This policy explains what personal information Wattson & Ohms collects through this website and in the course of providing protection and assurance services, how we use it, and the rights you have under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
Who we are
Wattson & Ohms designs, installs, certifies and continuously monitors earthing, lightning and surge protection systems for clients in South Africa. For the purposes of POPIA, we are the responsible party for the personal information described in this policy.
You can reach us at info@wattson-ohms.com.
Information we collect
We collect personal information in a small number of ways:
- Information you give us. When you contact us by email or telephone to ask about our services, book a site assessment or request a demo, we receive your name, contact details, the company you represent and whatever site information you choose to share.
- Information from our work with you. If you become a client, we hold the contact details of your site and facility personnel, along with the technical records of the protection systems we design, certify, monitor and maintain.
- Technical information. Like most websites, our hosting infrastructure records standard server logs — such as IP address, browser type and pages requested — which are used to keep the site secure and available.
Cookies
This website does not set cookies at all — no advertising, analytics or tracking cookies, and no third-party scripts that would set them on our behalf. We do not build a profile of you for marketing purposes. If we introduce analytics or other cookies in future, we will update our policies and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent first. Our Cookie Notice explains this in full.
How we use your information
- To respond to your enquiries and provide quotations and assessments.
- To deliver our services — including design, installation, compliance testing, certification, monitoring and remediation.
- To produce the compliance records, reports and alerts that form part of our assurance service.
- To meet our legal, regulatory and professional obligations.
- To keep this website secure, available and working as intended.
Our lawful basis
We process personal information where it is necessary to conclude or perform a contract with you, to comply with a legal obligation, to pursue our legitimate interests in operating and securing our business, or where you have consented. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
Site monitoring data
The operational data we collect from monitored protection systems — such as earth resistance, continuity and surge device status — relates to equipment rather than to individuals. Your dashboard and the data within it belong to you. We access it to deliver the service you have contracted us for, and we do not sell it or share it with third parties for their own purposes.
Who we share it with
We do not sell personal information. We share it only where necessary, and only with:
- Service providers who support our business — including our hosting, connectivity and IT providers, and any third-party monitoring partners used for wider full-site monitoring — who process information on our instructions.
- Professional advisers, insurers, auditors and inspectors, where this is relevant to the compliance work we perform for you.
- Authorities or other parties where we are required or permitted by law to do so.
How long we keep it
We keep personal information only as long as it is needed for the purposes described above. Compliance and certification records are retained for longer, because they form the evidence trail our clients, their insurers and inspectors may need to rely on, and because professional and legal obligations require it.
Security
We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against loss, unauthorised access and misuse. No system can be guaranteed completely secure, but we work to keep our safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the information we hold.
Your rights under POPIA
Subject to the conditions in POPIA, you have the right to:
- Ask what personal information we hold about you, and request access to it.
- Ask us to correct or delete information that is inaccurate, irrelevant or out of date.
- Object to our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Withdraw a consent you previously gave us.
- Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe we have not handled your information lawfully.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@wattson-ohms.com.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services or the law. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised, and the current version will always be published here.
Contact us
If you have any questions about this policy or about how we handle your information, email info@wattson-ohms.com. You can also read our Terms of Use.