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Privacy Policy

James Hardie Privacy Policy

James Hardie values and respects the privacy of all people we deal with – including our customers, business partners, investors and suppliers. In all markets in which we operate we are committed to building trust by ensuring that your personal information is handled appropriately by our staff, business partners and our service providers, in accordance with applicable privacy laws and community expectations.

Our Australian and New Zealand Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to James Hardie Australia Pty Ltd ABN 12 084 635 558 of Level 20, 60 Castlereagh Street, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, and James Hardie New Zealand Limited NZBN 94 2900 001 6346 of 1 O’Rorke Road, Penrose, Auckland 1061, and their related bodies corporate, (James Hardiewe, us or our).

We are committed to complying with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the New Zealand Information Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 2020 (NZ) (NZIPPs) (together the Privacy Laws), as applicable.

This Privacy Policy sets out how we collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information and how we maintain the quality and security of your personal information under applicable Privacy Laws.

Collection of Personal Information

Personal information is any information about you from which you can be reasonably identified.

The types of personal information we collect will depend on the nature of our relationship with you. This may include, but is not limited to:

  • contact details (including name, address, email, or phone number);
  • company details;
  • employment details;
  • educational qualifications;
  • bank account details; and
  • information about your interactions with us, including digital information, device identifiers, cookies, location information, browsing history.

How we collect personal information

We collect personal information about you in the course of carrying out our operations and functions, including to help us interact with, and provide our services to you.

Direct collection

We will collect your personal information directly from you when you:

  • interact with us or make purchases via our website, telephone, post, in person, email, or social media;
  • visit or create an account or profile on our websites;
  • conduct training via the James Hardie Training Centre;
  • make an enquiry using the ‘Find a Builder’ feature;
  • subscribe to receive communications from us (including any of our newsletters) or notifications about offers;
  • enquire about any of our products or services, including when you complete an order form, request a brochure (or other marketing material) or a sample;
  • provide feedback on any of our products or services;
  • apply for a job with us;
  • engage with us on social media; or
  • otherwise interact with us or disclose your personal information to us.

Indirect collection

As well as collecting information directly from you, there may be occasions when we collect information about you indirectly from third parties or publicly available sources. Such third parties may include people or organisations who provide marketing leads and marketing, promotional and data analysis services to us. They may also include your authorised representative. We may combine this information with information we already have about you to help us understand trends, behaviour, and use of our products and services.

Where we receive information about you indirectly from others we will do so in compliance with applicable Privacy Laws and ensure that the third party has also collected and shared that information in accordance with applicable Privacy Laws.

Collection of Sensitive Information

Sensitive information includes health information and information about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious beliefs or sexual orientation.

We will not collect sensitive information unless such information is reasonably necessary to enable us to carry out our functions or activities, and either:

  • you have expressly consented to the collection of such sensitive information; or
  • we are required or authorised by law to do so (including under the applicable Privacy Laws).

Anonymity

You do not have to give us your personal information. Where practicable you have the option of dealing with us anonymously or by using a pseudonym. However, if you choose to deal with us in this way or choose not to provide us with your personal information, we may not be able to provide you with the requested products or services, allow you to participate in an advertised activity, or interact with you.

Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

We use and disclose personal information for many purposes in connection with our functions and activities, including to:

  • provide you with information, products or services that you request from us, or that we think will interest you;
  • provide you with training updates, new courses or materials relevant to your use of the James Hardie Training Centre or confirm with your employer that you have completed training modules;
  • facilitate business relationships with suppliers, distributors, customers or employees;
  • fulfil requests for information;
  • send you our newsletters;
  • deal with customer, employees, supplier or business partner enquiries or complaints;
  • conduct market research on our products and services, send marketing communications and run promotions / offer incentives to customers, business partners and suppliers;
  • deliver personalised offers and interest-based ads;
  • improve the quality and level of the products and services we offer, including to track volumes of sales and stock quantities;
  • for analytic and statistical purposes, including but not limited to contacting you for your views on our products/services and notifying you about changes or developments to our products/services; and
  • ensure that our content is presented in the most effective manner for you on your device.

We will only use, hold or disclose your personal information for the purpose for which it was collected, unless:

  • you have expressly or impliedly consented to the further use or disclosure of this information;
  • we believe, on reasonable grounds, that you would reasonably expect us to use or disclose this information in such a way and this use or disclosure is directly related to the purpose for which we collected your personal information; or
  • we are required or otherwise authorised by law to use, hold or disclose your personal information in another manner (including under the applicable Privacy Laws).

Disclosure of Personal Information

We may disclose your personal information to:

  • our related bodies corporate and / or associated companies;
  • builders or service providers where you have submitted an enquiry and given us permission to pass your details onto that builder or service provider;
  • organisations with whom we have arrangements for the purpose of promoting our products or services;
  • our agents, contractors and external advisers who carry on our functions and activities or who assist us to carry on our functions and activities;
  • organisations who are contracted by us to perform certain services, including to:

    • maintain our websites;
    • provide cloud storage and management services for personal information;
    • provide us with digital tools and software to assist us to run our business;
    • deliver products ordered from us;
    • undertake marketing or promotional activities (including sponsorship deals and incentive offers) on our behalf;
    • handle complaints and queries; or
    • facilitate any other service offered by us.
  • third parties or our related bodies corporate who collect and process data on our behalf, including to undertake data analytics;

  • our legal and other professional advisors, when needed; and
  • other parties to whom we are authorised or required by law to disclose information.

Transfer of Personal Information Overseas

The James Hardie group has companies in a number of different countries including in New Zealand, Australia, the United States of America, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and the Philippines. As part of our internal administration, your personal information may be shared with one or more of our group companies in those countries.

In addition, we may disclose your personal information to our third party service providers who may be based in or have servers located outside of the country in which you live, including in the United States of America, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand.

Where we disclose your personal information to overseas recipients, we make every reasonable effort to ensure data security and appropriate privacy practices are maintained by those overseas entities. We will only disclose your information to overseas entities where:

  • we have contracted with the entity to treat your personal information in a manner consistent with the applicable Privacy Laws;
  • the entity is subject to comparable obligations to protect personal information overseas and, if you are in Australia, these obligations can be enforced; or
  • you have given us your consent to disclose personal information to that entity without ensuring their compliance with the applicable Privacy Laws or comparable privacy safeguards,

and you consent to us disclosing your personal information to overseas recipients on this basis.

Security of Personal Information

We make every effort to ensure the security of personal information we hold. We take reasonable steps to ensure that all personal information we collect, or use is:

  • stored in a secure environment;
  • safeguarded from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, use, modification or disclosure;
  • accessed only by authorised personnel for permitted purposes; and
  • destroyed, deleted or de-identified when it is no longer needed.

We will use reputable and secure third parties for data storage services. In this respect, we will only store your information with third parties whom we have contracted with and who treat your personal information in a manner consistent with the applicable Privacy Laws or are subject to similar requirements to protect personal information overseas.

Data Retention and Disposal

We will not keep your personal information for longer than we need to. In most cases, this means that we will only retain your personal information for the duration of your relationship with us unless we are required to retain your personal information to comply with applicable laws, for example record-keeping obligations. We will then take steps to destroy, delete or de-identify your personal information in a secure manner.

Access and Correction of Personal Information

We will take reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold, use, or disclose is up-to-date, accurate, complete, and not misleading.

Where we hold your personal information, you may request access to that personal information or that we change, modify or correct such information at any time.

Please contact us via the Contact Details below if you:

  • would like us to confirm whether we hold any personal information about you;
  • require access to any personal information we hold about you; and
  • wish to notify us of any change, modification or correction to your personal information. This includes where you would like us to delete some of your personal information.

We require suitable proof of identity from you before we can confirm whether we hold your personal information, grant access or make the requested changes. We generally allow access to the personal information we hold about you unless granting such access would be inappropriate in accordance with the applicable Privacy Laws. This includes where granting access to personal information would pose, or be likely to pose, a serious threat to the life, health or safety of any individual or to public health or safety.

We will try our best to respond to your request (or let you know if we cannot decide and explain why) as quickly as possible after you make your request.

  • For Australia: we will respond within 30 working days.
  • For New Zealand: we will respond within 20 working days.

If we do not grant you access to your personal information or make the requested changes, we will provide you with the reasons for our decision. If you do not agree with this decision you may make a complaint to the relevant Privacy Commissioner.

If your request to access your personal information requires substantial effort from us, we may need to charge you a fee for this. Any fees charged will be a reasonable amount and we will not charge you for simply making the request or to make any corrections to your personal information. If you are unhappy with the amount of any fee you can make a complaint to the relevant Privacy Commissioner.

Marketing and Online Advertising

We will send you direct marketing communications and information about our products and services that we consider may be of interest to you if you have requested or consented to receive such communications. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS, fax and email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Australian Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the New Zealand Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007. If you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do so. You may out opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us at any time by following the instructions to “unsubscribe” set out in the relevant communication. Once acknowledged, your preference to unsubscribe from marketing communications will then be recorded in our system.

In addition, we may also use your personal information or disclose your personal information to third parties for the purposes of advertising, including online behavioural advertising, website personalisation, and to provide targeted or retargeted advertising content to you (including through third party websites). This includes through our use of Google and Google Analytics. You can find out more information about how Google Analytics collects and processes data at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.

You may manage your preferences for online advertising or opt out of having your site activity available to the following digital platforms by visiting Google or Facebook. You can also opt out of being targeted by NAI members by visiting https://optout.networkadvertising.org/?c=1.

Further information about our online data collection technologies and your choices can be found in the Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies section below.

Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and tools on our websites, such as web beacons and web server logs, to improve performance and enhance the user experience for those who visit our website. In particular, we use cookies to monitor visitor traffic, market our products and services (including through retargeted marketing), conduct analytics and facilitate actions on our websites.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files which a website may put on your computer or mobile device when you visit a site or page. This is done for record-keeping purposes, to analyse the website’s performance, enhance website functionality and give you a more tailored experience, remember your preferences or recommend content relevant to your visit. Cookies are stored in your browser and will help the website, or another website, recognise your device next time you visit.

What sort of information do cookies collect?

Most cookies won’t collect information that identifies you as a person (personal information) and will instead collect more general information such as how visitors arrive at and use a website. Cookies may, however, be used to create a profile of the visitor's activities on the Internet. Specific examples of information that we may collect from your device using cookies or similar tools includes your geo-location, IP address, browser and the pages accessed on our website you visited.

How can I manage my cookies?

If you prefer not to receive cookies, you can adjust your Internet browser to disable cookies or to warn you when cookies are being used. However, if you disable, remove or block cookies on your computer your browsing experience and the website’s functionality may be affected. For example, each time you request information from James Hardie you will need to re-enter your personal details.

Links to Third Party Sites

The James Hardie websites may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. If you access a third party website through the James Hardie website, personal information may be collected by that third party website. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third party provider or website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third party provider or website. Third party providers / websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices and we encourage you to read their privacy policies.

Contact Details, Questions or Complaints

If you have a question, concern or complaint in relation to our handling of your personal information or you believe that we have breached any Privacy Laws , please contact us for assistance:

If you are not satisfied with any assistance you are given you may request that your concerns be referred to our Privacy Officer for an independent review. Our Privacy Officer will investigate your concerns and will respond to you in writing (usually within 14 days).

You are also entitled to make a complaint to the relevant Privacy Commissioner. If you believe that your complaint has not been satisfactorily addressed by us, you can make a complaint to the following:

  • In Australia you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) who may investigate your complaint further. The OAIC’s details can be found at www.oaic.gov.au.
  • In New Zealand you may contact the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) who may investigate your complaint further. The OPC’s details can be found at www.privacy.org.nz.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We reserve the right to update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any changes we may make to our Privacy Policy in the future will be posted on this page. Please ensure that you review this page regularly to be advised of any updates.

Last updated: 25 August 2021