Privacy Policy

Engineers Australia is conscious of the privacy concerns of its members and the people with whom it deals. Protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information is fundamental to the way we do business.

Engineers Australia is an organisation that is by nature personal information-intensive. It relies on comprehensive and accurate personal information about its members and other people with whom we deal. We have robust systems and procedures in place to protect your privacy whenever we collect, store, use or disclose your personal information.

How we collect your personal information

We collect most personal information directly from you. For example, we may collect personal information when you fill in an application form or survey, deal with us over the telephone, send us a letter, visit our web site, or when you have contact with us in person.

The type of personal information we collect includes official and preferred names, titles, postnominals, personal awards, private and business address details, telephone and facsimile contact details both private and business, email addresses, date of birth, gender, qualifications, work experience and skills, employer information, insurance details, areas of practice, and areas of interest. We also hold assessment records created when you apply for certain membership grades. There may be occasions when we need to source personal information about you from a third party, such as when you are nominated for an honour or award, or when a complaint is made about you.

Use and disclosure of your personal information

We collect your personal information to provide you with a particular product or service and to contact you about matters pertaining to membership of Engineers Australia. We may use or disclose your personal information for purposes related or ancillary to the main reason we collect it, such as:

  • Internal accounting and administration
  • Regulatory reporting and compliance
  • Helping us to identify and inform you about other services that may be of benefit to you

We treat all personal information we hold about you as confidential. This applies except where disclosure of your personal information is:

  • Compelled by law - for example, disclosure to courts under subpoena
  • In the public interest - for example, where a complaint is made against you and disclosure is justified
  • With your consent

We disclose a member's mailing details (i.e. name and address) to our wholly owned subsidiary companies, Engineers Australia Pty Ltd (EA) (for the purpose of mailing to you the monthly Engineers Australia magazine) and to Engineering Education Australia Pty Ltd (for the purpose of mailing training and education course information to you).

Disclosure to third parties

EA, on behalf of Engineers Australia, sells the mailing list to commercial providers of goods or services that are deemed to be of benefit or interest to engineers. EA is prohibited from disclosing names and addresses for this purpose without your express consent. You will be asked for that consent at the time you join as a member, or when you renew your membership.

We may contract out some of our functions and activities. For example, we may disclose information to allow printing of renewal invoices, membership cards, and arrears notices. We may also provide names and addresses to a mailing house to mail information to you. In these situations, we prohibit the third parties from using personal information about you except for the specific purpose for which we supply it.

We make certain registers and lists publicly available. For instance, if you are recorded on a register or other listing, such as NPER, NTER, as an accredited arbitrator, mediator or conciliator, or if you are an office bearer on council, congress, a committee, or panel, we disclose personal information such as name and contact details through various means, either through publications, websites or verbally to members of the public.

We keep your personal information up to date

If we have accurate personal information about you, it enables us to provide you with the best possible service. We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date whenever we collect or use it. We enable you to update your own personal information through the members zone on the National website.

We will correct personal information

If you find that current personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date please contact us immediately and we will correct it. Alternatively, you may correct this yourself through the members zone on the National website.

You can access your information

You may access your personal information through the members zone on the National website. Alternatively, on request, we provide you with information about you which is readily accessible and which may lawfully be provided. Your request to provide information will be dealt with in a reasonable time.

We store your personal information securely

We protect any personal information that we hold about you from misuse and loss. We protect your privacy by restricting access to your personal information to those staff who need it, either to process information or to provide you with the services you have asked for.

Your personal information may be stored in hardcopy documents, as electronic data, or in Engineers Australia's software or systems. We maintain physical security over our paper and electronic data stores and premises. We also maintain computer and network security. For example, we use firewalls (security measures for the Internet) and other security systems such as user identifiers and passwords to control access to computer systems.

Resolving your concerns

If you believe that the privacy of your personal information has been compromised, you are entitled to complain.

If you have a complaint, contact the area where you believe the breach has occurred. If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, forward a written complaint to:

The Chief Executive
Engineers Australia
11 National Circuit
Barton ACT 2600

A written complaint must include a return address, and identify the conduct that is the basis for the complaint. There are no fees for lodging a complaint.