Privacy Notice

As part of our compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APP), Woods & Co. Recruitment Pty Ltd ACN 608 162 956 (Woods & Co) requests you read the following information regarding how we collect your personal and sensitive information and how we maintain, use, store and disclosure of your personal and sensitive information in connection with your possible or actual work placements and sign where indicated to acknowledge your acceptance and understanding of this information.

We may collect personal or sensitive information about you when:

  • You complete one of our registration forms or provide any other information in connection with your application
  • We receive any reference about you
  • We receive results of inquiries that we might make of your former employers, work colleagues, professional associations or registration body
  • We receive the results of any competency or medical test or background checks including credit and criminal record checks
  • We receive any complaint or other information from or about you in the workplace
  • We receive any information about any insurance investigation, litigation, registration or professional disciplinary matter, criminal matter, inquest or inquiry in which you were involved
  • We receive any information about a workplace accident in which you are involved
  • We collect information about you from public domain sources
  • You provide us with any additional information about you.

Your personal and sensitive information may be used in connection with:

  • Your actual or possible work placement
  • Career guidance or management
  • Your performance appraisals
  • Our assessment of your ongoing performance and prospects
  • Any test or assessment (including medical tests and assessments) that you might be required to undergo
  • Our identification of your training needs
  • nforming you of possible work opportunities or other events such as training or information sessions by direct mail/email/sms
  • Any workplace rehabilitation
  • Our management and resolution of any complaint, inquiry or investigation in which you are involved
  • Any insurance claim or proposal that requires disclosure of your personal or sensitive information
  • Undertaking criminal reference checks and other background checks, including credit checks for positions in Australia involving significant financial risk and otherwise as permitted by law
  • For research, development, business systems and infrastructure testing and other business purposes to assist us in providing our services to you
  • Our direct marketing to you.

Your personal and sensitive information may be disclosed to:

  • Potential and actual employers, clients of Woods & Co and trusted third parties who may be based outside of Australia
  • Woods & Co employees and potential employers located in: Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, France & Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland & Austria, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden & Denmark, UAE, United Kingdom, USA (and any other countries where Woods & Co may provide its services in the future) regarding possible or actual work placements and to assist us in providing our services to you
  • Referees
  • External providers of online training and induction – e.g. mandatory on-line OH&S Induction, and background checking agencies – e.g. criminal record and credit checking
  • Third party contractors/service providers for the purposes of assisting us to provide you with our services, and/or to improve the services we offer you including - providing us with specialised and efficient database management, development and storage and
    - assisting with the provision of marketing communications to you. Such service providers/contractors may be based outside of Australia, including the USA and Canada and your information will be stored on secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities and will only use your information for the purpose of providing services to Woods & Co and will not use your information for any other purpose. Where we transfer information to persons outside Australia we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipients of such information do not breach the APP in relation to that information
  • Our insurers
  • A professional association or registration body that has a proper interest in the disclosure of your personal and sensitive information
  • A Workers Compensation body
  • Any person with a lawful entitlement to obtain the information

If you do not give us the information we seek:

  • We may be limited in our ability to locate suitable work for you; and
  • We may be limited in our ability to place you in work

Additional information contained in our privacy policy:

  • Our privacy policy which is located on the bottom of our website, www.woodsco.com.au contains further information about the type of information we hold and how we manage your information, including how you can, subject to some exemptions, access personal and sensitive information about you that we hold and request that it be corrected. It also sets out how you can complain about any alleged breaches of the APP and how we will deal with any complaints.
  • If at any time our privacy notice or privacy policy changes, the updated details will be available on the privacy policy on our website. Any information we hold about you will be governed by the most current version of the privacy policy.

Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to us. This statement outlines Woods & Co policy on how we collect personal information and how we maintain, use, store and disclose the personal information we hold and reflects our commitment to you. It applies to all operations within Woods & Co in Australia and, including visitors to our website.

It is the policy of Woods & Co to respect the confidentiality of information and the privacy of individuals. Woods & Co are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (as amended) (Australian Act) in Australia.

The Woods & Co privacy policy will be reviewed and updated from time to time to take account of new laws and technology, changes to our operations and practices and to make sure it remains appropriate to the changing environment. Please regularly check our privacy policy so that you are aware of these updates and changes. Any information we hold will be governed by the most current version of the Woods & Co privacy policy.

The Woods & Co privacy policy is based on transparency.

We are committed to being open and transparent about how we manage personal information.

Types of personal information held by Woods & Co and when and how it is collected

Personal information includes information regarding your contact details, work experience, qualifications, aptitude test results, opinions about your work performance (eg references), incidents at the workplace, and other information obtained or received by us in connection with your possible and actual work placements.

Sensitive information

Sensitive information is a special category of personal information under the Australian Act. It is information or opinion about you, including membership of a professional or trade association or membership of a trade union; criminal record; health information, racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, or sexual preferences or practices. As outlined in the Australian Act, sensitive information can, in most cases, only be disclosed with your consent.

Collection

We may collect personal or sensitive information about you when:

  • You complete one of our application forms or provide any other information in connection with your application
  • We receive any reference about you
  • We receive results of inquiries that we might make of your former employers, work colleagues, professional associations or registration body
  • We receive the results of any competency or medical test or any background check, including credit and criminal record checks
  • We receive any complaint or other information from or about you in the workplace
  • We receive any information about any insurance investigation, litigation, registration or professional disciplinary matter, criminal matter, inquest or inquiry in which you were involved
  • We receive any information about a workplace accident in which you are involved
  • We collect information about you from public domain sources
  • You provide us with any additional information about you

Your personal and sensitive information may be used in connection with:

  • Your actual or possible work placement
  • Career guidance or management
  • Your performance appraisals
  • Our assessment of your ongoing performance and prospects
  • Any test or assessment (including medical tests and assessments) that you might be required to undergo
  • Our identification of your training needs
  • Informing you of possible work opportunities, relevant candidates, or other events such as training or information sessions by direct mail/email/sms
  • Any workplace rehabilitation
  • Our management and resolution of any complaint, inquiry or investigation in which you are involved
  • Any insurance claim or proposal that requires disclosure of your personal or sensitive information
  • Undertaking criminal reference checks and other background checks, including credit checks for positions in Australia involving significant financial risk and otherwise as permitted by law
  • For research, development, business systems and infrastructure testing, and other business purposes to assist us in providing our services to you
  • Our direct marketing to you

If you do not give us the information we seek:

  • We may be limited in our ability to locate suitable work for you
  • We may be limited in our ability to place you in work

Disclosures

We may disclose your personal information (including to trusted third parties) for the purposes for which it is primarily held or for a related secondary purpose and in some cases we may only disclose information with your consent. Your personal and sensitive information may be disclosed to:

  • Potential and actual employers, clients of Woods & Co and trusted third parties who may be based outside of Australia
  • Woods & Co employees and potential employers located in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, France & Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland & Austria, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden & Denmark, UAE, United Kingdom, USA, (and any other countries where Woods & Co may provide its services in the future) regarding possible work placements or to assist us in providing our services to you
  • Referees
  • External providers of on-line training and induction – e.g. mandatory on-line H&S Induction, and background checking agencies – e.g. criminal record and credit checking
  • Third party contractors for the purposes of assisting us to provide you with our services, and/or to improve the services we offer you including
    - providing us with specialised, efficient database management and development and storage and,
    - assisting with the provision of marketing communications to you. Such service providers/contractors may be based outside of Australia, including the USA and Canada and your information will be stored on secure servers that are protected in controlled facilities and will only use your information for the purpose of providing services to Woods & Co and will not use your information for any other purpose. Where we transfer information to persons outside Australia we take reasonable steps to ensure that the recipients of such information do not breach the APP in relation to that information
  • Our insurers
  • A professional association or registration body that has a legitimate interest in the disclosure of your personal and sensitive information
  • A Workers Compensation body
  • Any person with a lawful entitlement to obtain the information
  • We do not disclose information about your individual visits to the Woods & Co website.

Management of personal information

At Woods & Co, we train our staff to respect the confidentiality of customer information and the privacy of individuals. Woods & Co regard breaches of your privacy very seriously and any breach will result in disciplinary action being taken, dependent upon severity. Woods & Co have appointed a Privacy Officer to ensure that our management of personal information is in accordance with this policy and the relevant Privacy Acts.

How do we store and protect personal information?

Safeguarding the privacy of your information is important to us, whether you interact with us personally, by phone, mail, over the internet or other electronic medium.

We hold personal information in a combination of secure computer storage facilities and paper-based files and other records, and take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to protect the personal information we hold from misuse, interference and loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We may need to maintain records for a significant period of time. However, when we consider information is no longer needed, we will remove any details that will identify you or we will securely destroy the records.

How do we keep personal information accurate and up to date?

Woods & Co takes such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the personal information it holds and discloses is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading. We recognise that information changes frequently with changes of address and other personal circumstances. We generally update your customer information over the telephone. Please advise your consultant when your personal details change.

If you have created a profile with Woods & Co via our website, you are able to review and edit your personal information at any time by logging into your account and reviewing your profile. You can delete your personal information or close your account by contacting the Privacy Officer. If you do choose to close your account with Woods & Co, Woods & Co may retain personal information from your account as and where required by law.

General information collected from visitors to our website

We gather information about all our website users collectively, such as what areas users visit more frequently and what services users access the most. We only use such data anonymously and in the aggregate. This information helps us determine what is most beneficial for our users, and how we can continually create a better overall website experience for you.

Your personal information collected on the www.woodsco.com.au website.

In some instances we may need specific information about you, such as name, address, email address, telephone number etc. We will collect this information if you apply for a job or sign up for a service via our website. We may also ask you for other information such as the types of jobs you are interested in and your workplace concerns in order to provide you with the best possible service and internet experience.

Enquiries & complaints

You can make enquiries, requests to access/delete or correct your information, or complain about alleged breaches of the APP’s to us by email marked ‘ATT: Privacy Officer’ and addressed to tom@woodsco.com.au

Complaints

We aim to acknowledge receipt of all complaints within 10 working days, and aim to resolve all complaints within 30 working days. This may not be possible in all circumstances depending on the contents of the complaint. In this situation, we will respond to your complaint in a reasonable time. If you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, in Australia you can contact the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

Access

Subject to some exceptions that are set out in both the Australian Privacy Principles you can gain access to the personal information that we hold about you.

To make a request to access your personal information, you will need to complete an application form verifying your identity and specifying what information you require. Please contact our Privacy Officer for an application form. We will respond to your request within a reasonable period after the request is made and provide access to the information in the manner requested, if it is reasonable and practicable to do so.

We may impose a moderate charge in providing access. Our Privacy Officer will discuss this with you. You should also anticipate that it may take time to process your application for access as there may be a need to retrieve information from storage and review it in order to determine what information is relevant.

If we refuse to provide you with access to your personal information, we will notify you in writing of the reasons for the refusal and the process for escalation regarding this refusal.

Correction

You may request that we correct the personal information that we hold about you if you deem it to be inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date, irrelevant or misleading. We will take reasonable steps under the circumstances to correct the information.

If we refuse to correct your personal information, we will notify you in writing of the reasons detailing our refusal to correct the information and the process for escalation regarding this refusal. Should we refuse you may ask us to place with the information a statement that the information is inaccurate, incomplete, out-of-date, irrelevant or misleading and we will take such reasonable steps under the circumstances to associate the statement with your information. If you wish to exercise your rights of correction you should contact our Privacy Officer for an application form. We will not charge you for making the request to correct your information, correcting the information, or associating a statement.

Feedback

Woods & Co have several areas on our website where you can submit feedback, under the ‘contact us’ section. Any feedback that is submitted through this area becomes the property of Woods & Co. We may use this feedback, such as success stories or responses to surveys, for marketing purposes, or to contact you for further feedback on the site.