Privacy statement

This Privacy Statement explains our policy for handling personal information which you may provide to us when you access and interact with our website or otherwise communicate with us electronically.

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About this statement

WorkSafe Victoria is a body corporate established under Victorian workers compensation legislation.

Our functions and responsibilities require us to collect and handle large amounts of personal and health information about individuals, including injured workers, our employees and other persons, including contracted service providers, who assist us in the work that we do.

We are committed to the protection of your privacy and in our handling of personal and health information. In accordance with Victorian privacy laws and principles, we are required to take reasonable steps to let people know the sort of information we hold; the purposes for which we collect it; and, how we collect, hold, use and disclose that information.

This Privacy Statement explains our policy for handling personal information which you may provide to us when you access and interact with our website. This Statement should be read in conjunction with WorkSafe's Privacy Policy, which sets out why and how we collect, use, disclose, store and handle personal and health information. WorkSafe's Privacy Policy follows this statement.

Communications between you and WorkSafe

Your preferences

Our aim is to provide you with consistent and timely communication and we are committed to ensuring the quality and protection of the personal information we collect from and send to you. You may choose to communicate with us and to receive your personal and health information by email or SMS. Email is a quick, convenient and more consistent method of communication, but you should understand that it is not 100% secure and there is a risk that emails can be intercepted, read or modified by others or sent to an incorrect address. SMS messages are normally encrypted and you should ensure that the messaging service you use to communicate with us is encrypted.

When you send us an email or SMS, the contents of your email and your email address or SMS and mobile number are generally retained by us for only as long as is necessary to respond to your inquiry. However, the information may be retained for longer where you provide consent, or where we believe that we are required or authorised by law to retain the information for a longer period.

We may use your email address or mobile number for any purpose for which you provide it including to send you your personal and health information. We may also use it to respond to feedback given to us about our website and our services; to provide you with any information you request; to confirm receipt of emails you have sent to us; or, if we need to contact you for any other reason.

When you subscribe or opt-in to receive marketing communication from WorkSafe by electronic mail, you should be aware that any information you provide including your name (you can use an alias if you choose to do so) and email address will be stored on a database provided by a third party email marketing service provider (Swift Digital) on our behalf. Information you provide will not be provided to other or third parties. You can opt out from receiving marketing communications from WorkSafe at any time via an unsubscribe link that can be found at the bottom of every marketing email sent to you by WorkSafe.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to websites which are owned or operated by third parties independent of WorkSafe, including websites owned or operated by our service providers and WorkSafe Agents.

This Privacy Statement does not apply to external websites. Those websites should contain their own Privacy Statements, and their owners or operators are responsible for informing you about their security and privacy practices.

WorkSafe is not responsible for the privacy practices or content of external websites. We recommend you read the Privacy Statement of each linked website you visit in order to understand its Privacy Policy.

Collection of information

The information which we will collect about you depends on how and why you access our website.

Our website uses web analyst Google as our web monitoring service provider. Further information about how Google collects and uses information gathered over the internet is available from their website.

Collection of clickstream data

If you visit the website to read, browse or download information, our computer system will record information about the visit such as the type of browser and operating system you are using, the previous site you visited, your server's IP address, the date and time of your visit, the pages accessed and any information downloaded.

We use this information:

  1. to improve the services and information we provide to you; and
  2. for statistical, reporting and website administration and maintenance purposes

Cookies

Cookies are pieces of information that a website transfers to an individual's hard drive for record keeping purposes. Cookies can make web surfing easier for you by saving your preferences while you are on a site.

Cookies may be used to store information about your use of WorkSafe websites and there is certain information we automatically track via Google Analytics when you access these websites. This data is used to improve the services and information we provide and does not include any personally identifying information. Any information captured by WorkSafe during your website use is stored securely and will not be provided to any unauthorised third parties.

Use and disclosure of information

In addition to the other situations described in this Privacy Statement, we may collect, use and disclose personal and/or health information in a number of situations, including:

  • if you make a claim for compensation
  • if you apply for or hold an authorisation or licence issued by us
  • if you have been involved in an incident or accident that we are investigating
  • if you provide services to us
  • if you apply for a job or are employed by us
  • if you order any of our free publications or ask us to give you other information
  • if you provide us with information, make a complaint or otherwise contact us

Our policies and practices in relation to these situations are set out in our Privacy Policy.

Security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. If you are concerned about your personal, health or any sensitive information or other material being conveyed to or from us over the internet or electronically, you may contact us by telephone or mail.

We implement technology, security policies, rules and measures to protect the personal and health information that we have under our control. However, you should be aware that there are risks in transmitting information across the Internet. So, while we strive to protect such information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted online and if you chose to send us information electronically you do so at your own risk.

Any information that is added to our website, or any other website, can be picked up by search engines such as Google or Yahoo. This is not in our control, but is an automatic process. Sending or publishing information via the internet places that information in the public domain, where it can be picked up by search engines, even if removed by us or the website owner or publisher.

If you choose not to access WorkSafe's website, you may still access WorkSafe's services through other methods, including telephone or post.

Access or correction

For access to, or correction of, any personal information held by WorkSafe, please contact the Privacy Officer via the Freedom of Information unit.

If you would like access to information about your claim, contact the WorkSafe agent managing your claim. For a list of contact details for all of our authorised agents, visit the WorkSafe website.

Changes to this Privacy Statement

You acknowledge and accept that your use of WorkSafe's website indicates your acceptance of the terms of use outlined in this Privacy Statement. This Privacy Statement replaces any other Privacy Statement previously published on WorkSafe's website.

We may, at any time, vary the Privacy Statement by publishing a varied Privacy Statement on our website. You accept that by using WorkSafe's website after any such variation, we have provided you with sufficient notice of the variation and you are taken to have accepted the revised Privacy Statement.