Safe Harbour Insurance Services Privacy Policy Guidelines

Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd (previously DBA Harbour Insurance Services Inc). is committed to protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information. In order to comply with privacy legislation, we have developed this Privacy Policy. Any personally identifiable information about a customer is considered personal information (“Personal Information”) and will be treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Identified Purposes

Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. only collects, uses, and discloses personal information for the following purposes:

  1. Offering and providing insurance and related products and services to you;
  2. Establishing and maintaining communications with you;
  3. Verifying your identity and the accuracy of your personal information with government agencies, industry associations, brokers or other insurers;
  4. Analyzing, assessing and underwriting risks on a prudent basis;
  5. Investigating claims;
  6. Detecting and preventing fraud or other illegal activities;
  7. Compiling statistics;
  8. Complying with the law or the requests of law enforcement agencies or regulators;
  9. Notifying you or allowing our affiliated companies to notify you of certain products or services offered by our affiliated companies.

In this Privacy Policy, the above list of identified purposes will be referred to as the “Identified Purposes”.

Accountability

When you apply for insurance, an application form is completed and signed by yourself. This form gathers the necessary information for the issuance and underwriting of your policy. This information is kept in our offices and reasonable precautions are taken to ensure that such information does not leave the premises unless necessary for the purposes of underwriting, or claims procedures. Any information may be passed to the insuring company/(ies) and they may in turn obtain further information from third party investigation services or individuals. We are obligated to retain this information for a period of 7 years after you cancel your policy with us, after which time, your file is destroyed in a secure manner.

  • Identifying purpose: the application form asks questions firstly about the owner and operators of the vessel and their claims history for the past 5 years. Secondly the details of your boat and equipment are listed and finally the coverages available or applied for together with the deductible and premiums are listed.
  • Consent: by completing and signing the application form you are giving your written express consent to our using or disclosing personal information to third parties as required including Insurance companies.
  • Limiting collection: Only information necessary for the issuance and underwriting of insurance policies is collected.
  • Limiting use, disclosure and retention: The information so gathered will only be used for the purposes intended and will only be maintained as long as necessary to accomplish the purpose.
  • Accuracy: We will make every effort to ensure that information we have on file is accurate and up to date.
  • Safeguards; Our files are electronic and are stored in servers in our Vancouver office and with Canadian hosting companies. Our staff has been trained not to disclose any information to third parties unless necessary for the issuance or maintenance of your insurance. Disclosure of any information to other third parties, (such as marinas, yacht clubs, mortgagees, etc) will only be done with your consent.
  • Openness: If you have any questions regarding the reasons for any questions, please contact our privacy officer – Allicia Campbell and Evan Miles.
  • Individual access: You have the right to view any information we have in your file by contacting the privacy officer.
  • Recourse: Should you have a complaint that you feel is not handled to your satisfaction by the staff at Harbour, you have the right to contact the Registered Insurance Brokers of Ontario, the Department of Insurance, or the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Consent

Your knowledge and consent of Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. collection, use and disclosure of your personal information is critical. We rely on the following actions by you as indications of your consent to our existing and future Personal Information Practices:

  1. Your voluntary provision of Personal Information directly to Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd.  or through the website or via phone for the purpose of acquiring an insurance contract or related service or product.
  2. Your expressed consent or acknowledgement contained within a written, verbal or electronic application process.
  3. Your consent solicited by Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. (or our agent) for a specified purpose.
  4. Your receipt of this Privacy Policy, until you notify Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. of a withdrawal of this consent.
  5. Your consent given through your authorized representative such as a legal guardian, agent of holder of a power of attorney.

Subject to certain legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice, you may withdraw the consent at any time. Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. will inform you of the consequences of withdrawing your consent.

In some cases, refusing to provide certain personal information or withdrawing consent for Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. to collect, use or disclose your personal information could mean the we cannot provide you with insurance coverage or other requested products, services or information.

Collecting Information

Non-Identifiable Information 

The Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. website (www.harbourinsurance.ca)  may automatically collect certain non-identifiable information regarding Website users, such as the Internet Protocol (IP) address of your computer, the IP address of your Internet Service Provider, the date and time you access the Website, the Internet address of the Website from which you linked directly to the Website, the operating system you are using, the sections of the Website you visit, the Website pages read and images viewed, and the materials you post to or download from the Website. This non-identifiable information is used for Website and system administration purposes and to improve the Website. Your non-identifiable information may be disclosed to others and permanently archived for future use.

Cookies

The Website may use “cookies”, a technology that installs information on a Website user’s computer to permit the Website to recognize future visits using that computer. Cookies enhance the convenience and use of the Website. You may choose to decline cookies if your browser permits, but doing so may affect your use of the Website and your ability to access certain features of the Website.

Limiting Collection and Retention of Personal Information

Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. will only collect, use, or disclose personal information that is necessary for the identified purposes or as required by law. If we require personal information for any other purpose, you will be notified of the new purpose, and subject to your consent, that new purpose will become an identified purpose. Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. will only collect personal information by fair and lawful means. We will retain personal information only as long as necessary for the fulfillment of the identified purposes.

Safeguards

Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. will protect your personal information by security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information. Safeguards will vary depending on the sensitivity format, location, and storage of the personal information.

Openness and Customer Access

Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. is responsible for all personal information under its control and has designated a privacy officer who is accountable to senior management for Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. compliance with this privacy policy. Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. is an insurance broker and in order to process insurance policies will share specific Personal Information with the underwriting company(s).

Challenging Compliance

Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd privacy officer, Allicia Campbell and Evan Miles can be contacted at 1 (877) 731-1224. If you are not satisfied with Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd.’s response to a privacy related inquiry or complaint, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada during business hours at 1.800.282.1376 or at www.privcon.gc.ca.

What you need to know about Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd regarding collection of data and our relationships to insurance underwriters.

Our role is to provide you with the knowledge you require to purchase marine insurance products and services that are available, affordable and understandable.

It is important to us to provide personal, quality service to our clients, including professional advice when it comes to your boat insurance policy, and claims support when you need it most.

One of the companies we represent is Pacific Marine Underwriting Managers Ltd., which is owned by the same firm that owns Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. Our West Coast branch also represents Beacon Underwriting Ltd. (by Cansure). Both PMU and Beacon compensate us 15% of your overall premium, on new and renewal business, for servicing your policy. Currently, Intact Insurance Company has an indirect ownership interest in our brokerage.

A copy of the Consumer Code of Rights and Responsibilities will be forwarded to each client who purchases a new policy.

Personal  Information Consent

As part of the application for insurance, I hereby consent to Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd. (the “Broker”) to collect, use or disclose personal information, or provide such personal information to third parties as required, including insurance companies. The Broker may also be required or permitted to disclose such personal information pursuant to relevant privacy laws or other laws.

Where there are insured individuals in addition to the Client, or where the Client is a commercial or other entity, the Client hereby covenants and warrants that the Client has obtained the appropriate consent from all the insured individuals to disclose their personal information to the Broker for these purposes accordingly.

In addition, I also consent to continue to receive electronic communications (e-mail) from Safe Harbour Insurance Services ltd., including personal file correspondence, promotions, marketing and any other important information.

If I wish to review personal information pertaining to my application or policy maintained by the broker, obtain copies of the Broker’s privacy policies or standards, or make other enquiries or express concerns, I understand I may do so by contacting the Broker’s Privacy Officer.

I agree that all personal information that I provide to the Broker will be complete and accurate, I also consent to electronic communications.

Email Communication

CONFIDENTIALITY & DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY NOTICE REGARDING EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS FROM @harbourinsurance.ca or @safeharbourinsurance.org

A message (including any attachments) contains confidential information intended for a specific individual and purpose, and is protected by law. If you are not the intended recipient and have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately  and delete this message and any attached files. Any disclosure, copying, or distribution of  this message, or the taking of any action based on it, is strictly prohibited. While attachments are virus checked, we do not accept any liability in respect of any virus which is not detected. This includes any liability for any damages, claims, expense or loss whatsoever, arising in any way including but not limited to negligence, gross negligence, breach of any law, bylaw, rule or regulation whatsoever on the part of Safe Harbour Insurance Services Ltd., their affiliates, associates, companies, subsidiaries, partners, officers, members, directors, employees, agents, volunteers, independent contractors, representatives, or successors, past or present.