Hazmat School Privacy Policy

About the Information Hazmat School Gathers

Hazmat School gathers information about visitor data that visitors provide through optional voluntary registrations (Opt-In), training course registrations, certain contests and surveys, and registrations for our Discussion Board. Such information enables us to better tailor our content to our readers' needs, to advise our readers about changes or additions to our services, and to remind students when their refresher courses are due. Our visitor/student information is shared only with our instructors and, in cases where student training registrations are paid through a corporate account, with the corporate training coordinator.

Hazmat School gathers visitor information in the following processes:

Online Training Registration

During registration for online training the visitor is required to supply a user name, password, and address information. This is stored and used for student records management. It is only shared with the instructor. Any credit card information supplied with a course purchase is sent directly to our card service provider and is normally not available to or stored by us. Corporate training coordinators are provided access to only their students' training progress and certificates.

Message Boards/Forums (Opt-Out)

Users of the Hazmat School Discussion Board must register for full use of this service (free of charge) in order to post or view messages. This registration occurs automatically when a student registers for a training course and includes a user name, password, and valid e-mail address. By registering at the Hazmat School Discussion Board, users gain full access to our discussion forums where they can take advantage of profile personalization, e-mail notification of new messages and more.

Send to a Friend Service

A visitor can choose to electronically forward a forum thread or news story to someone else by clicking the appropriate link of that page. The user must provide their valid e-mail address, as well as that of the recipient. This information is used only in the case of transmission errors and, of course, to let the recipient know who sent the story. The information is not used for any other purpose.

Please remember that any information that is disclosed in our message board and chat areas becomes public information and you should exercise caution when deciding to disclose your personal information.

Considering the real-time nature of the message boards, it is impossible for us to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we do not actively monitor the contents of posted messages and are not responsible for any messages posted.

We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of ABAG Inc., Hazmat School or any entity associated with Hazmat School.

Any user who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to contact us immediately by e-mail. We have the ability to remove objectionable messages and we will make every effort to do so, within a reasonable time frame, if *we* determine that removal is necessary. This is a manual process, however, so please realize that we may not be able to remove or edit particular messages immediately.

You agree, through your use of our message board service, that you will not use it to post any material which is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violate any laws. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by ABAG Inc.

Although Hazmat School does not and cannot review all of the messages posted, and is not responsible for the content of any of these messages, we reserve the right to delete *any* message for *any* or *no* reason whatsoever. You remain solely responsible for the content of your messages, and you agree to indemnify and hold harmless ABAG Inc., Hazmat School, Hazmat School staff, and their agents with respect to any claim based upon transmission of your message(s). We at Hazmat School also reserve the right to reveal your identity (or whatever information we know about you) in the event of a complaint or legal action arising from any message posted by you.

Contests and Giveaways (Opt-In)

Hazmat School offers contests and giveaways in which we request certain personal information. At a minimum, the required information includes name and valid e-mail address; in some cases, the entrant must answer mandatory survey questions about a range of other personal data. The information gathered in the entry form is used to verify the entrant's identity, to send the entrant an e-mail notification that their entry has been received, and to contact winners and/or prize recipients. This information may be made available to our instructors, but is not available to any third party.

Because the rules and terms of each contest or giveaway can vary, all information about each contest is clearly posted during the event. All contests and giveaways are conducted in full accordance with United States federal and state laws.

Polling (Opt-In)

Hazmat School from time to time may offer interactive polls to visitors so they can easily share their opinions with other visitors and see what our audience thinks about important issues. Hazmat School uses a system to "tag" visitors after they have voted, so they can vote only once on a particular question. This tag is not correlated with information about the individual visitor.

Electronic Newsletters and Notices (Opt-out)

Hazmat School occasionally offers a free electronic newsletter or announcement to our visitors, students and alumni. Hazmat School gathers the e-mail addresses of visitors who voluntarily subscribe. Newsletter recipients may remove themselves from this mailing list using the instructions included at the bottom of each newsletter.

Hazmat School also uses the feature of your browser to set a "session cookie" on your system (see below). This allows us to measure and track a student's progress through an online course, a necessary function. It also allows a student more rapid access to our Discussion Board with tracking of allready read messages, a voluntary function.

Usage Tracking

Hazmat School tracks visitor traffic patterns throughout all of our network sites. Hazmat School tracks a students usage of the online course materials. Hazmat School sometimes also tracks and catalogs the search terms that visitors use, but this tracking is never associated with individual visitors.

Log Files

Hazmat School uses IP addresses to analyze trends, administer the site, track visitors movement, and to gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Cookies*

A cookie is a small data file that a Web site writes to your hard drive when you visit them. A cookie file can contain information such as a user ID that the site uses to track the pages you've visited. But the only personal information a cookie can contain is information you supply yourself. A cookie can not read data off your hard drive or read cookie files created by other sites. Hazmat School uses session cookies to track student visits (as described above) and when you participate as a Discussion Board member.

Registration: when you register for special site features, Hazmat School may use a cookie to store a unique, random visitor ID. We use this ID to identify you in our database and to track the pages you visit while taking a particular training course. Cookies can also enable you to enter Hazmat School Discussion sites as a member without having to log on each time, and to visit member-restricted areas of the sites. We encrypt the user ID's for added security.

*If you've set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive the warning message with each cookie. You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. You do need cookies to participate in online training. You do not need to have cookies turned on to view any Hazmat School Discussion Board. However, you do need cookies enabled to actively participate in Discussion Boards and to enjoy any other features of our sites that are cookie dependant.

Privacy for Children Aged 13 and Under

Hazmat School websites are targeted at a specific adult audience. We discourage participation of younger users. We strongly recommend that users 13 and under refrain from offering any personal information on any areas of the sites or in the message boards themselves, and we encourage parents to stay involved in the online life of their children.

Parents can review and request deletion of their child’s personal information if any exists, and can refuse to permit further collection or use of their child’s information, if any exists. In order to request such a review, to revoke previously offered parental consent, or to express any concerns regarding a child’s privacy on our website, please send a signed written request.

Links

Hazmat School web pages contain links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by Hazmat School sites.

Sharing Information

We do not share information about individual visitors/students with any third party other than our instructors, except in the case of corporate training, as stated above.

Opt-Out Policy

Our site provides readers the opportunity to opt-out of receiving promotional and marketing information from us. Such choices include:

• Opting not to receive our electronic notices after completeing an online training course.
• Opting not to provide certain personal information when registering for, or when participating in some contests (see above).
• Opting not to participate in certain interactive areas, such as the Discussion Board.

Update Policy

If at any time you believe that Hazmat School has not adhered to proper privacy principles, please notify us by e-mail at BrianK@abag.ca.gov and we will use all commercially reasonable efforts to promptly determine and correct the problem.

Last Update: June 26, 2002