Privacy statement

As a leading Australian health club operator, Fitness First Australia Pty Limited (Fitness First) needs a wide range of "personal information" in order to carry out its business. "Personal information" is essentially information from which you can be identified. This Privacy Policy explains Fitness First's approach to the handling of personal information, and how we comply with our privacy obligations.

Fitness First is bound by the National Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988. If you provide us with information about your health, we also strive to ensure that our handling of that information complies with applicable State and Territory health records legislation.

1. What personal information does Fitness First collect and why?
Fitness First collects personal information from its members and from membership applicants, contractors, employees, and people we do business with.

Fitness First needs personal information:
- to provide its members with personalised fitness services (including assessments of physical fitness, health status and goals); and
- to conduct our business (eg to administer accounts, charge fees and to communicate with our members and business contacts).

To illustrate, the personal information we collect about our members includes:
- Identification Information, including each member's name, address, contact details (including telephone numbers and email address), date of birth and driver's licence number;
- Health information, including information provided on the pre-exercise questionnaire (that members complete upon becoming a member of Fitness First) and information we collect in the course of memberships. Health information is a sensitive form of personal information, so we only collect it with your consent, and we only collect what we need;
- Financial Information, including bank account details and credit card details, as well as information about payment or non-payment of membership fees.

We need this personal information to provide health and fitness services, and is collected from application forms, and when members attend our clubs and communicate with us through our website.

We also collect:
- Business Contact Information from and about our suppliers and other people we do business with (eg our landlords). This information is needed so that we can manage our business;
- "Next of Kin" Information, which we collect from our members for use in the case of an emergency. We suggest that our members tell their next of kin that they have been nominated for this purpose; and
- Employee Information. However, this Privacy Policy does not apply to personal information collected or held by us about our employees. Employees should contact our HR Department if they have privacy questions.

2. How does Fitness First use personal information?
As indicated, we use personal information to provide fitness and health services, to manage and administer club memberships and to operate our business.

For example, if you are a member, will use your personal information to process your membership application, charge you membership fees and administer your account. We will also use your personal information to communicate with you, including answering any enquires you may have.

Unless you tell us otherwise, we may also use members' personal information to mail out special promotions, newsletters and other marketing material.

For instance, Fitness First may mail its members information about its own promotions, or those offered by our business partners. If you don't want us to do this, we give you an opportunity to "opt out" from receiving such material on our pre-exercise questionnaire form. However, you can opt out at any time by contacting our Privacy Officer (see details at section 8 below).

3. Does Fitness First share my personal information with anyone else?
Fitness First will disclose your personal information in a few different ways.

Like most businesses, sometimes we outsource or "contract out" specific support services from time to time, and this may mean that our contractors see your personal information. For instance, sometimes we may engage IT contractors to maintain our databases. All our contractors are subject to strict confidentiality obligations, which means that they are authorised only to use personal information in order to provide the services or to perform the functions required by us.

We will disclose personal information if we are under a legal requirement to do so (eg under a court order, or if required under legislation), or if an authorised request is made from a law enforcement agency.
Otherwise, we will only disclose personal information with the consent of the relevant individuals. For example, if you are a member, with your consent (and only with your consent):
- we may provide personal information to Fitness First's personal trainers to assist you to improve your fitness and well being, and so they can advise you which fitness programs are suitable for you. If personal trainers are contractors (rather than Fitness First employees), their contracts with us require them to keep your personal information confidential. Of course, all our employees are required to keep your personal information confidential also; and
- we may disclose personal information to our business partners so that they can contact you directly with special offers, discounts or other membership benefits.

4. How can I access my Personal Information?
Privacy laws give you rights to seek access to the personal information we hold about you.
You can seek access by completing an access request form at your home club's reception, or by writing to our Privacy Officer (see contact details at section 8 below). Generally, we should be able to provide you with access within a month of your request, although we may need more time if your request is complicated. Ordinarily, Fitness First will not charge you for the cost of providing access to your personal information. However, if we do propose to charge you, we will advise you of the relevant charge before we provide you with access.
We try to ensure that all the personal information that we hold about you is accurate, complete and up-to-date. However, we rely on you to help us with this. If you wish to update or correct the personal information we hold about you, please complete the access request form at your home club's reception, or by writing to our Privacy Officer. We will contact you if there is any issue about amending the record of personal information we hold about you.
If you wish to discuss our method of providing access or correction to personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer with your query.

5. Is my Personal Information kept secure?
Fitness First takes reasonable steps to ensure that the personal information we hold is stored in a secure environment protected from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We remind our staff and contractors of the importance of storing personal information in a secure way, and to treat it like confidential information.

6. Anonymity
Fitness First only offers its health and fitness services to members, and it is not possible to become a member of Fitness First without providing Fitness First with the personal information that is requested in our application form and in our pre-exercise questionnaire.
We may be able to answer telephone questions without collecting personal information about you, but if you would like to use our clubs, we need your personal information. This is in everyone's interests (eg if you fall ill at one of our clubs, we need to know who you are).

7. Website/online privacy
As we also collect personal information through www.fitnessfirst.com.au (our website), this Privacy Policy also outlines our approach to online privacy issues. In that context, it is to be read as forming part of the terms of use for our website.
Generally, Fitness First will handle personal information collected online consistently with the way that it handles personal information collected offline. Other matters specific to Fitness First's handling of personal information online are set out below.
a) Cookies
When you visit our website, we will not collect any personal information unless you chose to provide it to us (eg by sending us emails through our website). However, we may collect certain data that does not identify you (sometimes called "web log information") when you visit certain pages, such as the type of browser and operating system you have. We may also use "cookies" which are small files that are stored on your computer and that manage the security and navigation process of the site. You can choose to block these cookies but some portions of the site may not function correctly if you do. This type of data is collected for statistical purposes only, and while cookies will identify your computer, they are unlikely to identify you personally.

b) Email/SMS marketing
We will not email or SMS you marketing material unless you have consented to this. This is a requirement of the Spam Act 2003. Further, you can unsubscribe from our e-newsletter or other bulletins by using the "unsubscribe" facility contained in each electronic publication we send.

c) Site security policy
Our website uses up-to-date technology to maximise the security of your personal information.

8. Contact details and other information
If you have any queries or concerns about privacy or this Privacy Policy, you can either provide a written request or complaint at one of our clubs, or you can contact our Privacy Officer as follows;
- by letter: Privacy Officer, Fitness First Head Office, PO Box 715, Bondi Junction NSW, 2022;
- by telephone: (02) 8117 2200; or
- by email to privacy@fitnessfirst.com.au
This Privacy Policy applies to Fitness First Australia Pty Limited, its employees and contractors.
Fitness First may change its Privacy Policy at any time. This Privacy Policy was last updated in September 2006.