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IOM Privacy Policy
The Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) customer privacy notice
This privacy notice tells you what to expect us to do with your personal information.
- Contact details
- What information we collect, use, and why
- Lawful bases and data protection rights
- Where we get personal information from
- How long we keep information
- How to complain
Contact details
Institute Of Occupational Medicine, Douglas House, Pentland Science Park, Bush Loan, PENICUIK, Midlothian, EH26 0PL, GB
Telephone 0131 449 8000
Email [email protected]
What information we collect, use and why
We collect or use the following information to provide services and goods, including delivery and third party referrals:
- Names and contact details
- Health information (including medical conditions, test results, allergies, medical requirements and medical history)
- Records of meetings and decisions
- Website user information (including user journeys and cookie tracking)
- Information relating to compliments or complaints
We collect or use the following personal information for service updates, marketing purposes and legitimate interests
- Names and contact details
- Email addresses and phone numbers
- Marketing preferences
- Recorded images, such as photos or videos
- Call recordings
We collect or use the following personal information for research, consultancy, expert witness or archiving purposes:
- Names and contact details
- Website and app user journey information
We collect or use the following personal information to comply with legal requirements:
- Name
- Contact information
- Safeguarding information
We collect or use the following personal information for recruitment purposes:
- Contact details (e.g. name, address, telephone number or personal email address)
- Date of birth
- National Insurance number
- Copies of passports or other photo ID
- Employment history (e.g. job application, employment references or secondary employment)
- Education history (e.g. qualifications)
- Right to work information
- Details of any criminal convictions (e.g. Disclosure Barring Service (DBS), Access NI or Disclosure Scotland checks )
- Security clearance details (e.g. basic checks and higher security clearance)
Lawful bases and data protection rights
Under UK data protection law, we must have a “lawful basis” for collecting and using your personal information. There is a list of possible lawful bases in the UK GDPR. You can find out more about lawful bases on the ICO’s website.
Which lawful basis we rely on may affect your data protection rights which are set out in brief below. You can find out more about your data protection rights and the exemptions which may apply on the ICO’s website:
- Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information. You can request other information such as details about where we get personal information from and who we share personal information with. There are some exemptions which means you may not receive all the information you ask for. Read more about the right of access.
- Your right to rectification- You have the right to ask us to correct or delete personal information you think is inaccurate or incomplete. Read more about the right to rectification.
- Your right to erasure- You have the right to ask us to delete your personal information. Read more about the right to erasure.
- Your right to restriction of processing- You have the right to ask us to limit how we can use your personal information. Read more about the right to restriction of processing.
- Your right to object to processing- You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. Read more about the right to object to processing.
- Your right to data portability- You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you. Read more about the right to data portability.
- Your right to withdraw consent– When we use consent as our lawful basis you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Read more about the right to withdraw consent.
If you make a request, we must respond to you without undue delay and in any event within one month.
To make a data protection rights request, please contact us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice.
Our lawful bases for the collection and use of your data
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to provide services and goods, including delivery and third party referrals are:
- Consent – we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
- Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.
- Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.
- IOM processes all personal data in accordance with the key GDPR principles unless there is a relevant exemption (see GDPR exemptions). Please read the Legitimate Interest statement for more information.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for service updates or marketing purposes are:
- Consent – we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
- Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.
- Legitimate interests – we can process your data if we have a genuine reason (i.e. a ‘legitimate interest’), the processing is necessary to achieve that interest, and your rights and freedoms do not override that interest.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for research consultancy, expert witness or archiving purposes are:
- Consent – we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
- Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.
- Legitimate interests – we can process your data if we have a genuine reason (a ‘legitimate interest’), the processing is necessary to achieve that interest, and your rights and freedoms do not override that interest.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information to comply with legal requirements are:
- Consent – we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
- Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.
- Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.
- Legitimate interests – we can process your data if we have a genuine reason (a ‘legitimate interest’), the processing is necessary to achieve that interest, and your rights and freedoms do not override that interest.
Our lawful bases for collecting or using personal information for recruitment purposes are:
- Consent – we have permission from you after we gave you all the relevant information. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to object. To be clear, you do have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
- Contract – we have to collect or use the information so we can enter into or carry out a contract with you. All of your data protection rights may apply except the right to object.
- Legal obligation – we have to collect or use your information so we can comply with the law. All of your data protection rights may apply, except the right to erasure, the right to object and the right to data portability.
- Legitimate interests – we can process your data if we have a genuine reason (a ‘legitimate interest’), the processing is necessary to achieve that interest, and your rights and freedoms do not override that interest.
Where we get personal information from
- Directly from you
- Regulatory authorities
- Publicly available sources
- Councils and other public sector organisations
- Market research organisations
How long we keep information
When you make a complaint to us, any personal data provided in connection with that complaint will be stored securely in our internal case management system while the matter is processed. We retain complaint records for five years, after which they are securely deleted.
If you unsubscribe from our e-newsletters, we will remove you from our mailing list immediately and delete your newsletter contact record within one month. Direct email correspondence may remain in our secure email archive for up to 10 years where this is necessary to maintain business records, respond to follow-up queries, retrieve previous reports or information, investigate complaints or internal matters, or protect our legitimate business and legal interests. Access to archived emails is restricted and they are only reviewed where there is a specific need to do so. Emails are deleted from the archive at the end of the retention period.
When you contact us by email, we retain the correspondence in our secure email archive for up to 10 years. This is to maintain appropriate business records, respond to follow-up queries, retrieve information previously provided, investigate complaints or internal matters, and protect our legitimate business and legal interests. Access to archived emails is restricted and only used where there is a specific need.
IOM has a Data Retention Periods Schedule, which forms part of IOM’s Data Protection Policy and Procedures. This documents the minimum retention periods for IOM records:
Research records: minimum of 10 years
Consultancy records: 6 years
Medico-legal records: 6 years
How to complain
If you have any concerns about our use of your personal data, you can make a complaint to us using the contact details at the top of this privacy notice. If you remain unhappy with how we’ve used your data after raising a complaint with us, you can also complain to the ICO.
The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://www.ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
Note that there are changes to complaints procedures for personal data under the new Data Use and Access Act (DUAA) which are due to come into force from 19th June 2026. Under the terms of this Act we will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and respond to it ‘without undue delay’.
Last updated
27th May 2026