The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) says the Privacy Commissioner’s Determination released today, adds further confusion and complexity for employers trying to balance Work Health and Safety obligations with the changing privacy act legislation and the evolving issue of ‘consent’.

ACCI says one of the great advantages of new technologies today is to make work safer for employees, and the use of facial recognition technology (FRT) is an important example of how to alert retail employees of the potential risk of customers who have previously acted aggressively while at retail stores, or who have stolen goods.

ACCI chief executive officer Andrew McKellar, said one of the main objectives of the review of the Privacy Act is to bring the law into the twenty-first century, which means setting the right conditions for using new technology to the advantage of all, including making the workplace safer for employees.’

“As ACCI has previously raised, a key issue left unresolved during privacy act reform consultations, is the interplay between ‘consent’ obligations and the actions an employer might take to protect their workers and visitors to the workplace ensuring their duty of care under Work Health and Safety laws,” said Mr McKellar.

‘Not only is this issue emerging under privacy law, but it is also a key issue being considered as part of artificial intelligence (AI) inquiries and possible regulation.

“We must have certainty on this moving forward if we want businesses to be better equipped to both protect their staff and embrace productivity gains through new tech.”

Mr McKellar said businesses, like Bunnings which are faced with increasing security concerns have a duty of care to protect their workers and others.

“The actions of Bunnings point to genuine risk mitigation efforts that have been undone by a technicality.

“Businesses looking to protect their staff could rightly be confused by today’s decision.

“We look forward to a Tribunal review outcome which enables clarity for business,” said Mr McKellar.