintaining Computer Systems Essay

Polices are something that are needed in the work place because they make sure that all the information that is collected is both safe and secure but also making sure that the information isn’t leaked outside the company. The information that can be leaked from a company is ranged from personal information of the employees that work there or something that will allow the company to lose many millions of pounds, if this happens, the company could be forced into legal proceedings to protect its own interests. As well as attempting to steal the leaked information, the information could also be used for reasons such as discriminating, harassing against or earning a profit against them and the information. All the different examples can be related back to the Data Protection Act (1998), Computer Misuse Act (1990) and the Copyright Design and Patents Act (1988) this is the protection of any material created meaning that it can‘t be copied by anyone without permission, this act also gives the creator the freedom to take someone to court if they feel their product has been used in a way they have no permission too. Without certain acts being put into place someone could easily take the information from one person and pretend to be them in a different place, either on the internet or within the work place. Repercussions could mean the user loses their job or money because it would look like they would be doing things they shouldn’t be. Issues There are many different issues that organisations will have to deal with somewhere down the line such as data going missing or the theft or breakages of systems, the company will have different procedures that would need to be put into the place before the problems arise so they can be prepared and can act quickly, this would be to avoid losing hours of work. Health and Safety As everything else that is put into the workplace, a fully working and up-to-date health and safety legislation is needed to be put into place. This is to allow the workers to feel completely safe within the work environment and examples include CCTV cameras and fire alarms and equipment, these are checked regularly to make sure they are fully operational. The health and safety policy is put in place to also protect the business because if a worker is found to have hurt themselves but the company would be seem to not be at fault because of the policy being put in place. There are other forms of health and safety that workers would need to be aware of when working such as electrocution when using the system, trapping parts of themselves within the computer system (for example, trapping a finger within a part of the computer such as the fan,) fire and static shocks. Some of these can be stopped by the user such as waiting for the computer to be off before attempting to change or fix any parts and therefore reducing the chance of being electrocuted and leaving no chance of being a finger trapped within the computer system, but sometimes there are things that would be out of the individual’s control such as fires but when this type of problem arises, that’s when it would be up to the company to fix and sort out, rather than the individual. The precautions that can be taken by the individual can include taking fire safety training courses; this allows the user to be ready for any emergency that could come up and would save the company vast amounts of money. Other precautions that can be completed by the individual can include wearing a band that stops electrics shocks to the user, these can help to company not lose any hours that could be spent working but it can also make a worker seem highly needed and important to the team, therefore these small changes can be good on both scales.