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BOC Privacy Statement
BOC Limited and it's parent company The Linde Group, share your concern about the protection of your personal information and is committed to safeguarding your privacy online. This document covers our policy regarding the privacy of information we collect on our sites (www.BOConline.co.uk and www.BOConline.ie). Please read it carefully to understand how your personal information will be treated as you make full use of our many offerings.
We review our privacy practices from time to time. We ask that you bookmark and periodically review this page for updates to our Privacy Policy. To contact us about privacy issues relating to the BOC Customer Portal site, to report a violation of our Privacy Policy, or to raise any other issue, please e-mail us at custserv@boc.com.
What is covered in the policy:
- what information BOC may collect about you;
- how BOC will use information we collect about you;
- when BOC may use your details to contact you;
- whether BOC will disclose your details to anyone else;
- your choices regarding the personal information you have provided to us;
- the use of cookies on the BOC website and how you can reject these cookies.
The information we gather
Our websites collect the following types of information:
Tracking information (Cookies)
Tracking information is information that is collected about every visitor to the sites, and is automatically gathered using "cookies." A cookie is a small data file that is written to the user's hard drive by a Web server and used to track the pages the user has visited. Cookies do not include personal information about you, but they are unique to each user so that the site computers can distinguish between users, and personalise your experience if you have provided information about yourself. Cookies used by us in connection with the site are encoded and contain a unique digital signature to prevent tampering. Cookies are only read by the website computer that placed them, and cannot execute any code or virus.
For further information visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org
You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. However in a few cases some of our website features may not function as a result.
Personal information
Personal information is information that relates to an identifiable individual.
You will be asked to provide personal information in the following areas of the site:
- when you need to contact us you will be required to fill in an online form
- when you register to receive our enewsletter
- when you provide us with feedback on our website (you can do so anonymously)
The site may include features allowing a user to register their personal details on the site, or send us personal information such as his or her name, email address, postal address, telephone numbers, employment history and the like.
The information you submit to us via an online form will be captured into database for the purposes of responding to your information request and will be utilised in aggregate to provide statistical analysis.
Our online forms will require you to provide mandatory information which will be clearly marked / highlighted. This will be the minimum information we require in order to respond to your information / query request as efficiently as possible. If you fail to provide this information or provide it incorrectly then this may impact on the service we provide to you.
We will hold your personal information for as long as is necessary in order to provide the relevant Service, monitor the Service over a reasonable time period or as may be reasonable given the circumstances in which the information is provided.
Use of the information
Tracking information
We use tracking information in aggregate form to build higher-quality, more useful services by performing statistical analyses of users' activities, and by measuring demographics and interest regarding specific areas of the BOC websites. We also use the aggregate data to inform our partners as to the number of people who have seen and clicked on links to their websites.
We also provide statistical information based on the tracking information to our owners, subsidiaries, affiliated companies (collectively, "Affiliates"). None of the statistical information provided to them can be connected to the identities or other personal information of individual users.
Personal information
BOC uses your information to better understand your needs and provide you with better service. Specifically, we use your personal information as follows:
- to respond to your specific information request / enquiry when completing an online form .
- to customise various aspects of the site to your preferences.
- to pre-complete online forms on our sites and on other BOC sites. For example, if you have provided an address when using one service, the site computers may automatically fill in that information on an order form for another service. Other BOC sites may automatically recognise your registration information. This is simply a convenience -no information is released to anyone unless you authorise its release, such as by clicking a "Submit" button.
- to send you BOC information, product announcements, and the like that we feel may be of interest to you. You may "opt out" of receiving these materials as provided below.
- to forward information to you, from time to time, regarding the products or services of affiliated sites and those of other BOC sites.
- as may be necessary to support the operation of the site, which may include billing, account maintenance, record-keeping and research purposes.
In connection with the uses described above we may disclose personal information to data processors, agents, sub-contractors and other companies within the BOC Group of companies. We may also disclose personal information to obtain credit references and for debt collection and fraud prevention purposes.
As a general rule, we will not otherwise disclose any personal information to any third parties, except when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, or to respond to an emergency.
We reserve the right to transfer any such information to a third party in the event that we sell or otherwise transfer substantially all of the business of BOC Limited.
"Opting Out" and removing personal information
Where you have sent us personal contact details, you may choose to "opt out" of receiving promotional materials from us and/or our Affiliates. You may "opt out" of receiving promotional information from us and/or from third parties at any time by contacting us at custserv@boc.com.
If you would like to have your personal information removed from the site's database, please contact us at custserv@boc.com. Removal requests will ordinarily be actioned within 10 business days of receipt by us.
Third-party use of personal information
The site contains links to other Internet websites. Unless otherwise explicitly stated, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites, including such sites' use of any information.
Keep in mind that, while we encourage all third parties involved to adhere to our policies regarding our users' privacy and to otherwise handle personal information in a responsible manner, we cannot and do not assume any responsibility for any acts or omissions of third parties, including the manner in which they use information received either from us or independently. Nevertheless, in the event you encounter any third party associated with our site (or who claims association with the BOC websites) who you feel is improperly collecting or using information about you, please contact custserv@boc.com; we will be happy to forward your message to the third party.
If and when we sponsor promotions, or third parties sponsor promotions in conjunction with the sites, either we or the third party will post relevant privacy information in the official rules and/or registration area for the promotion. That privacy information, to the extent (if any) it conflicts with this Privacy Policy, will govern that particular promotion.
Changing personal information
We recognise that some of the information that we collect from you through our online forms will change from time to time. You can change information that you have previously provided to us at any time by emailing custserv@boc.com or filling in the enquiry form.
Security
We use reasonable security methods to protect the data that resides on our servers. However, no security system is impenetrable. We cannot guarantee the security of our servers, nor can we guarantee that information that users supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted to us over the Internet.
We use Internet standard encryption technology ("SSL" or "Secure Socket Layer" technology) to encode personal data that you send to us through the Enquiry form and other forms used through the Website. SSL works by using a private key to encrypt data that's transferred over the SSL connection. To check that you are in a secure area of the Website before sending personal data to us, please look at the bottom right of your website browser and check that it displays an image of a closed padlock or an unbroken key.
However, please note that whilst we take appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard the personal data that you provide to us, no transmission over the Internet can ever be guaranteed secure. Consequently, please note that we cannot guarantee the security of any personal data that you transfer over the Internet to us.
Questions regarding this policy should be directed to custserv@boc.com. We reserve the right to modify this policy effective seven (7) days after the posting of the revised policy.
Your rights
The UK Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to access the personal data that The BOC Group holds and processes on you. You are entitled to stop the data processing if it causes unwarranted and substantial damage or distress and to request that inaccurate / incorrect information be rectified.
For further information regarding these rights or to make a complaint please contact our Data Protection Officer at custserv@boc.com, if after contacting BOC you are still unhappy you may also complain to the Information Commissioner, all contact details are available on the Information Commissioners' Website http://www.ico.gov.uk/
Contact
If you have any questions or concerns about our use of personal information please contact custserv@boc.com.
