The Alberta College of Occupational Therapists is committed to protecting the privacy of regulated members of the profession and the public including; the collection, use, disclosure and retention of personal information. The College will fulfill its requirements to comply with the Alberta Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and the Health Professions Act through our privacy policy and procedures.
Our commitment to privacy acot.ca (the “Website”) is a website owned and operated by The Alberta College of Occupational Therapists (“ACOT”), also referred to as “we”, “us”, or “our”). The Website is intended for use by Alberta-registered occupational therapists in a password protected section, with access to the main part of the Website open to the general public interested in occupational therapy-related topics.
This Privacy Policy (the “Policy”) is notice to you of how your personal information will be collected, used, stored and disclosed if you choose to use the website. If you do not want to your personal information handled pursuant to the terms in this Policy, you may not use the website. ACOT may change or update this Policy at any time and those changes will be in effect as soon as they are posted on the website. You are also agreeing to follow any changed or updated terms of this Policy when they are posted, so check this Policy often. Professional users of the website acknowledge that they always remain subject to the applicable privacy or health information legislation governing their business, employer, or patients.
What personal information do we collect and why?
What is personal information?: Personal information is information about an identifiable individual user of the website.
General Public Users
The website may collect IP addresses of users to measure use of the website, administer the website, improve content and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. We do not link IP addresses to personally identifiable information, and therefore, no personal information of general public users is collected or used by the website or ACOT.
Registered Occupational Therapists
If you are an Alberta-registered occupational therapist, you will access your registrant profile and Continuing Competence Program records from the password-protected section of the website (the “Registrant Login”). We collect the following personal information: the email address and password (that you create) which are linked to your registration number and registration information in ACOT’s database. We retain “audit trail” records of all your sign-ins and any information you submit through the Registrant Login section. We make available to the public through the OT Register: your name, registration number, status on ACOT register, any specializations (i.e. acupuncture roster) and conditions on your registration (if any).
Is personal information shared with anyone?
We use external service providers: consultants or contractors may have limited access to personal information, if access is necessary for the performance of their duties. ACOT’s website or computer consultants may have access to personal information from time to time including; to ensure performance and functioning of the website, membership database, assist with the storage of information and external email service provision. Personal information in user profiles will not be stored outside of Canada. We disclose personal information only with consent or where permitted by law: We will not sell your personal information or make it available to advertisers. We will only disclose personal information with consent or where this is permitted by law, including in response to a court order, or pursuant to a lawful request by a government agency. As noted above, your name, registration number, geographic location and employer is disclosed in the publicly accessible member register.
How do we protect your privacy?
ACOT staff and volunteers are trained to appreciate the importance of privacy and the confidentiality of personal information. Also, we make every reasonable effort to ensure the security of the personal information in our possession, including by taking the following measures:
- We ensure that physical and technical safeguards are in place.
- We implement administrative safeguards to restrict access to personal information to those with a need to access the information.
- We only maintain personal information for as long as we require it in accordance with our retention policy. Personal information that is no longer required will be rendered non-identifying or securely destroyed.
Linking to Other Websites
Please remember that, if you use a link to go from the website to another website, the privacy provisions of this policy are no longer in effect with respect to any personal information that may be disclosed on such third-party websites or services. Your activities and interaction on any other website, including websites that have a link on this website, is subject to that website’s own rules and policies.
Accessing and correcting personal information
You have a right to access records containing your personal information, subject to certain lawful restrictions. We rely on occupational therapist users to make changes to the personal information in their user profile in the Member Section. You may also request correction of your personal information, if you cannot make those corrections yourself. If you request a correction of your personal information, we will correct the information as soon as is reasonably possible, subject to legal limitations. Requests for access or correction of personal information should be made in writing to our Privacy Officer, who will make every reasonable effort to assist you.
We will respond to your concerns
We have designated a Privacy Officer to answer your questions and respond to your concerns. Our Privacy Officer can be contacted at 312, 8925-51 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6E 5J3 or at 780-436-8381 extension 103.
If you have a question or concern about ACOT’s privacy policy and procedures, please contact the Registrar at registrar@acot.ca.