Privacy Policy

HSS respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This Privacy Policy will inform you as to how we look after your personal data and tell you about your privacy rights and how the law protects you.

• contact us by phone or by using our ‘Request a call back’ facility by providing your telephone number or by sending us a text message;
• use our ‘live chat’ facility to speak to one of our customer service advisors;
• create a trade account (and become an ‘HSS Account Customer’), a registered user or non-trade customer account;
• sign up to receive our various newsletters by email;
• obtain a quote for hire of our products or services, e.g. obtain a quote for skip hire by providing us with your email address and information about the type and volume and waste you would like to dispose of;
• purchase our products or services;
• book a place on an HSS Training course and/or share information about our training programs with people you think may be interested in our courses;
• apply for a job with us, including submitting an online job application (and/or your CV); and
• consent to be notified of products and/or services that may be of interest to you (based on your purchase history or browsing of our Site).

• your full name and date of birth;
• your business and home contact details e.g. address, telephone numbers (including your mobile telephone number) and e-mail address;
• pre-contractual ID documentation (such as your driving licence or passport) so that we can check who you are and where you live in order to safeguard against fraud and criminal activity;
• details of the reason(s) for your contact, as set out above;
• if you create a customer account - your username, password and details of the product(s) and/or service(s) that you add to your “basket” (so that you can be notified should the checkout process not complete);
• if you make a request for a quotation or an order for hire/purchase/supply of services:
  - financial account information, such as credit/debit card number and other payment information; and
  - delivery information which may include your home or work address and telephone number;
• if you submit a job application to us:

• if you book a place on one of our training courses:
  - financial account information, such as credit/debit card number and other payment information and ID information, including, on occasion, national insurance number; and
• - to the extent that you feel it may be difficult for you to take part in the training and/or complete any assessments as a result, relevant information about your language and/or literacy ability and your health and/or fitness;
• your contact and marketing preferences; these can be managed at https://sites.hss.com/preferences/customer
• information necessary for legal compliance;
• your social media content (where this is in the public domain), including when you “like” us or make posts on our pages on social networking websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram,  and any messages you send us via social media. This information can include posts, comments, pictures and video footage;
• CCTV footage taken at any of our sites for security purposes;
• voice recordings for training and monitoring;
• IP (Internet Protocol) address: your IP address indicates your location, unless you are using a VPN service; 
• MAC (Media Access Control) address: is a unique identifier, or address, assigned by the manufacturer of your device;
• Device: what type of device you are using (TV, smartphone, laptop, desktop);
• OS (Operation system): what operating system your device has (IOS, Android, Windows, Linux, MAC OS X); 
• Browser & browser version: which web browser you are using (Internet Explorer/Edge, Opera, Chrome, Safari, Firefox); 
• Domain: depending on your device and browser settings, we sometimes identify the web address of the domain you came from before landing on our website; 
• Clickstream data: this is a list of all the web pages that you visited, and the order you viewed them in, on each visit to www.hss.com or our Sites. We also record how much time you spend on each web page, and record any actions you make on each page; and/or 
• Cookies: these are small text files that our website places on your device, so that our website can remember something about you at a later time. For more information on the specific cookies that we use and their function, please see our Cookie Policy. 

• Direct interactions. You may give us your data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or in person or by uploading information to our app or websites, or via third party software providers we use. This includes personal data you provide when you:

• apply for our products or services;
• create an account on our website;
• subscribe to our service or publications;
• request marketing to be sent to you;
• enter a competition, promotion or survey; or
• give us some feedback.

• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with our Site, 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.  
• Obtaining technical data from the following parties:

• analytics providers in the EU;
• advertising networks in the EU; and
• search information providers in the EU.

• Obtaining Identity and Contact Data from publicly available sources such as Companies House, the Electoral Register, database bureaux and Credit Reference Agencies based inside the EU. Details on why we use Credit Reference Agencies and what data is shared is set out in section 5 below.

• to respond and/or deal with your request or enquiry and obtain any feedback from you;
• to process and administer your booking request(s), hire request(s) or order(s) of our products and/or services;
• to perform ID and credit checks to verify your identity and ensure your location, ability to pay and creditworthiness and to safeguard against fraud and criminal activity;
• to offer and improve our products and services and to ensure that content from the Site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer (or other electronic internet-enabled device);
• to administer the Site;
• to contact you (directly, or through a relevant partner or agent) by e-mail or phone for any of the above reasons;
• subject to your consent where required under applicable laws, to carry out direct marketing and/or e-mail marketing;
• to evaluate any job application(s) you choose to submit to us and for the administration of the recruitment process following receipt of your application (where your application is successful);
• where you inform us that you feel it may be difficult for you to take part in the training and/or complete any assessments as a result of your language and/or literacy ability and your health and/or fitness, to make any reasonable adjustments which may be necessary to assist your completion of such courses;
• where necessary as part of any restructuring or sale of our business or assets;
• to perform any contract we have with you;
• to respond to any social media posts or other public comments you make which relate to us;
• for compliance with legal, regulatory and other good governance obligations; and
• to improve and measure the effectiveness of our marketing communications, including online advertising. We also share cookie and other data with entities such as Google and Facebook in order to make our advertising more relevant to you. We require any such third parties to treat your personal information as fully confidential and to fully comply with all applicable data protection legislation.

• Our group companies and business divisions  for the performance of contracts an to offer you a wider range of related services.
• Suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of contracts.
• People and businesses who help us provide our Site and related services to you, for example, information technology companies who host and/or maintain our Site and payment services companies who enable you to use payment cards with us. We use Stripe for payment, analytics, and other business services. Stripe collects identifying information about the devices that connect to its services. Stripe uses this information to operate and improve the services it provides to us, including for fraud detection. You can learn more about Stripe and read its privacy policy at www.stripe.com/privacy.
• Our insurers and insurance brokers where required in order for us to be able to obtain insurance against risks we face in running our business. They may retain this information for the purpose of ongoing risk assessment and insurance broking and underwriting services.
• Our auditors, professional advisers, compliance managers, government, law enforcement or regulatory authorities in order to fulfil our legal, statutory and regulatory obligations or as required for tax purposes.
• Our registrars in order to administer our share register, employee share plans, dividend payments, voting, elections, annual report correspondence and identifying relevant products and services.
• External third parties in response to a legal process, including as part of a restructuring, financing or sale of HSS or any of its businesses or assets.
• Credit reference agencies. We will supply your personal information to credit reference agencies (CRAs) who will check the details supplied against any database, public or otherwise, and they will give us information about you, such as about your financial history. We do this to assess creditworthiness, check your identity, manage your account, trace, recover debts, and prevent fraud and criminal activity. A record of the search may be retained by CRAs. We will also continue to exchange information about you with CRAs on an ongoing basis, including about your settled accounts and any debts not fully repaid on time. CRAs will share your information with other organisations. The identities of the CRAs, and the ways in which they use and share personal information, are explained in more detail at www.experian.co.uk/legal/crain/ and https://www.creditsafe.com/gb/en/legal/privacy-policy.html. As part of the credit check process for cash customers who want to place an order with us, you may be asked to provide your name, address history, an image of yourself and an identity document such as a driving licence or passport. This information will be provided to CRAs, who will share it with their partners and other organisations, in order to carry out the credit check process, including via Document Verification Services.

• the information is no longer necessary for the purposes for which we collected it;
• we need your consent to use the information and you withdraw such consent;
• you object to us using your information (a) for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest; or (b) for the purposes of our legitimate interests (e.g. direct marketing) and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing;
• you unsubscribe from our marketing communications;
• we have used your information unlawfully; or
• deletion of the information is required to comply with a legal obligation applicable to us.

• while we verify the accuracy of the information that we hold about you where you contest the accuracy of the same;
• we have used your information unlawfully, but you request us to restrict its use instead of deleting it;
• we no longer need the information for the purpose for which we collected it, but you need it to deal with a legal claim; or
• while we verify that our legitimate grounds override your right to object where you have objected to us using your information.