All sport clubs collect and manage personal information. This occurs when you register participants and volunteers, run events, obtain consents, take teams away or anytime you capture members’ personal details.
With this comes responsibility, including compliance with the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988. People also have a growing expectation their personal information will be managed to the highest standard. Organisations that fail to do this risk member safety and reputational damage.
What club committees can do
There are 8 key steps club committees should follow to create safe and fair clubs.
Specifically, when it comes to privacy some points to consider are:
- Be familiar with the existing privacy related policies your sport likely has in this area. These are generally set by your national or state peak body.
- Discuss:
- How and why you collect information
- How you store and use information
- How you deal with sensitive information
- Whether you have permission to undertake direct marketing activities
- Review and update standard privacy documentation eg. policies, collection notices and consents
- Review business processes e.g. volunteer access to information, security measures and retention policies
- Undertake volunteer/staff training, so people understand how information is to be managed
- Consider your arrangements with service providers, who may store information on your behalf