Safe handling of timber preservatives and treated timber code of practice review

Have your say to help improve work health and safety

SafeWork NSW is reviewing the Code of practice for the safe handling of timber preservatives and treated timber and is asking for your help to make sure it:

• is still relevant
• is easy to understand
• supports current and emerging work practices and technologies.

The Code provides information and guidance to make sure health and safety risks are identified, assessed, eliminated or controlled according to work health and safety laws.

This code of practice covers timber preservatives used in Australia. Those in current use may include:

• water-borne preservatives, for example, copper chrome arsenic, boron compounds and sodium fluoride;
• oil-type or oil-borne preservatives, for example, creosote; and
• light organic solvent preservatives, for example, solutions containing pentachlorophenol, copper naphthenate and tributyltin oxide.

Tell us what you think

If you work in an environment where you may be exposed to timber preservatives or treated timber or are generally interested in this area, we want to hear from you.

Your feedback will help ensure the Code reflects current work practices and protects workers and the community.

You can share your views until 26 November 2023.

Privacy collection notice

1. Who we are

Your information is being collected by the Department of Customer Service (the Department) on behalf of SafeWork NSW. SafeWork NSW gives priority to protecting the privacy of your personal information, in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act). 

If you have any questions about this privacy collection notice, or how we handle your personal information, you can contact our Privacy team using the contact details at the end of this notice. 

2. Why we collect your personal information 

SafeWork NSW is collecting your personal information for the purposes of obtaining your thoughts to inform SafeWork NSW’s review of the code of practice to assist individuals in meeting standards required under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

3. The kinds of information we collect 

We may collect the following information: 

• Your name (if you choose to provide this) 
• Your email address (if you choose to provide this)  
• Some limited occupation information
• If you are registered for the Have Your Say site, the Department will be able to see your login or username, email address and hometown or suburb associated with your submission, even if you choose to answer the survey anonymously.
• Any additional personal information if it is provided in free-text fields or your submission.  

4. Failure to provide information 

Your information is provided voluntarily however if you choose not to provide your information, we may not be able to send you updates and outcomes of this public consultation.  

5. How we may use this information 

We may use the information we collect in the following ways: 

To create a report on the outcome of this consultation and to conduct a review of the SafeWork NSW code of practice to assist individuals in meeting standards required under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

To share your submission (including any personal information) with SafeWork NSW.

Internal administrative purposes, including providing you with occasional updates and outcomes of this public consultation (if you provide your personal information and agree for us to do so).  

To support more informed policy making, program management, evaluation, research, and service planning as it can facilitate more efficient service delivery for residents and businesses in NSW.  

To share you submission (including any personal information) with other parts of the Department, including the Data Analytics Centre, for the purposes of conducting analysis across all consultations and to refine our engagement methodology.  

Other directly related purposes. 

6. Who we may share your information with 

Your responses along with your name or company/organisation may be published in a report on the outcome of this consultation should you agree for us to do so. Your responses will be published anonymously without your name, or your responses will be kept private depending on what you have agreed to in this survey.  

We will not disclose your personal information to anybody unless we are authorised or permitted to do so by law or where you give consent. Our Privacy Statement describes when this may occur.  

7. Protecting your information 

We will store and manage your information in accordance with the provisions of the PPIP Act. We have measures in place to help protect your personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse. 

We will only keep information for as long as we need it to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. After which, the information will be disposed of securely in accordance with the State Records Act 1998 and any other applicable legislation. 

See our Privacy Management Plan for more information about how we handle your personal information. 

8. Your rights 

Subject to certain conditions, you have the following rights in relation to your personal information: 

The right to request access to your personal information 

The right to request correction of your personal information 

If you wish to invoke any of the above rights, please contact us using the details below. 

9. Contact us 

If you would like to make a privacy enquiry or complaint, you can contact us on (02) 9219 3999 or at privacy@safework.nsw.gov.au.