Privacy and security statement

At WorkCover, your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information is important to us.

We are committed to protecting your privacy by responsibly collecting, using, storing and disclosing the personal information we may hold about you in a manner consistent with a new statewide Public Sector Privacy Scheme ('Privacy Scheme') established by Queensland Government Information Standard 42 (IS42).

For more information on IS42 and its associated guidelines, please visit this link: http://www.governmentict.qld.gov.au/index.html

1. What is the Public Sector Privacy Scheme
A privacy scheme, mirroring Federal Privacy Act requirements, was introduced by the State Government in September 2001. The scheme affects all Government departments and agencies and includes WorkCover Queensland.

Workcover has established a system to monitor its compliance with IS42. This ensures that WorkCover Queensland handles your personal information responsibly and in a way that is consistent with other States, Territories and the private sector.

The following information explains how we handle the personal information in line with the new privacy scheme.

2. Privacy at WorkCover and 'personal information'

WorkCover Queensland provides a range of workers' compensation services to Queensland business and its injured workers. To provide our services we must collect some personal information. Personal information is information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database) we hold about you that can identity you.

3. What personal information do we collect?

The amount and type of personal information we hold about you depends on the extent to which you use the services we provide or have made claims with us.

As an injured worker or a policyholder, the personal information we hold may include your name, date of birth, current and previous addresses, telephone/mobile phone number, e-mail address, financial details, occupation, driver's license number or other identifying numbers, dependants and contact details including telephone numbers and in some cases facsimile numbers and e-mail addresses.

As an injured worker, we may also hold information about your health. We collect it initially from the medical provider who saw you at the time of your injury. We may also collect from other government agencies or from health service providers including hospitals, doctors and other medical and related professionals as well as a range of other service providers. These service providers may have provided health services to you, or one of any number of other services associated with the injury which you are claiming for. If you have lodged a previous claim with us, we will also hold details concerning that history. We will also hold information concerning your employment, workplace, injury location and nature of injury.

As a policyholder we may also hold information relating to your financial and business affairs, including bank account and credit card details, tax file numbers, Australian Business Number (ABN), and wages information.

We may also be required to collect from, use, or disclose to various government agencies (eg. Health Insurance Commission, the Nominal Defendant, Child Support Agency, Family Services and Federal and State health departments). How we use and disclose this personal information is governed by the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003, the Freedom of Information Act 1992 or other legislation or requirement by law.

As an applicant seeking employment with WorkCover Queensland we collect personal information to assess you for a position or positions within WorkCover.

4. How do we collect personal information?

WorkCover collects personal information in a number of ways:

• directly from you, when you provide information by phone or in documents such as application form;
• from third parties such as your employer, medical providers, financial institutions, other government agencies, credit reporting agencies or your authorised representatives;
• from publicly available sources of information;
• from the organisations identified below under 'How do we disclose personal information?';
• from another agency in accordance with the terms of an agreement, such as a memorandum of understanding established under the terms of WorkCover's legislation.

We will collect personal information directly from you, and only to the extent necessary to provide a service to you or to carry out our internal administrative operations. For example, we may collect personal information from you when you fill in an application form, when you speak with us over the telephone, ask us to contact you after visiting our web site or have contact with us in person.

We will collect personal information from you by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonably intrusive way.

5. How do we use personal information?

Your personal information may be used in order to:

• provide workers' compensation services to you;
• provide insurance to indemnify you when an employee sustains an injury or injuries at the workplace;
• administer and manage those services, including paying, charging, billing and collecting debts;
• manage compliance and audit activities in accordance with our legislative requirements;
• conduct appropriate checks relating to possible fraud;
• maintain personal contact details including those of medical and allied health providers, legal representatives and employer's staff;
• maintain and develop our services, systems and infrastructure, including testing and upgrading of these systems;
• maintain employee personnel records, financial management information systems and information systems payroll information;
• respond to general enquiries, ministerial correspondence and general correspondence;
• provide market research, statistical analysis and data profiling.
• assess you for a position or positions with WorkCover Queensland, conduct personal reference checks and assess your suitability for other positions within WorkCover.

6. How do we disclose personal information?
For the purposes set out above we may disclose your personal information to organisations or service providers outside WorkCover. These may include:

• medical and allied health service providers who manage the services we provide to injured workers;
• your authorised representative/s (e.g. legal advisers);
• credit-reporting and fraud-checking agencies;
• our professional advisers, including our accountants, auditors and lawyers;
• government and regulatory authorities including the Australian Electoral Office, the Department of Family Services, Child Support Agency, Centrelink or the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Immigration, and other organisations including other insurers, as required or authorised by law.
• your employer if your employer is a self-insured employer under the Workers’ Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003.

7. How to access your personal information

WorkCover will provide you access to, or a copy of, the information we hold about you. Your request must be in writing, and must clearly identify the information you seek.

WorkCover provides access to your personal information within 28 days of receipt of your request. There is no charge to access your personal information.

In certain circumstances we are authorised to refuse access to certain personal information we may hold about you. Your right to access your information is affected where:

• access poses a serious threat to the life or health of any individual
• access has an unreasonable impact on the privacy of others
• the information relates to a commercially sensitive decision making process
• access is unlawful, or
• access prejudices enforcement activities, a security function or legal proceedings.

As an applicant for a position of employment within WorkCover Queensland you can access your personal information on-line through the Jobs Online system using your applicant identification number and password.

Contact WorkCover on 1300 362 128 and ask to be put through to the Claims Officer (with your Claim reference Number) for further information and assistance with accessing your personal information.

8. Help us ensure we hold accurate information

WorkCover takes reasonable steps to ensure the personal information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

If you find the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us immediately and we will take reasonable steps to ensure it is corrected.

If your personal details change, please update WorkCover with any changes (eg. name and address details).

As an applicant for a position of employment within WorkCover Queensland, you can access and update your personal information on-line through the Jobs Online system using your applicant identification number and password.

9. Security of your personal information
WorkCover takes reasonable steps to protect your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised disclosure or destruction. WorkCover has in place government standards of technology and operational security in order to keep your personal information safe.

10. Confidentiality and your consent

We keep confidential all personal information we hold about you. That confidentiality applies unless disclosure of your personal information is:

• with your consent or written authority
  For example you consent to release certain information as a result of completing and signing a compensation application form and may also be in the form of an authority allowing a representative to access your personal information on your behalf.
• compelled by law
  For example, disclosure to various government departments and agencies such as the Australian Taxation Office, and disclosure to courts in the course of court proceedings, Freedom of Information Act 1992.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 1992, anyone can apply for access to personal information. When we consider their application, we consider whether it is in the public interest to release personal information: e.g. medical reports and witness statements.

Information will not be released unless there is a relationship between the claimant and the applicant, which makes it in the public interest to release.

• in the public interest - freedom of information
  For example, where a crime, fraud or misdemeanour is committed or suspected, and disclosure against a person's right to confidentiality is justified as being in the public interest.

11. How long do we keep personal information

Records held by WorkCover, which include your personal information, are subject to the requirements of the Public Records Act 2002. WorkCover has a Disposal and Retention Schedule, approved by Queensland State Archives, governing the period these records are retained and their date of destruction.

12. Complaint and review procedures

You can make a written complaint to WorkCover if you believe we have not dealt with your personal information in a manner that is consistent with this policy. Your complaint must be in writing and within six months from the time of the alleged breach of your privacy.

On receipt, we will acknowledge your complaint verbally within two business days, and where possible, provide a written response, including any appropriate remedy to resolve your complaint, within 10 business days.

If you do not agree with the decision, you can apply in writing to the Privacy Contact Officer for an internal review of the initial decision. An internal review request must be within 28 days of the original decision notice.

The internal review decision is provided by a separate independent WorkCover officer who is no less senior than the Privacy Contact Officer within 45 days.

13. Further information
For more information on WorkCover's privacy provisions, please contact WorkCover on 1300 362 128 and ask to be put through to the Privacy Contact Officer.

Q-COMP, the workers' compensation regulatory authority of Queensland, also has a privacy policy on its website at www.qcomp.com.au.

Visit these links for further general information about the Queensland Public Sector Privacy Scheme:
http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/40.htm and here http://www.qgcio.qld.gov.au/02_infostand/standards/is42.htm.