Risk Management Advisories
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION & PROTECTION OF PRIVACY ACT
- AUTHORITY TO COLLECT/RELEASE PERSONAL INFORMATION TO
OSBIE
- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS UNDER THE MUNICIPAL FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION AND PROTECTION OF PRIVACY ACT
- LIABILITY INSURANCE - OSBIE
- NOTE TO COORDINATORS
This Advisory explains the status of the OSBIE Incident Report Form and the
FOI Act.
Our research on the subject included obtaining a legal opinion on the form,
and discussions with The Freedom of Information Departments of the Ministry
of Education and Training, Ministry of Financial Institutions, and the Freedom
of Information and Privacy Branch of Management Board Secretariat. This Advisory
includes the Questions and Answers that were obtained from the Secretariat.
Areas of the Act that are not clear and where a particular point is challenged
will, in the future, be resolved by hearings before the Commissioner of the
Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. It seems that this process
will ultimately clarify the Act in areas that are not specifically addressed.
In this Bulletin, we would like to share with you the information and
the facts, that we have obtained from various sources outlined above:
- School boards are subject to the Freedom of Information and Protection
of Privacy Act (Bill 49). When personal information is collected about an
individual, disclosure must be made to the individual about the possible uses
of the information. It is suggested that when the board is recording the name,
address, age phone numbers of students at the beginning of the school year,
that a disclosure statement include reference to the fact that this information
may be given to insurer in the event the student is involved in an accident
or witnesses one.
- A common question from School Boards is: "How long must the Board
retain copies of the Incident Report Forms?"
From OSBIE's perspective, it is not necessary for boards to retain copies
of the Incident Reports, once they are sent to OSBIE or submitted electronically via the on-line utility. The information from the
report is retained in the OSBIE data bank and will be available to the board,
if required.
However, when we asked the Freedom of Information and Privacy Secretariat about
retention of the Incident Report Forms, they advised that the minimum statutory
requirement for retention is 1 year, UNLESS the Board passes a resolution to
reduce this period. The authority for this is found on page 22 of the Regulations.
Under section 150 (1)36 of the Education Act, School Boards may establish retention
schedules for board and school records.
The commission suggests that if boards do not wish to retain the Incident Report
Forms, a resolution should be passed to have a zero retention period for completed
Incident Report Forms that have been sent to OSBIE. If a resolution is not passed,
the retention period will default to the minimum of one (1) year.
Can a copy of the completed Incident Report be given to the injured party
upon request?
If the board retains copies of the report, there is an obligation under the
FOI Act to give a copy of the report to the injured party upon request. The
witness section of the form must be covered before copying - this contains personal
information of others, and is not available to the injured party.
We ask that boards advise OSBIE when a copy of a completed form has been given
to an injured party.
Recommendation:
It is recommended that boards pass the resolution to reduce the retention period
to zero. OSBIE retains all reports in its data bank and makes them available
upon request. Diskettes of the board's incidents are available on an annual
basis, upon request.
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The board has an obligation to report incidents to OSBIE under Subsection
7.4.1 of the board's liability insurance policy.
It is strongly recommended by OSBIE and by legal counsel that proper completion
of the Incident Report Form will eliminate the concerns of OSBIE if release
of the form is requested. The Incident Report should contain factual information
only. There should be no speculation on what caused the incident and what might
be done to prevent similar incidents in the future. These types of issues should
be dealt with through the board's risk management department. Facts relating
to the incident are all that should appear on the Incident Report Form.
(REVISED 2010) E&OE
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