Introduction
We understand the importance of
privacy and are committed to protecting the privacy and security of your
personal information with integrity and in accordance with our legal
obligations.
The Institute has opted-in to the
provisions of the Australian Privacy Act
1988 which explains how we will handle your personal information.
If you are a resident in the European
Economic Area, you should also refer to the EU
General Data Protection Regulation which provides additional important
information.
The Institute may update this Privacy
Policy from time to time, which is continuously published on our website and will be
effective from the date of posting. This Privacy Policy was last updated January
2019.
What types of personal information do we collect?
General
- contact details, such as name,
address, email and telephone number
- personal details and information
about you, such as title, post-nominals, date of birth, gender, education and
qualifications
- professional and employment information
including employer, job title, employment history, curriculum vitae and referee
reports
- information associated with
applications or enquiries for enrolment in a CPD program, accreditation or
certification program including results or outcomes
- applicant’s details, such as
information supplied as part of an application for a particular membership category
or to becoming an RPEQ
- skills assessments and reports that
you or your authorised representative provide to us or which we or our
authorised representatives facilitate, including ‘Competency Demonstration
Reports
- contractor and service provider
information and details that are provided to us in connection with our
procurement or our contract or engagement with such entities
- any personal information collected or
obtained by us in connection with any events, seminars, career expos or
conferences that we facilitate or participate in, such as the sessions you
attended, any dietary preferences and your partner’s name
- complaints or feedback you provide to
us
- the products and services that we
provide to you including any member resources and subscriptions
- any surveys responses you complete
which are not completed on an anonymous basis
- details and reports of your communications
or interactions with us
Sensitive personal information
We may collect ‘sensitive personal
information’ within the meaning of the Privacy Act such as information about
your ethnic origin or your membership of another professional or trade
association.
Website
- Our website(s) including https://www.ipweaq.com and our event
sites may store ‘cookies’ on your computer to help improve its
functionality. We use cookies for analytical purposes.
- We also use Google Analytics which is a web
analytics service provided by Google Inc. Google Analytics uses cookies. We
use Google Analytics to improve our business practices and obtain
information about the way in which visitors use our website so that we can
improve our business practices.
- The data generated and processed by Google
Analytics may be used and stored by Google on global servers outside our
region. Google may use this data in accordance with its policies including
for the purpose of generating reports on website activity and internet
usage. More information about Google Analytics and how Google uses data is
available on
their website.
- If you do not wish to receive cookies, you may
change the settings on your browser to refuse cookies.
How do we collect personal information?
Members
We collect the personal information of our members through:
- the provision of member services and
support via the telephone, email or other technological means
- the use of, and interaction with, the
information and services provided through our websites, online portals,
inquiry, feedback and other forms
- the use of, and interaction with, the
products and services provided in connection with the Institute’s campaigns,
competitions, events or initiatives
- communications and interactions
generated as part of our dealings with you through social media channels
including Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
- applications for skills or
qualification assessment, RPEQ or other membership categories;
- your connection and involvement in Working
Groups, Steering Committees etc
- payment transactions that members or
their representatives make to us
- enrolment, registration or attendance
at conferences, events, symposia or other continuing professional development
sessions that we facilitate or participate in
- nominations for awards or for a
position on our Board or Branch committees or other representative body
- interaction with our business units
for example, the Queensland Water Directorate aka qldwater and/or the use
of their products and services
- the receipt and investigation of
complaints and feedback relating to the Institute or its members
- requests to join a ‘mailing list’ or
to be contacted for further information about our products or services
- responses to surveys or research
conducted by the Institute or by third party service providers on our behalf;
- marketing and promotional campaigns,
for example, the process of developing a feature news story for a magazine,
electronic newsletter, promotion, scholarship, social media, journal or other Institute-generated
content
- other information that you or your
authorised representative provides to us as part of your (or your authorised
representative’s) communications or interactions with us.
Non-members
The Institute collects the personal
information of non-members (for example, employment applicants, service
providers, prospective members and other non-members) through many of the same
channels set out above where relevant. In addition, we collect information of
non-members through:
- applications or enquiries for
membership, skills or qualification assessments
- applications or enquiries for
enrolment in our professional development program, RPEQ or other certification
or assessment program
- the contractor and service provider
information and details that such entities provide to us or that we obtain in
connection with our procurement or contract for products or services or our
engagement with such entities
- the information you provide to us or
that we obtain in connection with our employee or contractor recruitment and
selection process including applications for employment
Information from third parties
We usually collect your personal
information from you directly. In rare circumstances we may collect personal
information about you from third parties that you have consented or authorised
to provide that information to us. We may also collect information about you
from third parties where we are legally permitted to do so.
Publicly available information
Where legally permitted we may in
some circumstances source certain personal information such as email addresses,
from publicly available information, for example, websites.
Anonymity
You may make a request to engage with
us on an anonymous basis or using a pseudonym. However, due to the nature of
the products and services that we provide, it will usually not be practicable
for us to engage with you on this basis.
What are the consequences if you do not supply your personal
information?
If you do not provide your personal
information to us or our third party providers (where applicable), we may not
be able to do one or more of the following:
- provide the requested products or
services to you, either to the same standard or at all
- review and approve your membership
application or any other application or assessment
- provide you with information about
products and services that you may want, including information about discounts,
sales or special promotions
- organise your participation in our
events, seminars, conferences and activities
- tailor the content of our websites to
your preferences and, as a result, your experience of our websites may not be
as enjoyable or useful
In some cases, you may also have a
contractual requirement to provide us with certain personal information. Where
you do not provide personal information to us we may be no longer able to
continue our contract with you or provide you with some or all services under
that contract. You may also be in breach of your contract with us.
Why do we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information?
Depending on the circumstances, we
may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following
purposes:
- to provide services and products to
you, including membership services and networking support such as, the
provision of magazines, journals, electronic newsletters, event alerts,
networking opportunities with industry partners and other member benefits
- to communicate with you, including to
answer enquiries and provide information about us and our products, services or
membership
- to assess or verify membership
applications, membership status and skills assessments to ensure that
application and assessment criteria are met
- to process payments for services,
including membership applications and assessments
- to process applications or enquiries
for enrolment in a professional development program, RPEQ assessment or other
accredited or registration programs
- for quality assurance, including to
monitor our communications and transactions to ensure service quality,
compliance with law and regulations and to combat fraud
- to perform an assessment of your
eligibility for engagement by us or employment with us and to conduct our recruitment
and selection process
- to verify your identity when you
interact with us including when you seek access to information that we hold
- to provide you with access to our
website, portals and community platforms
- to make decisions on any nomination
or election to a position on the Board, Branch Committees or other constituent
groups, or to process a nomination in regard to an award and/or other recognition
- to send marketing and promotional
materials or communications including emails for products, services or events
including those sent on behalf of or about our sponsorship and commercial
partners
- to enable us to facilitate or
organise conferences, seminars and professional development and networking
events that you have expressed an interest in, or will attend for example, to
organise catering or accommodation in connection with such events
- to include your name, post-nominals
and, with consent, contact details on any national registers owned or
administered by the Institute including the National Register of Bridge
Inspectors and to respond to third party enquires in relation to members
- to elect, recruit, manage, support
and contact and communicate with our committee members, office bearers and
volunteers in the performance of their roles and duties
- for accounting and administrative
function, including to contact our Board, panel and committee members to
distribute business papers and other documentation related to the performance
of their roles and duties
- to facilitate procurement and to
enter into contracts with suppliers and contractors
- to process and respond to any
feedback, claim or complaint made by you; and
- to comply with any law, rule,
regulation, lawful and binding determination, decision or direction of a
regulator or to co-operate with any governmental authority of any country
In some circumstances, and subject to
appropriate legal safeguards to protect your personal information, we may use
certain personal information for statistical or analytical purposes. We use
this data to assess and analyse the demographics of our members, the attendees
of our conferences and events and the users of our services and offerings in
order to better understand our members and users and to improve our business
offering.
Your personal information will not be
shared or disclosed other than as described in this Privacy Policy and GDPR
Schedule. We will never sell your personal information for commercial benefit.
To whom may we disclose your personal information?
For the purposes described above, we
may (depending on the circumstances) disclose your personal information to:
- fellow committee members, office
bearers and other volunteers
- fellow members but only with your
consent
- our professional advisers for
example, legal, financial, business or other advisers
- third parties with which we have
sponsorship or commercial agreements for business, marketing, and related
purposes
- any third party for an authorised
purpose with your consent or where we are authorised by law to do so eg to a Regulator.
Additionally, we may provide the
following information about our members to persons who make an enquiry:
- the fact that a member is a member of
the Institute;
- the category of membership
- when the member joined
- whether their membership is current
or has been suspended.
Do we disclose your personal information overseas?
We may although it is unlikely, disclose
your personal information to entities located outside of Australia however we
would only disclose personal information outside of Australia in accordance
with our legal obligations.
Direct marketing
The Institute will only engage in
direct marketing in accordance with all applicable laws. We may send you direct
marketing communications and information about our products, services and
offerings that we consider may be of interest to you.
These communications will be sent
electronically in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the
Privacy Act and Spam Act 2003 (Cth). If you indicate a preference for a method
of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do
so.
You may opt-out of receiving direct
marketing communications from us at any time by contacting us or by using the
opt-out facilities provided in the marketing communications or (if applicable)
by updating your communication preferences in your online portal. On receipt of
your opt-out request, we will then ensure that your request is actioned in
accordance with your preferences.
How can you access and correct your personal information?
You may request access to any
personal information we hold about you at any time by contacting our Chief
Executive Officer (see details below).
Where we hold information that you
are entitled to access, we will try to provide you with a suitable means of
accessing it. Subject to law, we may in some circumstances charge you a
reasonable fee to cover our administrative costs in providing the information
to you. We will not charge you for simply making the request and will not
charge you for making any corrections to your personal information.
There may be instances where we
cannot grant you access to the personal information we hold for example, we may
need to refuse access if granting access would interfere with the privacy of
others or if it would result in a breach of confidentiality. If that happens,
we will give you written reasons for any refusal.
We will take reasonable steps to
ensure that the personal information we hold is accurate, complete and up to
date. We regularly audit our information and request our members to update their
records whenever possible.
If you believe that personal
information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you
may request us to amend it by contacting our Relationship Manager on 07 3632
6802.
Please note that if your
representative seeks to access or correct your personal information on your
behalf, to protect your privacy and to comply with our legal obligations, we
will require evidence to our satisfaction of the representative’s legal
authority to do so before processing any access or correction requests.
Retention and security of personal information
We will hold your personal
information in electronic form. We will comply with our legal obligations for
the protection of your personal information from misuse and loss and from unauthorised
access, modification or disclosure.
We will keep personal information for
as long as it is needed to fulfil any purpose for which we may lawfully use or
disclose it.
As our website is linked to the
internet and the internet as a whole is insecure, we cannot provide any
assurances regarding the security of transmission of information you
communicate to us online. We also cannot guarantee that the information
you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the internet.
Accordingly, any personal information or other information which you transmit
to us online is transmitted at your own risk.
What is the process for making a complaint?
If you have a complaint about the way
we have collected, stored, used or disclosed your personal information, a
detailed complaint should be made to our Chief Executive Officer (see details
below) so that a full investigation may be undertaken. We will advise you of
the outcome in writing.
If you are unsatisfied with the
outcome of our investigation, you may refer your complaint to the Office of the
Australian
Information Commissioner (‘OAIC’).
Contacting
us
If you have any questions about this
Privacy Policy, would like to update your details or have any concerns or a
complaint regarding the treatment of your personal information or a possible
breach of your privacy, please inform our Chief Executive Officer, Leigh Cunningham on 07 3632 6810.