Privacy

Energy Safety Canada's Commitment to Privacy

1.1 Purpose

At Energy Safety Canada, we take the issue of safeguarding privacy very seriously. We respect and are committed to protecting the confidentiality and security of Personal Information entrusted to us, and ensuring that all Personal Information we hold is collected, used and disclosed in compliance with all applicable federal and provincial privacy requirements ("Privacy Legislation"). Canada has two federal privacy laws, the Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. Alberta has the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and regulation and Personal Information Protection Act, Saskatchewan has Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and regulations and the Local Authorities Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and regulations, and finally British Columbia has the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the Personal Information Protection Act.

1.2 Definition

Within this Privacy Policy, "Personal Information" means information about an identifiable individual. Personal Information does not include publicly available information such as a public directory listing of an individual's name, address or phone number; business contact information such as an individual's name, position name or title, business telephone number, business address, business e-mail, business fax number and other similar business information; or aggregated information that cannot be associated with a specific individual.

1.3 Scope

This Privacy Policy applies to Energy Safety Canada, employees and students who enrol in Energy Safety Canada courses. In addition, contractors, consultants, agents, auditors, franchisees and other third party service providers are bound to comply with this Privacy Policy and Energy Safety Canada's practices governing the protection of Personal Information and privacy, and Energy Safety Canada's Acceptable Use of Technology Policy.

1.4 Energy Safety Canada's Privacy Practices 

Energy Safety Canada is committed to the ten principles noted below which are mandated in Privacy Legislation governing the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information. These principles form the foundation of Energy Safety Canada's Privacy Policy:

A. Accountability

    • Energy Safety Canada is responsible for safeguarding Personal Information in its possession or control. Energy Safety Canada will use appropriate means to provide a comparable level of protection when Personal Information is being processed by a third party.

Responsibility for ensuring compliance with the provisions of this Privacy Policy rests with the designated Privacy Officer of Energy Safety Canada. The Privacy Officer will have responsibility for giving effect to the Privacy Policy, including:

    • implementing procedures to protect Personal Information and overseeing Energy Safety Canada's compliance with this Privacy Policy;
    • establishing procedures to receive and respond to inquiries and complaints regarding Personal Information;
    • training staff and communicating with staff about Energy Safety Canada's policies and practices; and
    • developing employee and student communications to explain Energy Safety Canada's policies and practices.

The contact information of the person currently designated as Energy Safety Canada's Privacy Officer is privacy.officer@energysafetycanada.com.

B. Identifying Purposes for Collection

    • Energy Safety Canada will document the purposes for which Personal Information is collected, and will only collect Personal Information for the identified purposes.
    • Energy Safety Canada will specify to the individual, orally, electronically or in writing, the identified purposes at or before the time Personal Information is collected. Upon request, persons collecting Personal Information will explain these identified purposes or refer the individual to the Privacy Officer of Energy Safety Canada who will explain the purposes.
    • In accordance with Privacy Legislation, Energy Safety Canada will identify and document any new purposes for which previously collected Personal Information may need to be used and disclosed, and obtain the consent of the individual where applicable.

C. Obtaining Consent for Collection, Use or Disclosure

    • Energy Safety Canada will seek consent to use and disclose Personal Information at the same time it collects the information or in accordance with Privacy Legislation.
    • In obtaining consent, Energy Safety Canada will ensure that an individual is advised of the identified purposes for which Personal Information will be used or disclosed. Purposes will be stated in a manner that can be reasonably understood.
    • Examples of when Energy Safety Canada may collect, use and disclose Personal Information are to:
      • verify an individual's identity;
      • process a payment or invoice;
      • provide a product or service that Energy Safety Canada offers;
      • register an individual in a course and/or determine an individual's eligibility to register in a course whether such course is offered directly through Energy Safety Canada or through an Energy Safety Canada agent or franchisee.
      • provide information to agents or franchisees of Energy Safety Canada regarding student registration in courses;
      • provide the instructor and/or participants in a class or event with a list of attendees;
      • provide an individual with an Energy Safety Canada certificate regarding a completed course;
      • provide an individual with promotional/marketing materials as it relates to Energy Safety Canada's business;
        or
      • provide access for industry participants and their respective member organizations to verify student certification in accordance with Energy Safety Canada authorized certificate search policies.
    • In determining the appropriate form of consent, Energy Safety Canada will take into account the sensitivity of the Personal Information, the reasonable expectations of the individuals involved, and the requirements of Privacy Legislation.
    • An individual may withdraw their consent to the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy at any time upon reasonable notice to Energy Safety Canada in writing, subject to legal or contractual restrictions. The withdrawal of an individual's consent may affect Energy Safety Canada's ability to continue to provide an individual with the products and services that the individual has or would like to receive.

D. Limiting Collection of Personal Information

    • Energy Safety Canada will collect, use and disclose Personal Information in accordance with Privacy Legislation and will limit the amount and type of Personal Information collected to that which is necessary to fulfill identified purposes.
    • Energy Safety Canada collects Personal Information primarily from its employees and students, but Energy Safety Canada may also collect Personal Information from other sources to meet the requirements of its business.

E. Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention of Information

    • Energy Safety Canada will keep Personal Information only as long as it remains necessary or relevant for the identified purposes or as required by law. Specifically, as an educational institution certifying individuals and companies in safety training, Energy Safety Canada retains all Personal Information on students who have completed an Energy Safety Canada course and have been certified as doing so for a time period of at least the life of the certification, plus an additional two (2) years from the date of completion.
    • Energy Safety Canada will maintain reasonable and systematic controls, schedules and practices for information and records retention and destruction which apply to Personal Information that is no longer necessary or relevant for the identified purposes or required by law to be retained. Such information will be destroyed, erased or made anonymous.
    • Energy Safety Canada will maintain a record of the third parties that Personal Information is disclosed to in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
    • Any personal information collected by Energy Safety Canada may be stored and processed in Canada or the United States where Energy Safety Canada or its service providers operate.  When personal information is provided to a service provider, we require that they only use the information for the purpose for which it was disclosed and that they protect and deal with the information in a manner that is consistent with this privacy policy; they may be required to disclose your personal information under the laws of their jurisdiction.  By choosing to use Energy Safety Canada Canada’s systems, you consent to such transfer of information in Canada or the United States.

F. Accuracy of Personal Information

    • Those individuals who are party to any Energy Safety Canada benefit plans or receive other benefits from Energy Safety Canada shall ensure that their Personal Information, particularly information that deals with benefit entitlement or status, is kept current, and accurately reported.
    • Energy Safety Canada will update Personal Information as and when necessary to fulfill the identified purposes or upon notification by the individual.

G. Security Safeguards

    • Energy Safety Canada will use its commercial reasonable efforts to protect Personal Information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, use, modification or destruction, through reasonable security measures. The nature of the safeguards will vary depending on the sensitivity of information collected.
    • Energy Safety Canada will take all reasonable steps in the disposal or destruction of Personal Information, to seek to prevent unauthorized parties from gaining access to the Personal Information.

H. Openness Concerning Policies and Practices

    • The information that Energy Safety Canada makes available about its policies and practices will include:
      • the Email address, of the person(s) who is accountable for Energy Safety Canada's policies and practices regarding the management of Personal Information and to whom complaints or inquiries can be forwarded;
      • the means of gaining access to Personal Information held by Energy Safety Canada;
      • a copy of information that explains Energy Safety Canada's policies, standards or codes;
      • the type of Personal Information made available to related organizations and the context and limitations of such Personal Information; and
      • a description of the type of Personal Information held by Energy Safety Canada, including a general account of its use.

I. Individual Access to Personal Information

    • Upon written request, Energy Safety Canada will provide individuals with the opportunity to review the Personal Information that Energy Safety Canada has collected regarding them, in accordance with the requirements of Privacy Legislation. Energy Safety Canada will advise the individual in advance of any charges for retrieval, reproduction or delivery of the Personal Information requested.
    • In certain situations as specified in Privacy Legislation, Energy Safety Canada may not be able to provide access to all the Personal Information that it holds about an individual. For example, Energy Safety Canada may not provide access to information if doing so would likely reveal Personal Information about a third party or could reasonably be expected to threaten the life or security of another individual. Also, Energy Safety Canada may not provide access to Personal Information if disclosure would reveal confidential commercial information;if the information is protected by solicitor client privilege; if the information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process; or, if the information was collected in relation to the investigation of a breach of an agreement or a contravention of a federal or provincial law. If, upon a request being made by an individual, access to his or her Personal Information cannot be provided, Energy Safety Canada will provide the reasons for denying access.
    • In order to safeguard Personal Information, an individual will be required to provide sufficient identification information to permit Energy Safety Canada to authorize access to the Personal Information held regarding that individual. Any such identification information will be used only for this purpose.
    • Individuals can obtain information or seek access to their Personal Information by contacting the Privacy Officer

J. Challenging Compliance

    • Energy Safety Canada will maintain procedures for addressing and responding to all inquiries or complaints from individuals about Energy Safety Canada's handling of Personal Information.
    • Energy Safety Canada's Privacy Officer in conjunction with the appropriate parties involved will investigate all complaints concerning compliance with this Privacy Policy. If a complaint is found to be justified, Energy Safety Canada will take appropriate measures to resolve the complaint including, if necessary, amending its policies and procedures, or disciplinary action up to and including termination. An individual will be informed of the outcome of the investigation regarding his or her complaint.
    • Energy Safety Canada will promptly correct or complete any Personal Information found to be inaccurate or incomplete. Any unresolved differences as to accuracy or completeness will be noted in the file in which the Personal Information is contained. Where appropriate, Energy Safety Canada will notify third parties having access to the Personal Information in question about any amended information or the existence of any unresolved differences.
    • An individual that has concerns with Energy Safety Canada's privacy practices should contact Energy Safety Canada's Privacy Officer.

Website Privacy Practices

1.5 How Energy Safety Canada Collects Information from the Energy Safety Canada Website

When an individual visits the Energy Safety Canada website, no personally identifiable information is collected unless the individual consents to that collection. The Energy Safety Canada website collects non-personally identifiable information as follows:

1.5.1 Non-personally Identifiable Information

Information from visitors to the Energy Safety Canada website is not tracked on an individual basis; but rather, the information is collected on an aggregate basis that includes all site visitors. Any visit to the Energy Safety Canada website automatically generates session log data consisting of the Internet Protocol (IP) address from which the connecting computer came (which contains no personal information), the website that referred the computer to the Energy Safety Canada website, the pages that are visited by the user, the date and time of those visits; and, the amount of time spent on the Energy Safety Canada website. Energy Safety Canada uses this information to perform analytics on users' experience while using the site and to improve the functionality of Energy Safety Canada's website to better meet user wants and needs; identify popular features; measure site activity including peak site usage times; and, page visits and click throughs. These site metrics may be shared with Energy Safety Canada's affiliated service providers and others.

1.5.2 Cookies, Web Beacons and Advertisements

The Energy Safety Canada website uses "cookies", web beacons/GIF/pixel tags, and third-party advertising networks that use ads and other tracking technologies to collect aggregate or other non-personally identifiable information to develop website metrics and improve a user's online experience.

The Energy Safety Canada website may use session and/or persistent cookies to track user movement or other events across the website and the website of franchisees and business partners. A "cookie" is a small text file that helps Energy Safety Canada to improve the functionality of a user's visit to the Energy Safety Canada website. Several different types of cookies are used by the Energy Safety Canada website. A session cookie is stored only on a visiting computer's working memory (RAM) and only lasts for an individual's browsing session. When an individual closes all of the browser's windows or shuts down their computer, the session cookie disappears forever. A persistent cookie is stored on an individual's computer hard drive until a specified date. Persistent cookies stay on an individual's computer until they expire, they are overwritten by new cookies, or the individual manually removes them. Most browsers can be configured not to accept cookies, however, this may prevent a user from having access to some site functions or features.

The Energy Safety Canada website may use web beacons/GIF/pixel tags to help determine site metrics such as if a page has been viewed and how many times. In general, any electronic image viewed as part of a web page can act as a web beacon. When an individual requests information on a course or a newsletter, Energy Safety Canada may also use web beacons to establish how many of the emails are actually opened.

1.5.3 Collection and Use of Personally Identifiable Information on Energy Safety Canada's Website

There are instances where Energy Safety Canada requests Personal Information on the Energy Safety Canada website in order to provide the user with a service, information on a course, a newsletter or where a user participates in interactive online activities such as course registration. Energy Safety Canada may conduct voluntary online surveys to obtain a user's feedback. Energy Safety Canada requests e-mail addresses as a means of contacting a user if the user wishes to obtain ongoing information from Energy Safety Canada.

1.5.4 Links to other Websites

The Energy Safety Canada website may contain links to other websites. Energy Safety Canada encourages users to review the privacy statements of all sites which a user visits, including those whose links are provided, so that a user can understand how those sites collect, use and share a user's information. Energy Safety Canada is not responsible for the privacy statements, content or
data handling practices on other websites.

1.6 How Energy Safety Canada Uses and Discloses Information Collected From Energy Safety Canada's Website

Information collected from our website will only be used and disclosed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

1.7 Security and Accuracy of Information

When a user sends personal information to the Energy Safety Canada website, Energy Safety Canada uses "Secure Socket Layers" (SSL) to protect the user's data. SSL is encryption technology that helps safeguard personal information against misuse by unauthorized individuals.

1.8 Related Legislation and Policies

Federal- Privacy Act and Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.
Alberta- Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and regulation and Personal Information Protection Act.
Saskatchewan- Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and regulations and the Local Authorities Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and regulations.
British Columbia- Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and Personal Information Protection Act.