Privacy Policy of Quartek Group Inc.
Privacy of personal information is an important principle to Quartek
Group Inc. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information
responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the goods and services we
provide. We also try to be open and transparent as to how we handle personal
information. This document describes our privacy policies.
What is
Personal Information?
Personal information is information about an
identifiable individual. Personal information includes information that relates
to their personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address or
phone number, ethnic background, family status), their health (e.g.,
disabilities affecting mobility) or their activities and views (e.g.,
residential building plans and preferences, religion, politics, opinions
expressed by an individual, an opinion or evaluation of an individual).
Personal information is to be contrasted with business information (e.g., an
individual’s business address and telephone number), which is not protected by
privacy legislation.
Who We Are
Our organization, Quartek Group Inc., provides architectural, planning and
engineering advice in a multidisciplinary consulting environment. As well, Quartek Group Inc. provides project
management related services related primary to construction and to enhance
those services which are centred around our primary
design disciplines. We provide services
to government, residential and commercial clients. At the time of developing
and updating this policy, our firm includes approximately 30 full time staff
including 3 registered architects, 2 interior designers, 6 professional
engineers and various technical and para-professional staff. On
occasion we contract a number of consultants and agencies that may, in the
course of their duties, have limited access to personal information we hold.
These include computer consultants, office security and maintenance,
bookkeepers and accountants, a file storage company, temporary workers to cover
holidays, credit card companies, website managers, cleaners, our landlord and
our lawyers. We restrict their access to any personal information we hold as
much as is reasonably possible. We also have their assurance that they follow
appropriate privacy principles.
We Collect
Personal Information: Primary Purposes
About
Clients
Like most consultants, we collect, use and disclose
personal information in order to serve our clients. For our clients, the
primary purpose for collecting personal information is to provide design advice
and technical services. Where our client is an individual, we collect
information about the client’s building/site or renovations
desires and intended uses, financial situation and, for residential
services, family circumstances so that we can advise the client as to their
options. We then carry out their instructions.
A second primary purpose might be to collect
personal information from third parties (e.g., neighbours) about a client’s
plans so that we can ascertain how the third party’s views affect our client’s
architectural, engineering or planning situation.
A third primary purpose is to obtain home contact
information so that we can contact the client in private or in an emergency.
It would be rare for us to collect any personal
information without the client’s express consent, but this might occur in a
case of urgency (e.g., the client is unavailable) or where we believe the
client would consent if asked and it is impractical to obtain consent (e.g., a
family member who appears to be aware of the project contacts us to provide
additional information).
About
Members of the General Public
For members of the general public, our primary purpose
for collecting personal information is usually to gather and review information
that is relevant to a design issue affecting our own clients (e.g., if they
would object to a project). Thus, the personal information is usually
incidental to our providing advice to our client. Normally this would be done
with the consent of the individual.
Another primary purpose for collecting personal
information about members of the general public is to provide notice of special
events (e.g., a seminar or conference) or to make them aware of our company
services in general or our firm in particular. For example, while we try to
collect work contact information where possible, we might collect home
addresses, fax numbers and email addresses. We try to obtain consent before
collecting any such personal information, but where this is not, for any
reason, possible, we will upon request remove any personal information from our
distribution list.
On our website, we only collect, with the exception
of cookies (electronic markers identifying computers that have previously
visited our website), the personal information you provide and only use that
information for the purpose you gave it to us (e.g., to respond to your email
message, to register for a course, to subscribe to our newsletters). Cookies
are only used to help you navigate our website and are not used to monitor you.
About
Contract Staff, Students and Volunteers
For people who are contracted to do work for us
(e.g., specialty consultants, temporary workers, students and volunteers), our
primary purpose for collecting personal information is to ensure we can contact
them in the future (e.g., for new assignments) and for necessary work-related
communication (e.g., sending out pay cheques, year-end tax receipts, tax filings).
Examples of the type of personal information we collect for those purposes
include home addresses and telephone numbers and performance information for a
review or a reference letter. It is rare for us to collect such information
without prior consent, but it might happen in the case of a health emergency
(e.g., an outbreak of a contagious disease) or to investigate a possible breach
of law (e.g., if a theft were to occur in the office).
About Contractors, Suppliers and Project Security
We collect personal information about contractors and other
suppliers and their staff to assist us in assessing their performance, both for
the specific project in issue and in respect of future projects. We may share
this information in a reciprocal way with other architects, engineers and
construction contacts. Often this information is collected with consent as a
part of a written or verbal contract with the organizations involved. Sometimes
the exceptions for collecting personal information without consent relating to
publicly available information, breach of agreement and contravention of the
law apply. Sometimes the information is business , not
personal, information.
We may collect personal information to maintain the security
of our projects through security cameras and security personnel. We try to make
it known, through signs or the public nature of the cameras and personnel that
we are doing so.
About Third Party Opinions
When we are retained to provide an opinion about the work of
another architect, engineer or a related professional, our primary purpose for
collecting personal information is to gather the necessary information to
express a sound opinion on the issue for our client. In such circumstances, we
often act without the consent of the subject of the third party opinion because
we are inquiring into an apparent breach of law or an agreement and obtaining
consent would compromise the investigation.
We Collect
Personal Information: Related and Secondary Purposes
Like most organizations, we also collect, use and
disclose information for purposes related to or secondary to our primary
purposes. The most common examples of our related and secondary purposes are as
follows:
To invoice clients for goods or services that are not paid for at the time, to process credit card
payments or to collect unpaid accounts.
To advise clients and others of new developments in
architecture, engineering (e.g., a newsletter sent to a home email of a
client).
To advise clients and others of our newsletters,
courses we provide, special offers and promotions that
we have available.
Our firm reviews client and other files for the
purpose of ensuring that we provide high quality services, including assessing
the performance of our partners and staff. In addition, external consultants
(e.g., auditors, lawyers, information technologists) may on our behalf do
audits and continuing quality improvement reviews of our firm, including
reviewing client files and interviewing our staff.
Our architects are regulated by the Ontario
Association of Architects who may inspect our records and interview our staff
as a part of its regulatory activities in the public interest. A similar reguIatory function by the Association
of Professional Engineers of Ontario can investigate their licensed members and
holders of certificate of authorization to ensure that firms like Quartek Group
Inc., are operating in a manner that is consistent with standards of good
engineering and business practice. A similar policy exists for
para-professional associates when members of our staff participate. In addition, as professionals, we will report
serious misconduct, incompetence or incapacity of other practitioners, whether
they belong to other organizations or our own. Also, our firm believes that it
should report information suggesting serious illegal behaviour to the
authorities. External regulators have their own strict privacy obligations.
These reports could include personal information
about our clients, or other individuals, to support the concern (e.g., improper
services), although we try to keep this disclosure to a minimum.
Also, like all organizations, various government
agencies (e.g., Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, Information and Privacy
Commissioner, Human Rights Commission, etc.) have the authority to review our
files and interview our staff as a part of their mandates. In these
circumstances, we may consult with professionals (e.g., lawyers, accountants)
who will investigate the matter and report back to us.
Clients or other individuals we deal with may have
questions about the services they received. We also provide ongoing services
for many of our clients over a period of months or years for which previous
records are helpful. We retain our client information for a minimum of fifteen
years after the last contact to enable us to respond to questions and provide
these services. Our professional associations (OAA, PEO) also require us to
retain our client records.
If Quartek Group Inc or its assets were to be sold,
the purchaser would want to conduct a “due diligence” review of the firm’s
records to ensure that it is a viable business that has been honestly portrayed
to the purchaser. This due diligence may involve some review of our accounting
and service files. The purchaser would not be able to remove or record personal
information. Before being provided access to the files, the purchaser must
provide a written promise to keep all personal information confidential. Only
reputable purchasers who have already agreed to buy the organization’s business
or its assets would be provided access to personal information, and only for
the purpose of completing their due diligence search prior to closing the
purchase.
You
can choose not to be part of some of these related or secondary purposes (e.g.,
by declining special offers or promotions, by paying for your services in
advance). We do not, however, have much choice about some of these related or
secondary purposes (e.g., external regulation).
Protecting
Personal Information
We understand the importance of protecting personal
information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps:
Paper information is either under supervision or
secured in a locked or restricted area.
Electronic hardware is either under supervision or
secured in a locked or restricted area at all times. In addition, passwords are
used on computers. All of our cell phones are digital, which signals are more
difficult to intercept (however, we still are careful on cell phones because sometimes
they switch over to an analog service).
1.
Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or
boxes by reputable companies.
2.
Electronic information is transmitted either through a direct line or
is anonymized or encrypted.
3.
Staff are trained to collect, use and disclose personal
information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with
our privacy policy.
4.
External consultants and agencies with access to personal information
must provide us with appropriate privacy assurances.
Retention and
Destruction of Personal Information
We need to retain personal information for some time
to ensure that we can answer any questions you might have about the services provided
and for our own accountability to external regulatory bodies. However, we do
not want to keep personal information too long in order to protect your
privacy.
We keep our client files for about fifteen years.
Our client and contact directories are much more difficult to systematically
destroy, so we remove such information when we can if it does not appear that
we will be contacting you again. However, if you ask, we will remove such
contact information right away. We keep any personal information relating to
our general correspondence with people who are not our clients, newsletters,
seminars and marketing activities for about two years after the newsletter
ceases publication or a seminar or marketing activity is over.
We destroy paper files containing personal
information by shredding. We destroy electronic information by deleting it and,
when the hardware is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically
destroyed. Alternatively, we may send some or all of the
client file to our client.
You Can Look
at Your Information
With some exceptions, you have the right to see what
personal information we hold about you. Often all you have to do is ask. We can
help you identify what records we might have about you. We will also try to
help you understand any information you do not understand (e.g., short forms,
technical language, etc.). We will need to confirm your identity, if we do not
know you, before providing you with this access. We reserve the right to charge
a nominal fee for such requests.
If there is a problem, we may ask you to put your
request in writing. If we cannot give you access, we will tell you within 30
days if at all possible and tell you the reason, as best we can, as to why we
cannot give you access.
If you believe there is a mistake in the
information, you have the right to ask for it to be corrected. This applies to
factual information and not to any professional opinions we may have formed. We
may ask you to provide documentation that our files are wrong. Where we agree that
we made a mistake, we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we
sent this information. If we do not agree that we have made a mistake, we will
still agree to include in our file a brief statement from you on the point and
we will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier
information.
Do You Have a
Question?
Our Privacy and Information Officer, Robert
MacKenzie, can be reached at:
360 York Road, Unit C5
SS#4 Niagara-on-the-Lake,
ON
L0S
1J0
905
984 8676 (rmack@quartekgroup.com)
Our privacy officer will attempt to answer any questions or concerns
you might have.
If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, you
may make it in writing to our Privacy and Information Officer. He will
acknowledge receipt of your complaint, ensure that it
is investigated promptly and that you are provided with a formal decision and
reasons in writing.
This policy is made under the Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. It is a complex Act
and provides some additional exceptions to the privacy principles that are too
detailed to set out here. There are some rare exceptions to the commitments set
out above. For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner
of Canada
oversees the administration of the privacy legislation in the private sector.
The Commissioner also acts as a kind of ombudsman for privacy disputes. The
Information and Privacy Commissioner can be reached at:
112 Kent Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 1H3
Phone:
(613) 995-8210
Toll-free:
1-800-282-1376
Fax: (613) 947-6850
TTY: (613) 992-9190