Privacy Policy
WZMH Architects values the privacy of personal information. We are committed to collecting, using, and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide.
Why We Collect Personal Information
We collect, use, and disclose personal information about our clients, employees, contractors and suppliers, and the general public in order to provide architectural services and to manage and develop our business. We attempt to obtain consent before collecting any such personal information but when this is not possible, we will, upon request, remove any personal information from our records.
Website Cookies
With the exception of cookies (electronic markers identifying computers that have previously visited our website), we only collect the personal information a visitor to our website provides, and only use that information for the purpose for which it has been provided. Cookies are only used to help visitors navigate our website and not to monitor them.
Protecting Personal Information
WZMH takes precautions to ensure the security of personal information including but not limited to: secure electronic and paper storage; staff training on our privacy policy and measures; and ensuring external consultants and agencies provide appropriate privacy assurances.
Do You Have a Question?
Our Information Officer can be reached at:
95 St. Clair Ave. West, Suite 1500
Toronto, Ontario
M4V 1N6
Phone: (416) 961-4111 ext.200
Privacy of personal information is an important principle to WZMH Architects. We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the services we provide. This document describes our privacy policies.
1.0 Personal Information Defined
Personal Information is information about an identifiable individual and includes information that relates to his/her personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address or phone number, family status), health (e.g., disabilities affecting mobility) or activities and views (e.g., religion, politics, 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.
2.0 WZMH Architects
WZMH Architects provides architectural services to a wide variety of clients. We use a number of consultants and agencies that may, in the course of their duties, have limited access to personal information we hold. These include information technology consultants, office security and maintenance personnel, accountants, our insurers, credit card companies, 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.
3.0 Why We Collect Personal Information: Primary Purposes
3.1 Clients - Like most architects, we collect, use and disclose personal information about our clients in order to serve them appropriately. For our clients, the primary purpose for collecting personal information is to provide architectural services. Where our client is an individual, we collect information about the client’s design criteria and intended uses, financial situation and, for residential projects, family circumstances so that we can advise the client as to his/her options.
3.2 A second primary purpose might be to collect personal information from third parties (e.g., neighbours) about a client’s architectural plans so that we can ascertain how the third party’s views affect our client’s architectural options.
3.3 A third primary purpose is to obtain home contact information so that we can contact the client in private or in an emergency.
3.4 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).
3.5 Members of the General Public - For members of the general public, our primary purpose for collecting personal information is to gather and review information that is relevant to an architectural issue affecting our 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.
3.6 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 architectural services provided by our firm. For example, while we try to collect work contact information where possible, we might collect home addresses, fax numbers and e-mail 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.
3.7 On our website, we only collect, with the exception of cookies (electronic markers identifying computers that have previously visited our website), the personal information a visitor to the site provides and only use that information for the purpose for which it has been provided to us (e.g., to respond to an e-mail message, to register for a course). Cookies are only used to help visitors navigate our website and are not used to monitor them.
3.8 Contract Staff, Students and Volunteers - For people who are contracted to do work for us (e.g., temporary staff, 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).
3.9 Contractors, and Suppliers - We collect personal information about contractors and other suppliers and their staff to assist us in assessing their performance, both for a specific project and in respect of future projects. We may share this information in a reciprocal way with other architects 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.
3.10 Third Party Opinions - When we are retained to provide an opinion about the work of another architect or a related professional, our primary purpose for collecting personal information is to gather the necessary information to express a sound opinion for our client. In such circumstances, we may 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.
4.0 Why We Collect Personal Information: Related and Secondary Purposes
4.1 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 services or to collect unpaid accounts.
To advise clients and others of new developments in architecture (e.g., a newsletter sent to a home e-mail of a client).
To advise clients and others of a specific event such as a seminar or reception.
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 quality reviews of our firm, including reviewing client files and interviewing our staff.
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. 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. 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. External regulators have their own strict privacy obligations. 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 (the Ontario Association of Architects also requires us to retain our client records).
If WZMH Architects 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.
4.2 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 any control over some of these related or secondary purposes (e.g., external regulation).
5.0 Protecting Personal Information
5.1 We understand the importance of protecting personal information. For that reason, we have taken the following steps:
5.2 Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area.
5.3 Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.
5.4 Electronic information is either under supervision or secured by means of password-protected software.
5.5 Electronic information is transmitted either through a direct personal e-mail address or is anonymized or encrypted.
5.6 Staff are trained to collect, use and disclose personal information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance with our privacy policy.
5.7 External consultants and agencies with access to personal information must provide us with appropriate privacy assurances.
6.0 Retention and Destruction of Personal Information
6.1 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, in order to protect your privacy, we do not keep personal information any longer than necessary.
6.2 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.
6.3 We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding. We destroy electronic information by deleting it from our server. The "trash bin" of deleted electronic files is normally purged on a weekly basis and hard drives are re- formatted when a computer is decommissioned. Back-up tapes of electronic data are destroyed after approximately six months. Alternatively, we may, with advance notification, send some or all of the client file to the client.
7.0 You Can Look at Your Information
7.1 With some exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information we hold about you. Upon request, we shall identify what records we have about you and 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.
7.2 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.
7.3 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.
8.0 Do You Have a Question?
8.1 Our Information Officer can be reached at:
95 St. Clair Ave. West
Toronto, Ontario
M4V 1N6
Phone: (416) 961-4111 ext.200
8.2 He will attempt to answer any questions or concerns you might have.
8.3 If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices, you may make it in writing to our Information Officer. He will acknowledge receipt of your complaint, ensure that it is investigated promptly and provide you with a formal decision and reasons in writing.
8.4 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.
8.5 For more general inquires, 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
www.privcom.gc.ca
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