Global Welding Technology and its related bodies corporate (“Global Welding Technology”, “we”, “us” or “our”) respects the privacy of individuals and strives to treat your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the “Act”). This policy describes the kinds of personal information that we collect and hold and how we manage personal information. When appropriate, Global Welding Technology will rely on the exemptions in the Act relating to employee records and related bodies corporate.

This policy may change from time to time so please check regularly for updates. The current version of the policy will be posted on our website at www.globalwelding.com.au.

  What kinds of personal information do we collect and hold?

This policy applies to ‘personal information’ as defined in the Act, that is information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, regardless of whether the information is true or not, and regardless of the form in which it is recorded. The Act includes ‘sensitive information’ as a sub-set of personal information. Sensitive information may include health records, racial or ethnic origin, criminal records and membership of a professional or trade association or a trade union.

The types of personal information that we collect will depend on the circumstances of the collection.It may include: name; date of birth; contact details; occupation; information required for recruitment purposes such as your employment history and qualifications, membership of a professional or trade association or a trade union; criminal records; information required to open or maintain a trading account with us such as your bank account details and information that we obtain from credit checks; information collected from Global Welding Technology’s websites such as usage details, IP addresses and information collected through cookies, web beacons and other tracking technologies.

 

·        Any party to whom you have provided a reference, or who provides a reference for you;

 

·        Publicly available sources (e.g., the media, ‘LinkedIn’, and your company’s website or annual report);

 

·        Recruitment agencies;

 

·        Your medical service providers;

 

·        Your agent, lawyer or any body else who you have authorised to act on your behalf;

 

·        Any of the companies within the Global Welding Technology Group (whether local or overseas);

 

·        When you enter a trade promotion conducted by us or our agent or distributor;

 

·        When you register to attend an event that Global Welding Technology is associated with, from the party organising the event; and

 

·        Credit reporting agencies (in accordance with the terms of Global Welding Technology’s credit application).

 

We may collect personal information given to us in any form, including: in writing (e.g. letter, fax, in forms that you submit to us in hardcopy); verbally (e.g. in person or over the telephone); or electronically (e.g. by email, via our websites, informs that you submit to us online, instant or text messages).

 

  Why do we collect, hold and use personal information?

 

The main reasons why we collect, hold and use personal information are:

 

·        Supplying our products or services (the nature of which will generally be known to you at the time of collection);

 

·        Completing other business transactions;

 

·        Providing customer support, including responding to enquiries relating to our products or services, and assessing and processing warranty claims;

 

·        Administering accounts;

 

·        For marketing purposes, such as informing you of changes to our business, or of new products or services;

 

·        Planning, product development and research purposes;

 

·        Conducting trade promotions;

 

·        Complying with any applicable legal or regulatory requirements;

 

·        Complying with Global Welding Technology’s internal policies;

 

·        Assessing employment applications; and

 

·        Any other purpose disclosed to you at the time of collection.

 

We will generally hold, use and disclose personal information for the purpose for which it was collected and other related purposes for which you would reasonably expect us to use the information, or to which you have consented. We may also hold, use and disclose your personal information for other purposes if it is permitted or required by law.

 

If you do not provide us with the personal information requested, we may not be able to satisfy the purpose for which we sought to collect the information, for example, we may not be able to provide you with our products or services, or assess your application for employment.

 

  Who might we disclose your personal information to?

 

We may disclose your personal information to third parties in order for us to fulfil any of the purposes stated in this policy. Such third parties may include:

 

·        Any of the companies within the Global Welding Technology group,  whether local or overseas;

 

·        Third party service providers, such as suppliers of  IT services, courier and delivery companies, marketing companies, mailing houses, debt collection agencies, process servers and realestate agents;

 

·        Other entities that we work with, whether as a partner or a sub or head-contractor;

 

·        Government authorities, regulatory bodies, law enforcement agencies, courts, tribunals and/or other parties to legal proceedings; and

 

·        Professional service firms providing services to us, including accountants, auditors, lawyers, insurance companies and brokers, and financial institutions.

 

  Do we send personal information overseas?

Any of the third parties referred to above may be located overseas but particularly our IT service providers, other companies within the Global Welding Technology group, lawyers, and insurance companies and brokers. Countries where we regularly send personal information include the following (withoutlimitation): The United States, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Singapore.

Personal information provided to overseas recipients may not have the same protections as those set out in this privacy policy and in the Australian Privacy Principles. We take reasonable steps to ensure that our contracts with the overseas recipients of your personal information require them to comply with the Australian Privacy Principles. However, there will be some circumstances where it is not reasonably practicable for us to do this. We will not be liable to you for any breach of the Australian Privacy Principles by these overseas recipients. If you provide your personal information to us, you are consenting to our disclosure of your personal information overseas.

 

  Website Data Collection Practices

As you navigate through and interact with our websites, we may automatically collect certain information including: details of your visits such as traffic data, location data, and logs; other communication data and the resources that you access and use on our websites; and information about your electronic device, computer, and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system, and browser type. The information we collect is statistical data that helps us to improve our forms of e-communication and to deliver better, more personalised service. The technologies we use for this data collection may include:

 

·        Cookies (or browser cookies): A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your electronic device. If your computer settings are adjustedto refuse cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts of our websites. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you direct your browser to our websites.

 

·        Flash Cookies: Certain features of our websites may use local stored objects (or flash cookies) to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on our websites. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies.

 

·         Web Beacons: Pages of our websites and our e-mails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs. pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) that allow Global Welding Technology to, for example, count users who have visited those pages or opened an e-mail and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain website content and verifying system and server integrity).

 

   Direct Marketing

 

From time to time, we may use your personal information to inform you about our products and services including special offers. If you do not wish to receive this information, just let us know by contacting our Privacy Officer at Privacy@globalwelding.com.au or by using the unsubscribe facilities included in the marketing communications.

 

We do not disclose your personal information to organisations outside of the Global Welding Technology group for the purposes of allowing them to direct market their products to you.

 

If the law requires us to provide you with information about our products or services, we will provide that information to you even if you have elected not to receive information about our productsand services generally.

 

  Security of Your Personal Information

 

The security of your information is important to us and we take reasonable precautions to protect your information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

 

Some of the ways we protect your information include:

 

·               External and internal premises security;

 

·               Restricting access to personal information to staff who need it to perform their day-to- day functions;

 

·               Maintaining technology products to prevent unauthorised computer access including identifiers and passwords; and

 

·               Maintaining physical security over paper records.

 

  Access and Correction

 

We take reasonable steps to ensure that the information we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, we also rely on you to tell us when your personal information changes.

 

You may seek to access or correct your personal information by contacting our Privacy Officer by email at Privacy@globalwelding.com.au, or by mail to 18 Roseman Road, Chirnside Park VIC 3116.  We will not charge you for making such a request. However, we may charge a fee for providing the information requested.Whether or not we charge a fee will depend on the nature and extent of the information requested and will be to cover our reasonable expenses in locating and supplying the information.

 

If we refuse to give you access to, or amend, your personal information, we will send you a written notice setting out our reasons for the refusal and any mechanism available to you for complaint.

 

  Concerns and Complaints

 

If you would like to make a complaint about a breach of this privacy policy or the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Act, please contact our Privacy Officer by email at Privacy@globalwelding.com.au,or by mail to 18 Roseman Road, Chirnside Park VIC 3116.

 

Our Privacy Officer will investigate the complaint and will use reasonable endeavours to respond to you within 30 days of the date the complaint was received.

 

If you are not satisfied with our response, or if you do not receive any response from us within 30 days, you can contact us to discuss your concerns, or you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (http://www.oaic.gov.au).

 

  Dealing with us anonymously or under a pseudonym

 

Usually, we will need your personal information in order to deal with you, however you are entitled to ask us whether you can deal with us anonymously or under a pseudonym. We will agree to such a request only if it is practical and appropriate for us to do so.

 

  Additional Information

 

If you would like any further information on the information contained in this privacy policy, please contact our Privacy Officer by email at Privacy@globalwelding.com.au or by mail to 18 Roseman Road, Chirnside Park VIC 3116.

 

 

 

This policy was last updated on 19 December 2022.