Privacy Policy

1. About this policy

MHS Group [ABN: [84130862538]] (“MHS Group”, “we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of the people we deal with. This policy explains how we collect, hold, use and disclose personal information, and how you can access, correct or complain about the information we hold about you.

This policy applies to our website at https://mhsgroup.com.au, our social media pages, our advertising, and our dealings with customers, suppliers, job applicants and enquirers.

We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

2. What personal information we collect

The personal information we collect depends on how you interact with us. It may include:

Contact and identity details — your name, job title, employer, work email address, phone number, and business address.

Enquiry and order information — details of the equipment, hose assemblies, fittings or services you ask about, quotes issued, orders placed, and service history.

Account and payment information — trading account details, credit application information, and payment records. We do not store full credit card numbers; card payments are processed by our payment provider.

Correspondence — emails, phone call records, counter enquiries, and messages sent through our website or social media pages.

Website and advertising data — your IP address, device and browser type, pages visited, time spent, referring site, and interactions with our ads. See section 6.

Job applicant information — where you apply for a role, your resume, work history, qualifications, references and right-to-work information.

We do not seek to collect sensitive information (such as health information) unless it is necessary for a specific purpose — for example, workplace safety or induction requirements at a customer site — and we will obtain your consent where required.

3. How we collect personal information

We collect personal information:

  • Directly from you, when you contact us by phone, email, our website contact form, at our Laverton North counter, or in person at your site.
  • Through lead generation forms on advertising platforms, including LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms and Meta (Facebook and Instagram) lead forms. When you submit one of these forms, the platform passes the details you have provided to us.
  • Through cookies and analytics tools when you visit our website (section 6).
  • From your employer or colleagues, where they provide your details as the contact for an account, order or site visit.
  • From publicly available sources and business directories, where we are identifying potential business customers.

If you provide us with someone else’s personal information, please ensure they are aware of this policy.

4. Why we collect, hold and use personal information

We use personal information to

  • Respond to enquiries, prepare quotes, and provide products and services.
  • Supply, deliver and service hose assemblies, fittings, fluid transfer products and related equipment.
  • Provide 24/7 emergency breakdown response and on-site services.
  • Manage trading accounts, invoicing, payments and debt recovery.
  • Maintain product traceability, certification and quality records.
  • Communicate with you about your orders, services and account.
  • Send marketing communications about our products and services, where permitted (section 8).
  • Improve our website, advertising and customer service.
  • Recruit and assess job applicants.
  • Meet our legal, insurance, workplace health and safety, and record-keeping obligations.

If you choose not to provide personal information, we may be unable to supply products, prepare a quote, or respond to your enquiry.

5. Who we disclose personal information to

We may disclose personal information to:

Our staff and contractors, where needed to deliver products or services to you.

Suppliers and manufacturers, where a warranty claim, technical specification or special order requires it.

Freight and delivery providers, to deliver your order.

Service providers who support our business, including IT, hosting, email, CRM, accounting and marketing providers.

Payment processors and financial institutions.

Credit reporting bodies and debt collection agencies, in connection with trading accounts.

Professional advisers, including lawyers, accountants and insurers.

Government agencies, regulators or law enforcement, where required or authorised by law.

We do not sell personal information.

6. Cookies, analytics and online advertising

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, understand how it is used, and measure and target our advertising. These include:

  • Google Analytics 4 — measures website traffic and how visitors use the site.
  • Meta Pixel — measures the performance of our Facebook and Instagram advertising and allows us to show ads to people who have visited our website (“retargeting”).
  • LinkedIn Insight Tag — measures the performance of our LinkedIn advertising and supports audience targeting.

These tools may collect your IP address, device information and browsing behaviour on our site, and may set cookies in your browser.

Managing cookies. You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings, though some parts of our site may not function correctly as a result. You can also manage ad personalisation directly with each platform:

  • Google: https://adssettings.google.com
  • Meta: through your Facebook or Instagram ad preferences
  • LinkedIn: through your LinkedIn advertising data settings

Advertising lead forms. If you submit a LinkedIn Lead Gen Form or a Meta lead form, the platform collects the information you submit and shares it with us. That platform’s own privacy policy also applies to its handling of your data.

7. Overseas disclosure

Some of our service providers store or process data outside Australia. This includes providers of cloud hosting, email, analytics and advertising services, which may store data in the United States, the European Union, Singapore and other locations.

Where we disclose personal information overseas, we take reasonable steps to ensure it is handled consistently with the Australian Privacy Principles.

8. Direct marketing and how to opt out

We may send you information about our products, services and offers by email, phone, post or SMS, where you have consented or where you would reasonably expect to receive it.

Every marketing email we send includes an unsubscribe link. You can also opt out at any time by contacting us using the details in section 13. We will action opt-out requests promptly and at no cost to you.

Our marketing communications comply with the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).

9. Security and retention

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include access controls on our systems, secure storage of physical records, and agreements with our service providers.

No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure. While we take reasonable steps, we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted to us online.

We retain personal information only for as long as it is needed for the purposes described in this policy, or as required by law — for example, tax, product traceability and workplace safety records. When information is no longer needed, we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.

We are subject to the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme. If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as required by law.

10. Accessing and correcting your information

You can request access to the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct it if it is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading.

To make a request, contact us using the details in section 13. We will respond within a reasonable period, usually within 30 days. We may need to verify your identity first. In limited circumstances we may refuse access or correction — if we do, we will explain why in writing.

We do not usually charge for access requests, though a reasonable fee may apply where a request requires substantial work.

11. Complaints

If you believe we have breached the Australian Privacy Principles or mishandled your personal information, please contact us first using the details in section 13. Set out the issue in writing where possible. We will acknowledge your complaint and aim to resolve it within 30 days.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available at https://mhsgroup.com.au/privacy-policy. Significant changes will be notified on our website.

13. Contact us

For any privacy question, request or complaint:
MHS Group
Phone: 1300 767 035
Email: sales@mhsgroup.com.au
Post: 162-164 Fitzgerald Rd, Laverton North VIC 3026, Australia