APA (NSW) Privacy Policy

About this policy

This privacy policy outlines the personal information handling practices of the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW) or APA (NSW).

In this Policy, the Union means the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW) or APA (NSW).

The Union is committed to protecting your privacy and providing you with the information and services relevant to you.

Collection of your personal information

This Policy applies to personal information the Union collects from you:

• Via our website;
• Via social media;
• Via telephone;
• Via email;
• Via fax;
• In person; and/or
• In writing.

We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information to carry out the functions or activities of the Union.
The union collects holds, uses and discloses your personal information to:

• Assist you with industrial relations and employment queries;
• Inform you about, and assist the Union in, industrial, social and political campaigns;
• Inform you about your rights at work;
• Inform you about changes to legislation;
• Refer you to a legal practitioner, accountant or other professional;
• Improve out service delivery;
• Conduct surveys and research;
• Provide educational services and professional development; and/or
• Conduct Union elections.

The main way we collect personal information about you is when you give it to us. For example, we collect personal information such as contact details and payment details when you apply for membership, or we may collect personal information when we assist you with an industrial issue.

Collecting information through our website

The APA (NSW) website, www.apansw.com.au, is hosted in Australia. There is a number of ways in which we collect information through our website.

Web analytics

Oncord

Cookies

Cookies are small data files transferred onto computers or devices by websites for record-keeping purposes and to enhance functionality on the website.
Most browsers allow you to choose whether to accept cookies or not. If you do not wish to have cookies placed on yout computer, please set your browser preferences to reject all cookies before accessing our website.
Here are some examples of cookies we use:

• Session Cookies: We use Session Cookies to operate Our Site.
• Preference Cookies: We use Preference Cookies to remember your preferences and various settings.
• Security Cookies: We use Security Cookies for security purposes.

Email lists, registrations and feedback

We will collect information that you provide to us when signing up to mailing lists and registering for our events, or when submitting feedback on your experience with our website.

Social networking services

We use social networking services such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to communicate with the public and our members about our work. When you communicate with us using these services we may collect your personal information, but we only use it to help us carry out our functions and activities. The social networking service will also handle your personal information for its own purposes. These services have their own privacy policies. You can access the privacy policies for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram on their websites.

Links to other sites

Our Site may contain links to other sites that are not operated by us. If you click on a third party link, you will be directed to that third party site. We strongly advise you review the Privacy Policy of every site you visit.

We assume no responsibility for the use of personal information collected by any third party site or service.

Transfer of Data

Your information, including Personal Data, may be transferred to – and maintained on – computers located outside of your state, province, country or other governmental jurisdiction where data protection laws may differ than those from your jurisdiction.
If you are located ouside of Australia and choose to provide information to us, please note that we transfer the data, including Personal Data, to Australia and process it there.

Your consent to this Privacy Policy followed by your submission of such information represents your agreement to that transfer.
APA (NSW) will take steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy and no transfer of your Personal Data will take place to an organisation or country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.

Disclosure

Common situations in which we disclose information are detailed below.

Disclosure to the media

We will only provide the media with personal information relating to a complaint if you have agreed.

Disclosure to service providers

APA (NSW) uses a number of service providers to whom we disclose personal information. These include providers that host our website servers, manage our IT and provide legal services to our members.

To protect the personal information we disclose, we enter into an agreement which requires the service provider to only use or disclose the information for the purposes of the agreement.

Disclosure of sensitive information

We only disclose your sensitive information for the purposes for which you gave it to us or for directly related purposes you would reasonably expect or if you agree, for example, to handle an industrial issue.

Other disclosures

In addition to the disclosures detailed above we may also disclose information we collected from you:

• Otherwise, as you have consented; and/or
• Otherwise, as required by law.

Quality of personal information

To ensure that the personal information we collect is accurate, up-to-date and complete we:

• Record information in a consistent format;
• Where necessary, confirm the accuracy of information we collect from a third party or a public source;
• Promptly add updated or new personal information to existing records;
• Regularly audit our contact lists to check their accuracy.

We also review the quality of personal information before we use or disclose it.

Storage and security of personal information

We take steps to protect the security of the personal information we hold.

Accessing and correcting your personal information

You have the right to ask for access to personal information that we hold about you, and ask that we correct that personal information. You can ask for access or correction by contacting us, and we will respond within 30 days. If you ask, we will give you access to your personal information, and take all reasonable steps to correct it if we consider it is incorrect, unless there is a law that allows or requires us not to.

We will ask you to verify your identity before we give you access to your information or correct it, and we will try to make the process as simple as possible. If we refuse to give you access to, or correct, your personal information, we will notify you in writing setting out the reasons.

If we make a correction, and we have disclosed the incorrect information to others, you can ask us to tell them about the correction. We will do so unless there is a valid reason not to. 

If we refuse to correct your personal information, you can ask us to associate with it (for example, attach or link) a statement that you believe the information is incorrect and why.

How to make a complaint

If you wish to complain to us about how we have handled your personal information, you should complain in writing. If you need help to lodge a complaint, you can contact us.

If we receive a complaint from you about how we have handled your information, we will determine what (if any) action we should take to resolve the complaint.
We will tell you promptly that we have received your complaint and then respond to the complaint within 30 days.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

This policy may be varied from time to time and an updated version will be posted on the Union's website. Please check our website regularly to ensure that you have the most recent version of this Policy.

How to contact us

You can contact us by:
Email: admin@apansw.com.au
Telephone: (02) 9564 3261

Publication date: Version 1.0, January 2020