Safework Health (SW Health) is committed to protecting individuals’ privacy and their personal and health information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and applicable state and territory privacy laws. This notice summarises the SW Health Privacy Policy. The full policy is available at www.safeworkhealth.com.au/privacy-policy, from reception or on request.

Individuals may deal with us anonymously where it is lawful and practicable to do so.

When an individual receives, or is to receive, a service from Safework Health, we collect and hold their personal information to:

• understand their needs and provide appropriate services and advice;
• communicate with them about service delivery;
• improve the quality of our services;
• administer and manage services, including charging, billing and debt collection;
• comply with legal and regulatory requirements; and
• support data-driven improvements to service delivery while maintaining privacy protections.

We may collect and hold an individual’s name, date of birth, occupation, postal and email addresses, telephone numbers, current medications, biometric data where relevant and consented to, health risk assessment data where applicable and consented to, health history, medical records and any other information necessary for our functions and activities.

Where reasonable and practicable, we collect personal and health information directly from the individual. Collection methods may include consent forms, chain of custody forms and direct communication in person, by telephone or through secure digital platforms.

We may also collect information from third parties, including authorised representatives or previous health professionals, with the individual’s consent or as permitted by law. We ensure that third-party collection complies with the APPs and is transparent to the individual.

We limit the disclosure of personal and health information and disclose it only for purposes including:

• management, funding, service monitoring, planning, evaluation and complaint handling;
• legislative and regulatory compliance;
• quality assurance or clinical audit activities;
• accreditation activities;
• billing and debt recovery;
• meeting legal requirements, including responding to subpoenas or defending legal proceedings;
• activities directly related to providing health services, where the disclosure is reasonably expected; and
• sharing de-identified data for research where permitted.

Personal and health information may be disclosed outside an individual’s state, territory or country. We do so only to organisations in jurisdictions with substantially similar privacy regimes, or where contractual safeguards provide equivalent protection and comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the APPs.

We store personal and health information in paper and electronic forms. We take reasonable steps to protect this information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Medical records created by Safework Health are our property, although some reports provided to commercial customers are owned by those customers. Individuals may request access to their personal and health information under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), subject to limited exceptions. Requests may be made by emailing [email protected] or visiting a clinic. After we verify the individual’s identity and receive payment of the applicable service fee, we will respond within 14 days, or within 30 days for complex requests.

SW Health protects online privacy by:

• allowing anonymous website visits where no personal information is collected;
• using email addresses only to provide requested services or respond to enquiries, and not adding them to mailing lists or disclosing them to third parties without consent unless required by law;
• providing third parties only with aggregate, non-identifiable website usage statistics;
• advising individuals that we do not control the privacy practices of third-party websites linked from our site and encouraging them to review those websites’ privacy policies; and
• using secure data transmission protocols, such as HTTPS, and conducting regular security audits to protect online data.

Laboratory and clinic systems may assist with result classification, including drug-screen integrity checks, spirometry quality grades and pattern labels, computer ECG interpretation, automated audiometry and hearing-protector fit ratings. Instant clinic drug screens are preliminary only. A scientist or clinician reviews every result used in a report. These systems do not determine fitness for duty, employment or site access.

Individuals who believe we have breached their privacy rights, or who wish to discuss this notice or the Privacy Policy, should first contact the Quality Manager. If the matter is not resolved, contact Head Office on 1300 795 227. A complaint may also be made to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

OAIC: www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints · 1300 363 992 · GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.

For a copy of the full Privacy Policy, privacy enquiries, complaints or a Health Record Request Form, contact the Quality Manager on 1300 795 227 or email [email protected].

Please refer Safework Health Privacy Policy.