Your rights
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4.1 Privacy complaints
We encourage you to contact us directly in the first instance if you believe that we have breached one of the privacy principles or have concerns with the way we have handled your personal or health information.
Should you hold any of the above concerns, please contact the SafeWork privacy team at privacy@safework.nsw.gov.au. The SafeWork privacy team will be able to assist you by:
- explaining how we manage personal and health information
- advising how you can access or amend the information we hold about you
- addressing any concerns you might have about how SafeWork has or will manage your personal or health information
We are committed to managing privacy complaints in a way that is timely, fair, transparent, and compliant with the PPIP Act. We follow the complaint handling guidance provided by the NSW Information and Privacy Commission (IPC) and aim to resolve issues without delay or further breach. Under the PPIP Act, you are not explicitly required to identify yourself when lodging a privacy complaint. Our agency accepts complaints made anonymously or under a pseudonym. However, we advise complainants that:
- remaining anonymous may limit our ability to investigate or respond fully to the complaint
- in some cases, we may require additional information to understand the context or verify the facts of the alleged breach
We will still assess and act on any credible anonymous complaint, particularly if it reveals a serious or systemic privacy risk.
Should you not be satisfied that your concerns have been rectified informally, you can apply for an internal review or make a complaint to the NSW Privacy Commissioner. If you would like to provide positive feedback or make a complaint, you can use our customer feedback form or call us on 13 10 50.
4.2 Internal review
If you believe that SafeWork has breached the PPIP Act or HRIP Act relating to your personal and/or health information, you have a right to seek an internal review. Where you believe there has been a breach of another individual’s privacy, you can only ask for an internal review if you are their authorised representative.
Please note, an internal review may only be lodged within six months from the time you first became aware of the suspected breach. In limited circumstances, we will consider whether we will accept a late application for an internal review.
You may also make a privacy complaint directly to the NSW Privacy Commissioner.
The internal review process
To help you apply for an internal review, you can use the application form. Although we encourage use of the form, it is not compulsory. You may submit any other relevant material along
with your application. Requests for internal review should be sent to the SafeWork privacy team at privacy@safework.nsw.gov.au and needs to:
- be in writing
- be addressed to SafeWork,
- include a return address in Australia and
- be lodged at an office of SafeWork within 6 months from the time you become aware of the conduct that is the subject of the internal review application
Applications in other languages will be accepted and translated, and all acknowledgments and correspondence from SafeWork will be translated into the applicant’s preferred language. If the applicant is not literate in English and/or their first language and there is no organisation making the application on their behalf, the SafeWork privacy team will help write the application, using a professional interpreter if necessary.
What you can expect from us
- your application will be acknowledged within 5 working days and will include an expected completion date
- either the SafeWork privacy team (if they were not involved in the conduct which is the subject of the complaint), or another person not involved in the conduct which is the subject of the complaint, who is an employee or an officer of the agency, and is qualified to deal with the subject matter of the complaint will conduct the review
- the internal review will be completed within 60 days of receiving your application. If you are not notified of the outcome of the review within 60 days, you have the right to seek external review at NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT). More information on external reviews is provided below, and
- we will follow the NSW Privacy Commissioner’s Internal Review Checklist and give consideration given to any relevant material submitted by you and/or the Privacy Commissioner
In making a decision, we may decide to:
- take no further action on the matter
- make a formal apology to you
- take appropriate remedial action, which might include a compensation payment to you
- undertake that the conduct will not occur again, and/or
- implement administrative measures to ensure that the conduct will not occur again
You will be informed of the outcome within 14 days of the internal review being decided, including:
- the findings of the review
- the reasons for those findings
- the action SafeWork proposes to take
- the reasons for the proposed action (or no action), and
- your entitlement to have the findings and the reasons for the findings reviewed by NCAT
Role of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
The PPIP Act requires that the NSW Privacy Commissioner be informed of the receipt of an application for an internal review of conduct and receive regular progress reports of the investigation. In addition, the Commissioner is entitled to make submissions in relation to the application for internal review.
When we receive your application, we will provide a copy to the IPC. We will then continue to keep the IPC informed of the progress of the internal review, the findings of the review and the proposed action to be taken by SafeWork in relation to the internal review. Any submissions made by the IPC to the agency will be taken into consideration when making our decision.
The IPC contact details are:
Office: Information & Privacy Commission NSW, Level 15, McKell Building, 2-24 Rawson Place, Haymarket NSW 2000 Post: GPO Box 7011, Sydney NSW 2001 Phone: 1800 472 679
Email: ipcinfo@ipc.nsw.gov.au
Web: www.ipc.nsw.gov.au
4.3 External review
If you are unhappy with the outcome of the internal review, you can apply to NCAT to review the decision (an “external review”). If we have not completed the internal review within 60 days, you can also take the matter to NCAT for external review.
However, please note, before you have the right to seek an external review you must first seek an internal review by SafeWork. Generally, you have 28 days from the date of the internal review decision to seek the external review.
For more information about seeking an external review including current forms and fees, please contact NCAT:
NCAT Administrative and Equal Opportunity Division and Occupational Division Postal address: PO Box K1026, Haymarket NSW 1240 I DX 11539 Sydney Downtown Street address: Level 10 John Maddison Tower, 86-90 Goulburn Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Phone: 1300 006 228
Email: aeod@ncat.nsw.gov.au
Web: www.ncat.nsw.gov.au
4.4 Contact us
Should you have any queries in relation to this Plan or other privacy concerns, please contact SafeWork’s privacy team via the below details:
Email: privacy@safework.nsw.gov.au
General SafeWork enquiries:
Phone: 13 10 50
Web: www.safework.nsw.gov.au