Safetrac allegedly installed surveillance without staff agreement
August 26, 2025 |
The Safetrac saga continues apace with allegations that it installed listening devices without consent or updating its surveillance policy. The AFR reports on these concerning developings in Safetrac surveillance installed without staff agreement: HR manager. Safetrac installed the Teramind program. Teramind proudly admits that itts program is designed to Monitor, analyze, and manage employee activity to prevent insider threats, safeguard sensitive information, and optimize team performance.According to the piece Safetrac used microphones of employees’ laptops to record sound close to their computer from 15 April until 2 June 2025. Not so coincidentally the statutory tort of serious invasion of privacy came into effect on 10 June 2025. It amended its policy on use of surveillance equipment from 4 sentences to 2 pages. Whether that is sufficient to constitute proper awareness and consent is another story.
And interesting issue may be whether Safetrac used the Teramind program while monitoring compliance on behalf of some of its clients employees laptops and whether they were aware of it.
The article provides:
A top compliance firm that turned staff laptops into covert listening devices should have updated its surveillance policy before deploying its monitoring software, according to a statement by one of its human resources managers to the Victorian government’s workers’ compensation authority.
The Australian Financial Review can reveal WorkCover agent Allianz this month accepted that Safetrac should have got staff consent to its new surveillance policy introduced in June before it installed the software Teramind two months before to monitor underperformers.
The statement was outlined in reasons for WorkCover’s rare decision to grant workers’ compensation payments to a Safetrac staffer who it found developed anxiety when she discovered that she was under audio surveillance while she worked from home.
The decision could open a path for other Safetrac staff to claim compensation following allegations Safetrac did not specifically advise them it was using the microphones of select employees’ laptops to record sound close to their computer from April 15 to June 2.
Safetrac has said staff consented to the surveillance in their contracts and a four-sentence surveillance policy that said audio and images may be recorded during the course of their employment. It says it notified staff of “additional computer monitoring” at a company-wide town hall in February.
A spokeswoman for Safetrac said that “these matters are being strenuously defended, and we remain confident that our practices are compliant with the law”.
Documents seen by the Financial Review show that Allianz initially denied the Safetrac employee’s claim that she developed anxiety from becoming aware of the covert surveillance.
Allianz rejected that the employee’s anxiety had “predominantly arisen” out of the course of her employment as it found the allegations were unsubstantiated. It determined her mental injury was caused “by stress or burnout not in the context of traumatic events”.
But on August 12 Allianz reversed its decision and accepted the claim.
In its reasons, Allianz said “people and culture manager provided [a] statement in the circumstance investigation report stating Teramind surveillance software was installed between April 17, 2025 and June 2025 and the policy was updated since June 2025”.
The manager’s statement said “staff should have agreed to the new policy and that software was installed without staff agreeing to this”.
The Safetrac HR manager is understood not to be speaking on behalf of Safetrac or representing its views.
The Financial Review has reported track changes showing Safetrac chief executive Deborah Coram extensively updated the company’s monitoring policy from the end of June, expanding a four-sentence policy as of April to about two pages by July.
The new policy named the software and detailed how it was used and the times it was used.
It also specified that “monitoring or management practices undertaken in accordance with employment contracts, company policies, and relevant legislation are not considered psychosocial hazards”.
On July 7, Safetrac instructed staff to acknowledge a new code of conduct which included the new monitoring policy, according to company emails.
The workers’ compensation reasons are separate from a Victoria Police investigation over whether Safetrac breached state surveillance laws.
The Victorian Allan government is also considering whether to set up a standalone workplace surveillance law after a May parliamentary inquiry recommended urgent reforms to deal with the rise of artificial intelligence and employers’ “productivity paranoia” about staff who work from home.
A government spokesman said “workplaces and technology have changed dramatically in the time since workplace surveillance laws were established, which is why we are giving consideration to the inquiry into workplace surveillance report and will have more to say in due course”.