Privacy Statement

Compliance With Data Protection Regulation and Laws

Privacy Statement

Who We Are

PUNCH Consulting Engineers (‘we’) gather and process your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and in compliance with the relevant data protection regulation and laws. This notice provides you with the necessary information regarding your rights and our obligations, and explains how, why and when we process your personal data.

We take our responsibilities under applicable data protection law, including the EU General Data Protection Regulation and implementing legislation such as the Data Protection Act 2018, very seriously. The purpose of this statement is to inform you of the data relating to you that we collect and use in connection with this website and the uses we make of such data.


Information That We Collect

PUNCH Consulting Engineers processes your personal information to meet our legal, statutory and contractual obligations and to provide you with our products and services. We will never collect any unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information in any way, other than as specified in this notice.

The personal data that we collect is:

Name
Personal Email (If you provide it)
Business Email
Mobile Telephone Number
Any other contact information which may transmitted to us by email.

We collect information in the below ways:

Website contact form
Website opt-in form (eBook download)
Email
Phone
Business cards
Project documentation


The Data We Collect About You

Personal data, or personal information, means any information about an individual from which that person can be identified. It does not include data where the ability to identify the person has been removed.

Through your use of this website, we may collect, use, store and transfer different kinds of personal data about you which we have grouped together as follows:

Technical Data includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.

Usage Data includes information about how you use our website.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data may be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data does not directly or indirectly reveal your identity. For example, we may aggregate your Usage Data to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific website feature. However, if we combine or connect Aggregated Data with your personal data so that it can directly or indirectly identify you, we treat the combined data as personal data which will be used in accordance with this privacy notice.

We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data).


How Is Your Personal Data Collected

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our website, we may automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. We may also receive Technical Data about you if you visit other websites employing our cookies. Please see our cookie policy for further details

Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive Technical Data from analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU.

Usage Data. includes information about how you use our website.

Contact Form. When you use a contact form on this site the information you provide is stored in a log.

Opt-in form. When you download our eBook from this site the information you provide is stored in a log.


How We Use Your Personal Data (Legal Basis for Processing)

PUNCH Consulting Engineers takes your privacy very seriously and will never disclose, share or sell your data without your consent; unless required to do so by law. We only retain your data for as long as is necessary and for the purpose(s) specified in this notice. Where you have consented to us providing you with promotional offers and marketing, you are free to withdraw this consent at any time. The purposes and reasons for processing your personal data are detailed below:

We collect and store your personal data to allow us communicate with your effectively while carrying out our business to business activities.
We collect and store your personal data as part of our legal obligation for business accounting and tax purposes.
We will occasionally send you marketing information where we have assessed that it is beneficial to you as a customer and in our interests. Such information will be non-intrusive and is processed on the grounds of legitimate interests.


Purposes For Which We Will Use Your Personal Data

At PUNCH Consulting Engineers, we are committed to protecting your privacy. Set out below is an explanation of how we use information about visitors to this site.

  1. a) We may use your Technical Data to administer and protect our website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data. Such use would be necessary for our legitimate interests (for running our business, provision of administration and IT services, to prevent fraud and in the context of a business reorganisation exercise), and to comply with a legal obligation.
  2. b) We may use your Usage Data and Technical Data to deliver relevant website content to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the content. Such use would be necessary for our legitimate interests (to study how customers use our services, to develop them, to grow our business and to inform market strategy).
  3. c) We may use your Usage Data and Technical Data to use data analytics to improve our website, services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences. Such use would be necessary for our legitimate interests (to define types of customers for our services, to keep our website updated and relevant, to develop our business and to inform our marketing strategy).
  4. d) We use the information you have provided in our contact form to communicate with you in relation to our services. Such use is necessary for our legitimate interests or necessary for purpose of entering into a contract with you.
  5. e) Where you have given consent, we use the information you have provided in our contact form to send to you direct marketing materials, which provide information about our services and offers.

 
Marketing

We do not share your personal data with any third-party company for their marketing purposes. We may send your data to third-party processors who assist us with our own marketing. If you have given us your consent to send to you direct marketing materials, you can ask us to stop sending them to you at any time by using the unsubscribe link on the marketing message or contacting us via email: limerick@punchconsulting.com


Requirement to provide personal data

You are not under a statutory or contractual obligation to provide us with any personal data. However, where you submit a query to us in the ‘Contact Us’ section of our website or submit a form such as to sign up for one of our newsletters, we will ask you to provide certain information, such as your name and email address. If you do not provide this information, we may not be in a position to process your request.

 
Your Legal Rights

You have the right to access any personal information that PUNCH Consulting Engineers processes about you and to request information about:

  • What personal data we hold about you;
  • The purposes of the processing;
  • The categories of personal data concerned;
  • The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed;
  • How long we intend to store your personal data for;
  • If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source;
  • If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to do so as quickly as possible; unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.

You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing (where applicable) in accordance with the data protection laws; as well as to object to any direct marketing from us. Where applicable, you have the right to data portability of your information and the right to be informed about any automated decision-making we may use.

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us via email: limerick@punchconsulting.com

If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the request; this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure. This is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. We may also contact you to ask you for further information in relation to your request to speed up our response.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within 30 days. Occasionally it may take us longer. If your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests we can extend the time to respond by a further 60 days. In such cases, we will notify you and keep you updated.


Sharing and Disclosing Your Personal Information

We do not share or disclose any of your personal information without your consent, other than for the purposes specified in this notice or where there is a legal requirement.


Safeguarding Measures

PUNCH Consulting Engineers takes your privacy seriously and takes every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal data. We work hard to protect you and your information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction and have several layers of security measures in place, including: SSL, TLS, encryptions, pseudonymisation, restricted access, IT authentication, firewalls, anti-virus/malware.


Consequences of Not Providing Your Data [if relying on statutory/contractual requirement basis]

You are not obligated to provide your personal information to PUNCH Consulting Engineers, however, as this information is required for us to provide you with our services, we will not be able to offer some/all our services without it.


Data Retention

How Long We Keep Your Data

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

PUNCH Consulting Engineers only ever retains personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements, and we have strict review and retention policies in place to meet these obligations.

However, when it comes to our business clients, we are required under Irish tax law to retain all books, records and documents, which means to keep basic information about our clients (including Contact, Identity, Financial and Transaction Data) for six years after they cease being customers for tax purposes.

https://www.revenue.ie/en/vat/vat-records-invoices-and-credit-notes/vat-records-to-be-kept/how-long-do-you-keep-records-for.aspx

Where you have consented to us using your details for direct marketing, we will keep such data until you notify us otherwise and/or withdraw your consent.


Cookies Policy

In order to improve user experience and help us improve our site, this site uses cookies.

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly.


What are cookies?

A “cookie” is a technology that allows the website to store tokens of information (an “identifier”) in your browser used by the website while you are on the website. Cookies are then sent back to the website on each subsequent visit, or to another webpage that recognizes that cookie. Cookies are used in order to make the website work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the website.

Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving the user experience. Cookies may tell us, for example, whether you have visited the website before or whether you are a new visitor. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.

When landing on the website, you have been given the opportunity to accept cookies used on the website, to accept certain categories of cookies and decline others, or to decline all cookies.

There are two broad categories of cookies:

First-party cookies — As the name implies, first-party cookies are put on your device directly by the website you are visiting.
Third-party cookies — These are the cookies that are placed on your device, not by the website you are visiting, but by a third party like an advertiser or an analytic system.


Types of Cookies

In general, there are three different ways to classify cookies: what purpose they serve, how long they endure, and their provenance.


Duration

Session cookies – These cookies are temporary and expire once you close your browser (or once your session ends).
Persistent cookies — This category encompasses all cookies that remain on your hard drive until you erase them or your browser does, depending on the cookie’s expiration date. All persistent cookies have an expiration date written into their code, but their duration can vary. According to the ePrivacy Directive, they should not last longer than 12 months, but in practice, they could remain on your device much longer if you do not take action.

Cookies can remain on your computer or mobile device for different periods of time. Some cookies are “session cookies”, meaning that they exist only while your browser is open. These are deleted automatically once you close your browser. Other cookies are “permanent cookies”, meaning that they survive after your browser is closed. They can be used by the website to recognize your computer when you open your browser and browse the Internet again.


Purpose

Strictly necessary cookies — These cookies are essential for you to browse the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the site. Cookies that allow web shops to hold your items in your cart while you are shopping online are an example of strictly necessary cookies. These cookies will generally be first-party session cookies. While it is not required to obtain consent for these cookies, what they do and why they are necessary should be explained to the user.

Preferences cookies — Also known as “functionality cookies,” these cookies allow a website to remember choices you have made in the past, like what language you prefer, what region you would like weather reports for, or what your user name and password are so you can automatically log in.

Statistics cookies — Also known as “performance cookies,” these cookies collect information about how you use a website, like which pages you visited and which links you clicked on. None of this information can be used to identify you. It is all aggregated and, therefore, anonymized. Their sole purpose is to improve website functions. This includes cookies from third-party analytics services as long as the cookies are for the exclusive use of the owner of the website visited.

Marketing cookies — These cookies track your online activity to help advertisers deliver more relevant advertising or to limit how many times you see an ad. These cookies can share that information with other organizations or advertisers. These are persistent cookies and almost always of third-party provenance.

Some cookies may be set on your computer by third party sites and systems we may use.

Analytics: We use Analytics to provide us with information on this site. In order to insure we do NOT store personal information through such system we are masking visitor’s IP address through the option settings. The information provided allows us to better understand where visitors come from, what area of our site they like best and some of their behaviours on our site.

All browsers allow you to turn off cookies or to customise your settings for cookies. Should you wish to change those settings please feel free to do so.


What types of cookies are used on this site?

The following types of cookie are set on this website (the “Website”):

Strictly necessary cookies;
Functionality cookies;
Targeting/Advertising cookies.
These cookies are a mixture of first party cookies, which we set ourselves, and third party cookies that are set by third party service providers.


Cookie functions

Strictly Necessary Cookies
We use the following cookies which are strictly necessary to allow you to access the Website, to move between pages and to receive services which you have requested:

Managing cookies
If you do not want your browser to accept cookies, you can turn off the cookie acceptance option in your browser settings. For further information about how to turn off cookie acceptance please refer to the “Help” function in your browser.

If we detect that you have enabled the Do Not Track setting in your browser, we will automatically disable Advertising/Targeting cookies.

Please note that disabling cookie support may prevent the Website from functioning properly and you may not be able to fully utilise all of its features and services.


Third-Party Links

This website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy statements. When you leave our website, we encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit.


Data Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.


Glossary of Technical Terms Used

Web browser: The piece of software you use to read web pages. Examples are Google Chrome, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and Opera.

IP address: The identifying details for your computer, or your internet company’s computer, expressed in “internet protocol” code (for example 192.168.72.34). Every computer connected to the web has a unique IP address, although the address may not be the same every time a connection is made.


Complaints

PUNCH Consulting Engineers only processes your personal information in compliance with this privacy notice and in accordance with the relevant data protection laws. If, however you wish to raise a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data or are unsatisfied with how we have handled your information, please contact us first via email: limerick@punchconsulting.com

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority:

Information Commissioner
6 Earlsfort Terrace
Dublin 2, D02 W773
Telephone: +353-1-639 5689
Email: info@oic.ie

Data Protection Commission
21 Fitzwilliam Square South
Dublin 2, D02 RD28
Telephone: +353 (0)761 104 800
Email: dpo@dataprotection.ie

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Email: icocasework@ico.org.uk


Updates

We may occasionally update this policy. We encourage you to periodically review this policy for the latest information on our privacy practices.

Last updated: February 2022

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