Water Incident Research Alliance (WIRA) Privacy Policy
The Water Incident Research Alliance (WIRA) is a not-for-profit organization formed as an alliance of its members, who have an interest in making available better research data and statistics regarding water-related incidents, injuries and fatalities. As a new organization, WIRA was developed and launched by representatives of the Canadian Coast Guard, Lifesaving Society, Canadian Red Cross, Ontario Provincial Police, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the National Search and Rescue Secretariat, Parks and Recreation Ontario, the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search & Safety and municipal recreation departments.
Our mission is to provide timely and accurate information on water-related injuries and fatalities to Alliance subscriber members and the Canadian public.
The primary roles of WIRA are:
- a. Collect, tabulate and publish Canadian water-related injury and death data in a timely manner.
- WIRA will reconcile the data with drowning reports produced by other organizations such as the Lifesaving Society, the Canadian Red Cross and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI).
- Provide links and contact information to other related databases.
Principles for the Water Incident Research Alliance
WIRA is committed to the following Privacy Principles:
- Accountability:
WIRA is accountable to its members and data collectors to maintain the confidentiality of all data.
- Consistency of Purposes:
WIRA will only collect data consistent with its water incident injury prevention purposes.
- Limiting Collection:
WIRA collection of data is limited to information consistent with its water incident injury prevention purposes.
- Limiting Use, Disclosure, and Retention:
WIRA's data limits the disclosure of collected information to ensure the confidentiality of individual water incident casualties and incident reporters. Only WIRA staff have access to incident-specific information. Data is retained in a secure document retention system.
- Accuracy:
WIRA is committed to verify the accuracy of all data.
- Safeguards:
All reasonable and available safeguards are established and monitored to ensure the maintenance, security and integrity of data.
Water Incident Research Alliance (WIRA) Privacy Practices
The confidentiality of victim information is paramount to WIRA. No identifying information will be published and limited information is gathered. Information will also be aggregated to further maintain victim information.
WIRA has developed a Privacy Practice that will continue to be monitored and updated as any changes are required by WIRA, its subscribers, or by law. If you have any questions about WIRA's handling of information, confidentiality, validity, or privacy practises, please contact us to have your questions answered.
Our site may contain links to other web sites. We have no control over the privacy practices, or the content of any of our business partners, or other sites to which we provide links to. You should check the applicable privacy policy of the web site sponsor when linking to other web sites.
Website User Privacy
Public Users
WIRA collects statistical information on visits to specific pages and the frequency of these visits. This information is analyzed to help us develop content that responds to the interests of our site visitors.
Subscriber Users
WIRA collects statistical information on visits to specific pages and tables and the frequency of these visits. This information is useful to analyze which tables are most often searched by subscribers. Records will also be kept on which subscribers are using the searchable database. WIRA does not disclose, give, or sell any personal or business information about subscribers to our site.
Data Protection and Confidentiality
WIRA has many safeguards in place that are all strictly enforced by the WIRA Manager. The WIRA Manager enforces and supervises the following safeguards to ensure there is no breach of confidentiality. The WIRA Manager and the Technical Manager are the only employees who have access to all data information. The other WIRA employees are data entry clerks who are solely responsible for entering forms that are received at our office and performing call-backs to follow-up on incomplete forms; they do not have access to the entire database.
Administrative Safeguards
- Policies and procedures to protect the confidentiality and security of each form.
- Procedures for addressing and responding to all inquiries or complaints from customers and employees about handling personal information.
- Staff training and confidentiality agreements signed.
Technical Safeguards
- Passwords, firewalls, and other state of the art technology based on industry standards to minimize the risk of unauthorized persons gaining access to our information.
Physical Safeguards
- Controlled access to the WIRA office and restricted access to the computers and cabinets where the WIRA forms and data are stored.
WIRA protects against such risks as loss or theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use of modification, destruction through appropriate security measures shall protect the information regardless of the format in which it is held.
Type of Data that is Collected
WIRA only collects the information that is located on the Water Incident Report Form. Victim information is limited to the age, sex, swimming ability and principal residence (town or city); the rest of the form is strictly about the circumstances surrounding the incident. The only open ended information is included in the synopsis located at the bottom of the form. This information is intended to include additional information about the incident or other background information about the victim.
We do not request the name of the victim or their street address. However, if your incident was broadcasted through any media coverage, we may have your name through this. If this information is obtained, we would only use this information to cross reference the original Water Incident Report form to ensure validity.
Frequently Asked Questions about WIRA's Privacy and Data Protection
Q. Where are hard copies stored - how long - how disposed of?
A. The hard copies of the incident specific information for the current calendar year are secured in the WIRA office. Other information is secured offsite. As necessary, original incident specific forms are shredded.
Q. How and where are computer files stored?
A. All WIRA data is stored on the computer server. The data is backed up daily and stored off site at a secured location. Electronic data are permanently held to be used for future analyses.
Q. Who all has access to the WIRA information?
A. There is limited access to incident specific data. All WIRA employees sign a confidentiality agreement prior to employment.
Q. Is there a security system in the WIRA office?
A. WIRA is located within a secure facility. There are daily administrative policies in place to ensure that all WIRA business documents and forms are secured daily.
Q. Who answers questions when inquiries come in?
A. Inquiries about the maintenance of data privacy should be directed to the WIRA Manager. Questions about the data privacy policy will be directed to the WIRA Board of Directors.
Q. What is discussed on the telephone?
A. As necessary WIRA staff may do follow-up calls, (i.e. "call-backs") to obtain missing information on the form or to clarify an answer.
Q. How can completed forms be forwarded to WIRA?
A. WIRA forms can be either faxed, mailed or emailed to the WIRA office. All of these methods are secure and they are only accessible by WIRA staff.
Q. When WIRA releases any information, can a victim be identified?
A. To maintain the confidentiality of victim information, only information that is aggregated (i.e. 5 or more records per field) is released.
|
