Surveillance Policy

1. Purpose

1.1 The Surveillance Policy (the policy):

details the circumstances, nature and types of surveillance at UTS
provides notice of surveillance under the Workplace Surveillance Act 2005 (NSW), and
outlines the systems and processes used by UTS to ensure the security of its assets against theft, fraud, malicious or accidental damage and other security breaches.

2. Scope

2.1 This policy applies to all UTS staff, students, affiliates and visitors (hereafter campus users) with access to UTS property, equipment, information technology resources and/or networks.

3. Principles

3.1 UTS seeks to provide transparency in the circumstances, nature and types of surveillance conducted by the university and comply with the requirements of the Workplace Surveillance Act 2005 (NSW). UTS provides notice of surveillance to all campus users in line with section 10 of the Workplace Surveillance Act.

3.2 UTS is committed to ensuring the safety and security of all UTS campus users, assets and property. This includes the use of surveillance systems (including CCTV) to both discourage and detect any unlawful behaviour in and around university property.

3.3 Surveillance systems are also used to ensure UTS’s operational efficiency, including traffic management, identification of breakages and malfunctions, and access requirements and control.

3.4 Where necessary, UTS surveillance systems will be used to assist in gathering information and/or identifying people of interest in the event of an incident or emergency or at the request of law enforcement agencies.

4. Policy statements

Surveillance at UTS

4.1 UTS uses live and recorded monitoring surveillance systems to ensure the health, safety, wellbeing and security of UTS campus users.

4.2 UTS does not use monitoring surveillance inside private or other designated areas including bathrooms, parents’ rooms, changing rooms and prayer rooms.

4.3 All UTS cameras are visible and/or signposted. UTS does not use hidden or covert cameras or dummy cameras, except by police or other law enforcement agencies and/or by court order.

Use of surveillance systems

4.4 All monitoring surveillance systems, specifications and applications used on UTS campus or property must be approved in line with the UTS Security Standards (Electronic Security). These standards are available from Security and Emergency Management (via email security.general@uts.edu.au).

4.5 The Head of Security and Emergency Management must also develop and approve appropriate standard operating procedures. These procedures must apply to all monitoring surveillance systems to ensure that:

all equipment is effectively and appropriately managed, and
all recorded information is used, maintained and disclosed in line with the Privacy Policy, the Records Management Policy, the Data Governance Policy and the Information Security Policy.

4.6 All monitoring surveillance systems at UTS must be:

located in a structurally sound, electronically accessed and monitored area that is secure from a risk perspective, with access limited only to authorised users
integrated into the university’s wider electronic security network to enable effective monitoring by Security and Emergency Management.

Tracking technology at UTS

4.7 UTS owns, uses, distributes and provides equipment that has (or may have) the function and capability to record the geographical location of campus users including, but not limited to:

access cards (including staff and student cards or visitor cards)
IT equipment (including mobile phones, computers, tablets and smart devices)
radio equipment (including two-way radio equipment)
UTS-supplied vehicles
duress buttons
security audit systems (including wanding tools for on-person metal detection)
electronic key access pads (for cabinets, labs, locker rooms and other secure areas).

4.8 UTS does not actively monitor or track the location or movement of campus users. Information on the location or movement of campus users will be shared only if requested or required by law enforcement agencies.

Disclosure of surveillance records

4.9 UTS may use or disclose surveillance records where required or permitted under law, including:

at the request of a law enforcement agency or an independent body (for example, the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the New South Wales Ombudsman)
to process requests made under the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) or NSW privacy legislation
to assist Security and Emergency Management, police or other law enforcement agency with investigations or otherwise required or authorised to do so by law (for example, to comply with a warrant or subpoena or to detect and prosecute an offender)
to assist with internal investigations or legal matters
to manage any serious matter relating to a UTS campus user
for training, emergency processes (for example, emergency evacuations), trend analysis, continuous improvement purposes or compliance purposes.

5. Roles and responsibilities

5.1 Policy owner: The Director, Property is responsible for policy enforcement and compliance, ensuring that its principles and statements are observed. The Director, Property is also responsible for the approval of any associated university level procedures and security-related guidelines and standard operating procedures.

5.2 Policy contact: The Head of Security and Emergency Management is responsible for:

the day-to-day implementation of this policy, including acting as a primary point of contact for advice on fulfilling its provisions under the Workplace Surveillance Act
UTS security systems
approving the UTS Security Standards (Electronic Security), and
developing and communicating other security-related guidelines and standard operating procedures.

5.3 Implementation and governance roles: Security and Emergency Management is responsible for the delivery of security services at UTS.

6. Definitions

The following definitions apply for this policy and all associated procedures. These are in addition to the definitions outlined in Schedule 1, Student Rules. Definitions in the singular also include the plural meaning of the word.

Affiliate is defined in the Code of Conduct.

Authorised user means a person authorised by the Head of Security and Emergency Management (or their delegate(s)) who has successfully completed the approved security training, including a familiarity with this policy and relevant legislation.

Campus is defined in the Campus Policy.

Closed circuit television (CCTV) system means any combination of cameras, lenses, digital or other video recorders and/or accessories and backend systems installed for the purpose of monitoring and/or recording visual activity.

Dummy camera means a false or imitation camera or recording device.

Monitoring surveillance system means a device or group of devices and applications used to undertake live and recorded surveillance including but not limited to:

fixed cameras
pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) CCTV cameras
mobile CCTV cameras, and
body worn CCTV cameras.

Surveillance is defined under section 3 of the Workplace Surveillance Act 2005 (NSW). In summary, it refers to monitoring and recording through the use of security cameras, computers or other devices that may have the ability to track location or movement information.

UTS access card is defined in the Campus Policy.

Approval information

Policy contact	Head of Security and Emergency Management
Approval authority	Vice-Chancellor
Review date	2026
File number	UR19/2765
Superseded documents	None

Version history

Version	Approved by	Approval date	Effective date	Sections modified
1.0	Vice-Chancellor	05/09/2019	12/12/2019	New policy.
1.1	Director, Governance Support Unit (Delegation 3.14.1)	09/03/2021	15/04/2021	Amendments resulting from the Policy Impact Project.
1.2	Vice-Chancellor	28/04/2022	28/04/2022	Changes and updates to reflect portfolio realignment under Fit for 2027 project. Definition change to surveillance.
2.0	Vice-Chancellor	14/12/2023	21/12/2023	Scheduled review.