Privacy Statement

The NSW State Emergency Service (SES) is strongly committed to protecting your privacy while using the Home Emergency Plan.

Application and Ownership

This privacy statement applies to the NSW SES's Home Emergency Plan web site.

Purpose of the Privacy Statement

The purpose of this statement is to let you know what information is collected about you when you use the Home Emergency Plan, how this information is used, to whom it is disclosed, and your ability to have any incorrect personal information amended.

The NSW SES goal is to provide you with a satisfying experience while allowing you to control your privacy and to give you a means to voice any questions or concerns you may have.

The NSW SES's Home Emergency Plan must comply with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998. You can obtain further information about this legislation from the NSW Privacy Commissioner.

1. Purpose of Web site

The Home Emergency Plan provides the community with a simple tool that enables people to develop their own customised Home Emergency Plan in relation to floods, storms and tsunami, at no cost.

You can use the plan to create, save, email and/or download a customised Home Emergency Plan. These plans are not saved on any server.

2. Role of the NSW SES

As an emergency service provider, the NSW SES operates the Home Emergency Plan web site. Hosting, software and editing services are provided by other organisations under NSW Government contract.

Information you enter into the Home Emergency Plan site is not provided to any other organisation. The NSW SES or its contractors cannot access the information you provide. The information collected by the NSW SES is for reporting purposes only on site access, general locations and completed plans.

3. Information collected when you use this toolkit

Two types of information are collected when using the Home FloodSafe Plan:
3.1 Information about the usage of the toolkit
3.2 Information provided by you (postcode)

3.1 Information about the usage of the toolkit

3.1.1 How do we use the information collected?

The information collected during each visit access is aggregated with similar logged information and published in reports in order for the NSW SES to identify patterns of usage and statistics. This will assist us in improving the toolkit.

The NSW SES will not disclose or publish information that identifies individual machines, or potentially identifies sub-groupings of addresses, without consent or otherwise in accordance with the New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

3.1.2 What exceptions are there to this rule?

The NSW SES will collect, use and disclose more extensive information than stated above in the following circumstances:

  • Unauthorised attempts to access files which are not part of the Home Emergency Plan pages
  • Unauthorised tampering or interference with files published on the Home Emergency Plan site
  • Unauthorised attempts to index the contents of the Home Emergency Plan by other sites
  • Attempts to intercept messages of other users of the Home Emergency Plan
  • Communications which are defamatory, abusive, vilify individuals or groups or which give rise to a suspicion that an offence is being committed
  • Attempts to otherwise compromise the security of the web server, breach the laws of the State of New South Wales or Commonwealth of Australia, or interfere with the use of the Home Emergency Plan by other users.

The NSW SES reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of the Home Emergency Plan site raises a suspicion that an offence is being, or has been, committed. In the event of an investigation, the NSW SES will provide access to data to any law enforcement agency that may exercise a warrant to inspect our logs.

3.1.3 Is the information stored securely?

Yes. Information collected is stored in an appropriately secure format and held by NSW SES for archival purposes. When the information is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected it is deleted.

3.2 Information provided by you (postcode)

In order to use the Home Emergency Plan, there is a requirement for you to provide a minimum level of information in order to complete your Plan. You are able to provide much more information if you wish to create a more detailed Home Emergency Plan.

3.2.1 Information collected when you use the Home Emergency Plan

When you use the Home Emergency Plan you can enter a postcode and then choose a location as well as enter your email address to be sent your plan and/or a reminder to update your plan. This information is used to:

  • Determine coverage of plans across NSW
  • Send you your Home Emergency Plan
  • Provide you with an annual email reminder to review your plan

3.2.2 How is this information stored?

The information provided in the Home Emergency Plan you develop is saved as cookies on the users computer as you enter it on each page. You do not need to enter information in all areas but the plan does need to be completed in one sitting.

3.2.3 How does the NSW SES use the information collected?

The information entered by you to create your Home Emergency Plan may be used by the NSW SES for the purposes of statistical reporting on usage of the Home Emergency Plan or to identify areas where the Home Emergency Plan could be improved. The NSW SES cannot disclose or publish information that identifies individual users without consent or otherwise in accordance with the New South Wales Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

For example if the NSW SES hosts a Home FloodSafe meeting in a community, we would be interested to see how many Home Emergency Plans were created in that community as a result of the meeting to assist us in determining the value of that program.

4. Information provided in the 'Contact' link?

The NSW SES provides feedback facilities on the Home Emergency Plan through the 'Contact' link. This allows users to provide input into the future development of this toolkit.

Users must provide personal details for the purpose of receiving a reply to their feedback. This information will only be used for the purpose for which it was provided. We will not add your email address, postal address or name to any mailing list. The NSW SES may publish aggregated information about feedback to the extent that it does not identify or cannot be used to identify individual users.

5. Who else has access to information within the NSW SES?

Access to all this information is restricted to a limited number of officers in the NSW SES and their contractors for the purpose of analysis and to report on the success of the Home Emergency Plan in meeting its objectives and NSW Government requirements.

6. Use and disclosure of information

The NSW SES, in its role as the Home Emergency Plan service provider, does not require your personal information. The NSW SES reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities or law enforcement agencies where this is required by law or is otherwise part of a lawful investigation with the information that is placed into the Home Emergency Plan by the user. Outside of this, information which is placed into the Home Emergency Plan is used solely for reporting requirements to the NSW Government by the NSW SES.

7. Feedback

We welcome your feedback about this Privacy Statement and about the Home Emergency Plan design and practices. You can use the 'Contact' link on the Home Emergency Plan pages for this purpose. The provision of personal details is optional but, you need to provide personal details for the purposes of receiving a reply to your feedback comments.

8. Requesting a review of privacy conduct

You can ask the NSW SES to review its compliance with legal obligations to protect privacy if you are aggrieved by the Department's conduct. For example, if you believe that the NSW SES has contravened the information protection principles in the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998.

An application for review can be lodged by mailing the application to:

Manager Corporate Communications
NSW State Emergency Service
PO Box 6126
WOLLONGONG NSW 2500
Tel: 02 4251 6111
Fax: 02 4224 2212

An application must be lodged within six months of the time that you first became aware of the NSW SES's conduct or alleged conduct. You must include an address, where the NSW SES can contact you. The NSW SES will notify you about the outcome of the review. You can apply to the Administrative Decisions Tribunal for a further review, if you are not satisfied with the findings of the review - or by the actions that the NSW SES takes in relation to your application.

9. Updates to this statement

The NSW SES may modify this statement from time to time. This statement was last modified on 18 February 2013.


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