Injured Workers Privacy Principles Statement

How we collect, use, disclose, and store your personal and health information

icare Workers’ Insurance respects your privacy and treats the management of your personal and health information very seriously.

We are bound to manage your personal and health information in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 and the Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002. We apply these legal obligations when collecting, storing, using, and disclosing your personal and health information in the course of administering your workers compensation claim. The Workers Compensation Act 1987 and the Workplace Injury Management and Workers’ Compensation Act 1998 and other legislative instruments regulating the workers compensation scheme contains specific rules about how we can use and disclose any information we have obtained from you in the course of administering your claim.

The following principles apply to your personal and health information in any form, including electronic or paper records, audio records, and x-rays.

Why we collect information about you

We collect personal and health information only if it is lawful to do so and where it is reasonably necessary for our purpose. We collect information to the extent that it is necessary for us to exercise our functions under the Workers’ Compensation scheme (the scheme). We collect your information to determine whether and to what extent you are entitled to claim benefits delivered by the scheme, including medical treatment and support services, and financial compensation. The information we collect also helps us to manage your claim and to more generally improve the scheme and reduce workplace injury.

What kind of information we may collect

We collect personal and health information that is relevant to your claim to workers compensation. This information may include:

• information about your accident and the injuries you sustained
• your employment history including your income
• information about your health including your medical and other treatment and care needs
• reports from workplace rehabilitation providers, independent medical examiners, injury management consultants, investigators and others
• information about your current community support and living arrangements
• information that allows us to provide you with financial compensation including your bank account details and tax file number.

How we use and disclose your information

We will use and disclose your personal and health information for the purpose for which it was collected or a directly related purpose.

We also use your information for developing customer or scheme improvement programs and for monitoring and improving the quality of scheme management. We might also disclose your personal or health information for research or compilation of statistics where it is reasonably necessary and in the public interest. In those circumstances, we will ensure that the information is de-identified and reasonably necessary for those purposes or that the information is otherwise provided in accordance with Human Research Ethics Committee requirements or with your consent.

Who we might obtain your personal and health information from, or give it to

We will collect your personal and health information from you and others by a variety of means, including in writing, verbally, via online portals, applications or other form of written record. We may record telephone calls made by you or others and may use those recordings both in administration of your claim, and to improve the quality of the management of the scheme.

We may need to provide documents and/or information about you to others, or get information, including documents, records in a digital form and voice recordings from them. The people and institutions we may give to or obtain from include:

• your authorised representative, your agent, and any other person you nominate;
• family and friends who are involved in your care;
• current or former employers, or current or former work colleagues or any other persons who can provide information regarding your employment arrangements;
• an insurer carrying on the business of providing workers compensation, personal injury or CTP insurance;
• government regulators including the NSW State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA)
• a department, agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth, the State or another State or Territory;
• if you live or travel overseas, any private or government entity necessary to deliver treatment and care services to you or otherwise manage your participation in the scheme;
• a hospital, including a private hospital;
• an ambulance and/or other emergency services;
• a medical practitioner;
• a person who is qualified to assess the treatment, care, and support needs of a person;
• a provider of treatment, care, or support services including attendant care and support services;
• an educational institution;
• third party contractors engaged by icare to deliver any aspect of the management of the workers compensation scheme including a quality auditor engaged by contract to review management of the scheme; and
• any legal practitioner engaged in representing a party making a claim for compensation or damages (including personal injury, workers compensation or CTP).

Transferring your information outside New South Wales

Sometimes we may need to transfer your information to other States and Territories, as well as to the Commonwealth. This may be for treatment and care purposes as described above, or as part of the Commonwealth-State reporting obligations. If you live in a different state or overseas we will need to do this most of the time. If we need to transfer your personal or health information outside of NSW we will ensure that we have lawful authority to do so or otherwise request your consent.

Keeping your information relevant and up to date

We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal and health information is relevant, up to date and complete. We may ask you to verify information we hold about you and to ensure it is accurate.

We keep your information secure

We protect your information from unauthorised access, use, misuse, modification, disclosure and loss. Your information is stored securely, not kept any longer than necessary and disposed of in accordance with our record keeping obligations.

You can ask to correct your information

If you ask us, we will tell you what personal and health information about you we have, and give you access to it. We will allow you to update, correct, or amend your personal or health information in certain circumstances, for instance if it is inaccurate.

If you act for someone who as an authorised representative

You may be able to give consent to collect, use, and disclose information if you are acting for someone as an authorised representative. If a worker has impaired decision-making capacity or a disability, an authorised representative means:

someone acting for a worker as a person responsible within the meaning of section 33A(4) of the Guardianship Act 1987, being a guardian, a spouse or partner, a carer or a close friend or relative (as defined in the Guardianship Act 1987); or

an attorney for the worker under an enduring power of attorney; or

a person who is otherwise empowered under law to act for or represent the worker.

If there is a dispute about how we are managing your personal or health information

If you believe we are not managing your personal or health information in accordance with these principles then you have rights to ask us to review our conduct.

For more information

If you have any questions about privacy, confidentiality or access to your information, you can phone, fax or email us. Details are given below.

Phone our switchboard: 13 44 22 (from 7:00am to 7:00pm, Monday to Friday)

Email us at: wisupport@icare.nsw.gov.au

For further information about how icare, including Workers’ Insurance, meets its privacy obligations please visit the privacy pages on our website at www.icare.nsw.gov.au.