Privacy Policy

At Pacific West Home Inspections Inc “Pacific West Home Inspections”, we respect the privacy of our clients and we are committed to keeping your personal information accurate, confidential, secure, and private. We have adopted the following Privacy Policy to ensure that Pacific West Home Inspections continues to meet its commitment to your privacy.

The following sections, read as a whole, constitute the Pacific West Home Inspection Privacy Policy:

Introduction
Pacific West Home Inspections provides a variety of services to the public, including, but not limited to, residential, commercial and industrial building assessment survey inspection services, interior and exterior air quality assessment investigation services such as for mold, asbestos, and allergens, radon, oil tanks, Grow-ops, solid fuel appliances and chimneys, strata & reserve funds, property securement, foreclosure and special service project services, consulting and advising with respect to various type of buildings and reports and other real estate property and building advisory services.

In the course of providing these services, Pacific West Home Inspections may collect certain personal information about its clients with their consent.

“Personal Information” means information about an identifiable individual. This may include, without limitation, the individual’s name, home address, contact numbers and email address. Personal Information does not include the name, title, business address, or telephone number of an employee of an organization.

The Pacific West Home Inspections Privacy Policy is based on, and complies with, Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”), which includes the Ten Privacy Principles outlined in the Canadian Standards Association Model Code for the Protection of Personal Privacy. For more information about this legislation, please visit the official Web site of the Privacy Commission of Canada at http://www.privcom.gc.ca.

This Privacy Policy describes the ten principles that Pacific West Home Inspections follows to ensure that we protect your Personal Information when we collect, use, or disclose it in the course of carrying on commercial activities in Canada.

The Ten Principles Of Privacy
The following ten principles govern our actions as they relate to the use of Personal Information

Principle 1: Accountability
Pacific West Home Inspections is accountable for all Personal Information in its possession or custody, including Personal Information disclosed to third parties for purposes of providing services requested by you.

Principle 2: Identifying Purposes
Pacific West Home Inspections will inform you of the purposes for which it is collecting any Personal Information, before or at the time the information is collected.

Principle 3: Consent
Pacific West Home Inspections will obtain your consent before or when it collects, uses, or discloses your Personal Information.
Consent can be express, implied, or given through an authorized representative. You may withdraw your consent at any time (subject to any legal consequences of which you will be informed). Pacific West Home Inspections, however, may collect, use, or disclose Personal Information without your knowledge or consent in exceptional circumstances where such collection, use, or disclosure is permitted or required by law.

Principle 4: Limiting Collection
The information collected by Pacific West Home Inspections will be limited to those details necessary for the purposes it has identified to you or to perform the services you have requested. Information will be collected by fair and lawful means.

Principle 5: Limiting Use, Disclosure, And Retention
Personal Information will only be used or disclosed for the purpose for which it was collected unless you have otherwise consented. Personal Information may only be retained for the amount of time needed to fulfill the purpose for which it was collected.
In certain exceptional circumstances, Pacific West Home Inspections may have a legal duty or right to disclose Personal Information without your knowledge or consent with respect to matters that concern the company’s or the public’s interest.

Principle 6: Accuracy
Pacific West Home Inspections will keep Personal Information as accurate, complete, and current as necessary to fulfill the identified purposes for which it was collected. You may have this information amended where it is found to be inaccurate or incomplete.

Principle 7: Safeguarding Personal Information
Personal Information is safeguarded using measures appropriate to the sensitivity of the information.

Principle 8: Openness
Pacific West Home Inspections will make information available to its clients. You have access to this information through our website, or through alternative means if requested.

Principle 9: Access
Upon written request, you will be informed of the existence, use, and disclosure of your Personal Information, and will be given access to it. Pacific West Home Inspections will respond to such requests as efficiently as possible. If Pacific West Home Inspections is prohibited from providing such access they will explain the reasons for the lack of access, except where prohibited by law.

Principle 10: Addressing Complaints And Suggestions
You may challenge Pacific West Home Inspections compliance with this Privacy Policy. Pacific West Home Inspections has policies and procedures to receive, investigate, and respond to complaints and questions regarding this Privacy Policy and our collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information. You may contact Pacific West Home Inspections to express any concerns or to request access to your Personal Information. The contact information for this individual is provided at the end of this document.

Application of the ten privacy principles – how we treat your personal information

The kind of information we collect
Pacific West Home Inspections gathers and uses Personal Information in order to provide you with the services you have requested, namely: information that is required to effectively service all of your inspection needs. Pacific West Home Inspections may also use your Personal Information to update you about our services and to offer you additional services that you may be interested in, so that we may continue to serve your all of your building inspection needs.
If you visit Pacific West Home Inspections Web site, we do not collect personally identifiable information about you unless you provide it. All information that you do provide us with is securely maintained and kept strictly confidential. This Privacy Policy does not apply to aggregated data from which it is not possible to determine the identity of a specific individual. Pacific West Home Inspections reserves the right to use aggregated data in any way that it determines appropriate.

How we use your information
At Pacific West Home Inspections we use Personal Information for three general purposes:
To communicate with you in order to provide you with our services.
For inclusion in documentation relating to your particular assessment survey inspection.
Transactional information to monitor our level of service and report back to you to ensure your satisfaction with the provision of such services.
We will only use Personal Information for the purpose that we have disclosed to you. If we want to use your information for a different purpose, we will notify you and ask for your consent first.

When we are permitted to disclose your information
Pacific West Home Inspections is obliged to keep your Personal Information confidential except under the following circumstances:

(i) When authorized by you
Many of the services offered by Pacific West Home Inspections require us to obtain Personal Information about you in order to perform the services you have engaged us to provide. We will always obtain consent from you first, and we will never use the information for purposes other than those we have told you about.
You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to any legal implications (which we will inform you about). In some cases, if you do not consent to our use or disclosure of certain Personal Information, we may be unable to continue to provide all or part of the services you have requested.

(ii) When required by law
The type of information we are legally required to disclose usually relates to government tax reporting requirements. In some cases, however, such as under a court order, we may be required to disclose certain information to persons specified in the court order. We will only provide the specific information requested and only upon being satisfied that the authorities have legitimate grounds to request the information.

With whom we may share your information
(i) Pacific West Home Inspection employees
In the course of daily operations, access to sensitive Personal Information is limited to those employees with a legitimate reason for accessing it. As a condition of their employment, Pacific West Home Inspection employees are required to follow all applicable laws and regulations, including this Privacy Policy. Unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential client information by any Pacific West Home Inspection employee is prohibited and may result in disciplinary measures.

(ii) Real Estate transaction
We may transfer your personally identifiable information to a third party in connection with a real estate transaction.

How we safeguard information
Pacific West Home Inspections has extensive controls in place to maintain the security of its information and information systems. Client and independent inspection files are stored according to the sensitivity of the information contained therein. Appropriate controls (such as restricted access) are placed on our computer systems and data processing procedures. Physical access to areas where Personal Information is gathered, processed, or stored is limited to authorized employees.

When you telephone a Pacific West Home Inspection employee to speak about your file, you may be asked for some personally identifying information. This type of safeguard is designed to ensure that only you, or someone authorized by you, has access to your file.

Website security
In order to serve you better, Pacific West Home Inspections offers clients access to certain information through its website.
http://bchomeinspections.ca provides general information about Pacific West Home Inspections and the services it offers.
The Pacific West Home Inspections Web site may contain links to other Web sites, including those of its business partners. Pacific West Home Inspections is in no way responsible and cannot guarantee the content or privacy of other sites linked to www.bchomeinspections.ca.

Accessing and amending your information
As a client, you have the right to access the Personal Information we keep in your file and you have the right to verify or amend the information if it is shown to be inaccurate. If you would like to view the Personal Information held in your file, please make a written request to Pacific West Home Inspections at the address listed below, under “Questions, Concerns, and Complaints”. We will respond to your request as efficiently as possible.

Questions, concerns, and complaints
If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about your Personal Information, or about the Pacific West Home Inspections Privacy Policy, contact our office using the contact information provided below:

Dave Brice
Owner – Inspector
Tel: 250 835-8751
inspector@bchomeinspections.ca