1 About this policy
1.1 This Privacy Policy explains how O’Brien Boiler Services Pty Ltd, trading as O’Brien (ABN 30 147 803 414) (“O’Brien”, “we”, “us”, “our”) collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information, and how you can access or correct that information or make a complaint.
1.2 O’Brien supplies, installs, services and rents industrial and commercial boilers and heat pump systems, provides energy consulting, and delivers nationally recognised training as a Registered Training Organisation (RTO 45484). We operate from offices in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, with an international engineering office in Bengaluru, India.
1.3 We are bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Where we deliver training, we also comply with the privacy requirements of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (Cth) and the National VET Data Policy.
1.4 This policy applies to personal information we collect through our website at obrien-energy.com.au, by phone and email, at our offices and customer sites, through training enrolment, and from third parties as described below.
2 What personal information we collect
2.1 The personal information we collect depends on how you deal with us. It may include:
(a) your name, job title and the organisation you work for;
(b) contact details, including business email address, phone and mobile numbers, and postal or site addresses;
(c) details of your enquiry, quote request, service or maintenance request, parts order or rental enquiry, including boiler make, model, capacity, fuel type and site location;
(d) how you heard about us and the products or services you are interested in;
(e) records of our communications with you, including emails, phone calls, quotes and service reports;
(f) billing and payment information where you purchase goods or services from us;
(g) if you enrol in training, the additional information described in section 5;
(h) technical information about your visit to our website, described in section 9.
2.2 We do not ask for sensitive information (such as health information) unless it is reasonably necessary, for example to support a training participant’s access needs or to meet workplace health and safety requirements at a customer site. We collect sensitive information only with your consent or where the law otherwise permits.
2.3 Our website is intended for business use. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.
3 How we collect personal information
3.1 We collect personal information directly from you when you:
(a) submit an enquiry, quote, service, parts, rental or training form on our website;
(b) call, email or write to us, or request an advisory session;
(c) deal with us in person at our offices, at a customer site or at a training venue;
(d) enrol yourself or your staff in a course, or complete assessments;
(e) subscribe to our updates or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or Facebook.
3.2 We may also collect personal information from your employer where they arrange training or services on your behalf, from our business partners and suppliers, from publicly available sources, and from the technologies described in section 9.
3.3 You may deal with us anonymously or using a pseudonym where it is lawful and practicable, for example when browsing our website. We cannot provide quotes, services or training, or issue qualifications, without collecting the information we need to do so.
4 Why we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information
4.1 We collect, hold, use and disclose personal information for the purposes of operating our business, including to:
(a) respond to your enquiries and prepare quotes and proposals;
(b) design, supply, install, commission, service, maintain and rent boiler and heat pump plant, and provide 24/7 breakdown support;
(c) deliver energy consulting, audits and decarbonisation advice;
(d) enrol participants in training, deliver and assess courses, issue statements of attainment and qualifications, and meet our obligations as an RTO;
(e) manage our customer relationships, accounts, invoicing and payments;
(f) meet legal, regulatory, safety and compliance obligations, including workplace health and safety and pressure equipment regulations;
(g) send you information about our products, services, training and industry updates where you have consented or would reasonably expect it (see section 6);
(h) improve our website, products and services, and understand how our website is used.
4.2 We may use de-identified or aggregated information, which does not identify you, for analysis and reporting.
5 Training and student information
5.1 When you enrol in a course delivered by O’Brien (RTO 45484), we collect additional information required under the National VET Data Policy and the Unique Student Identifier (USI) scheme. This may include your date of birth, gender, residential address, Unique Student Identifier, evidence of identity, language and cultural background, prior education, employment status, disability status where you choose to disclose it, and your training and assessment records.
5.2 We are required to disclose this information to the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER), the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), and Commonwealth and state or territory government departments and agencies for the purposes set out in the NCVER Privacy Notice, including statistical reporting, program administration, regulation and research. You may receive a survey invitation from NCVER or a contracted research organisation.
5.3 Where you complete a course that leads to a High Risk Work Licence, we may disclose your assessment outcome to the relevant state or territory work health and safety regulator so that your licence can be issued.
5.4 We use a student management system (aXcelerate) and an online learning platform to administer enrolments, deliver eLearning and store training records. Training records are retained for the periods required by ASQA’s Standards for RTOs.
6 Direct marketing
6.1 We may send you information about our products, services, training courses and industry insights by email or other channels where you have asked to receive it, or where you are an existing customer and would reasonably expect to hear from us.
6.2 You can opt out at any time by using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email or by contacting us using the details in section 14. We will action your request promptly.
6.3 We do not sell personal information to third parties.
7 Who we share personal information with
7.1 We disclose personal information to third parties only where necessary for the purposes described in this policy, where you consent, or where required or authorised by law. These third parties may include:
(a) our related companies, employees and contractors who need the information to do their jobs;
(b) service providers that host or process information for us, including our customer relationship management system (Microsoft Dynamics 365), our student management system (aXcelerate), our online learning platform, our email marketing platform (Constant Contact), our website hosting, security and analytics providers, and our accounting and payment systems;
(c) equipment manufacturers, freight and logistics providers, and subcontractors involved in supplying, installing or servicing your plant;
(d) professional advisers such as lawyers, accountants and insurers;
(e) regulators and government agencies, including ASQA, NCVER, work health and safety regulators and licensing authorities;
(f) any person you authorise us to share information with, or where required by law, court order or to protect our legal rights.
7.2 We require our service providers to handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act and to use it only for the purposes for which it was provided.
8 Overseas disclosure
8.1 O’Brien operates an engineering office in Bengaluru, India, and staff there may access customer and project information to support engineering, design and administration work.
8.2 Some of our service providers store or process information on servers located outside Australia, including in the United States. This includes cloud-based CRM, email, analytics and advertising platforms.
8.3 Before disclosing personal information overseas we take reasonable steps to ensure the recipient does not breach the Australian Privacy Principles, including through contractual arrangements, or we rely on an exception permitted by APP 8, such as your consent.
9 Cookies, analytics and advertising
9.1 Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate the site, understand how it is used and measure the effectiveness of our marketing. Information collected may include your IP address, browser and device type, pages visited, time on site, referring pages and approximate location.
9.2 We use Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics to measure website traffic, the Meta Pixel and the LinkedIn Insight Tag to measure and target advertising on those platforms, and a privacy-focused first-party analytics service that reports aggregated usage and page performance to us.
9.3 Advertising platforms may use the information they collect to show you O’Brien advertising on their networks and to combine it with other information they hold about you under their own privacy policies. You can manage advertising preferences directly with Google, Meta and LinkedIn.
9.4 You can control cookies through your browser settings, including blocking or deleting them. Some parts of our website may not function correctly if cookies are disabled.
9.5 Our website is protected by a web application firewall and caching service which processes IP addresses and request data to detect and block malicious traffic.
10 How we hold and protect personal information
10.1 We hold personal information in secure electronic systems, including our CRM, student management and learning platforms, email and document systems, and in limited paper records at our offices.
10.2 We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include access controls and passwords, encryption in transit, firewalls, staff training and confidentiality obligations, and secure disposal of records we no longer need.
10.3 We keep personal information for as long as it is needed for the purposes described in this policy or as required by law, including record-keeping obligations for RTOs, tax and safety regulation. When it is no longer needed we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.
10.4 If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
11 Access to and correction of your personal information
11.1 You may request access to the personal information we hold about you, or ask us to correct it, by contacting our Privacy Officer using the details in section 14.
11.2 We will respond within a reasonable period, usually within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity before releasing information. In limited circumstances permitted by the Privacy Act we may refuse access or correction, in which case we will explain why in writing.
11.3 We do not charge a fee for making a request. Where the request involves significant work we may charge a reasonable fee to cover our costs, and we will tell you before proceeding.
11.4 Training participants may also access and update their details through the Unique Student Identifier registry at usi.gov.au.
12 Complaints
12.1 If you believe we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles or mishandled your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer in writing using the details in section 14. Please include enough detail for us to investigate.
12.2 We will acknowledge your complaint promptly, investigate it and respond in writing, usually within 30 days. Training participants may also use the process set out in our Complaints and Appeals Policy.
12.3 If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au or by calling 1300 363 992.
13 Changes to this policy
13.1 We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our business, technology or the law. The current version is always available at obrien-energy.com.au/privacy-policy/ and shows the date it was last updated. Continued use of our website or services after a change indicates your acceptance of the updated policy.
14 Contact us
14.1 Privacy Officer, O’Brien Boiler Services Pty Ltd
14.2 Head office: 19-21 Technology Drive, Sunshine West, VIC 3020
14.3 Phone: 1300 771 759
14.4 Email: service@obrien-energy.com
14.5 Other offices: 6 Nuwi Place, Prestons NSW 2170 · 1/59 Hub Crescent, Heathwood QLD 4110 · 10A Pavers Circle, Malaga WA 6090