Chapter 9 — Personal data at work
Lesson map
Lesson 09 published. Map, example, EX033.
flowchart TD
N0["Learning outcomes"]
N1["9.1 What counts"]
N2["9.2 Principles"]
N3["9.3 Daily care"]
N4["9.4 When unsure"]
N0 --> N1 --> N2 --> N3 --> N4
N4 --> EX["Worked example"]
EX --> Q["Exercise EX033"]
Logical drawing
flowchart LR
N0["Learning outcomes"]
N1["9.1 What counts"]
N2["9.2 Principles"]
N3["9.3 Daily care"]
N4["9.4 When unsure"]
N0 --> N1 --> N2 --> N3 --> N4 --> Q["EX033"]
[Learning outcomes]
|
v
[9.1 What counts]
|
v
[9.2 Principles]
|
v
[9.3 Daily care]
|
v
[9.4 When unsure]
|
v
[Worked example] --> [Exercise EX033]
Learning outcomes
You will (1) recognise personal data; (2) apply basic data protection principles; (3) handle personal data carefully in daily tasks.
9.1 What counts
Mr. Osei explains that personal data are any information about an identifiable person. At Linkway this includes driver names, rosters and hours, passenger complaint contact details, lost property owners and smartcard holders. Passenger counts from sensors are not personal data, because they count people without identifying them. Marta lists Linkway's data sets and marks which contain personal data, finding that most staff data and some passenger data do. She shares the marked list with Mr. Hughes, who confirms it and adds smartcard top-up records, which she had missed because they sit in a supplier's system.
9.2 Principles
Marta learns the main principles of the GDPR in plain words: use personal data fairly and openly, only for clear purposes, collect only what is needed, keep it accurate, keep it no longer than needed and keep it secure. She writes a Linkway example for each, such as collecting only email or phone on the complaint form, as she did in chapter 3, and deleting complaint details after a set time. Mr. Osei checks her examples, and she keeps them as a quick reference card in her workbook.
9.3 Daily care
Marta lists daily habits: lock the screen when leaving the desk, do not leave printouts on printers, send personal data only through approved systems, check the recipient before sending emails and do not discuss passengers or staff in public. Mr. Hughes says most data incidents at bus companies come from simple mistakes, such as emailing a roster to the wrong person. Careful habits prevent many of them. Marta writes the habits on a card for her desk and follows them on her work placement days, where she finds that a printed roster has been left on a shared printer.
9.4 When unsure
Marta is asked by a driver to share another driver's phone number to swap a shift. She is unsure whether this is allowed. She asks Mr. Hughes, who explains that Linkway has a shift swap system that passes messages without sharing numbers. Marta directs the driver there. Mr. Osei notes that asking when unsure is the right response, and that technicians should know who to ask before a question arises. Marta adds Mr. Hughes's contact details to her workbook as the person to ask about personal data.
Worked example
Marta marks which Linkway data sets contain personal data, writes examples for each GDPR principle, lists daily care habits and asks before sharing a driver's phone number.
Synthetic case. Examples are synthetic; the GDPR is real. This is not legal advice.
Errors and limits
Assuming staff data are less sensitive than customer data leads to careless sharing.
Exercises
- EX033 — Counts status. Are sensor passenger counts personal data? Rubric: 3 = no;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = yes;; 0 = none.
- EX034 — Common incident. What causes most incidents at bus companies? Rubric: 3 = simple mistakes such as wrong email recipients;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = vague;; 0 = none.
- EX035 — Shift swap answer. How should drivers swap shifts? Rubric: 3 = through the shift swap system;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = vague;; 0 = none.
- EX036 — Complaint deletion. Which principle does deleting old complaint details apply? Rubric: 3 = keep data no longer than needed;; 2 = partly correct;; 1 = vague;; 0 = none.
Continue studying — lesson 09 (chapter 09 of 18)
← Chapter 08 · Course chapter index · Chapter 10 →
Continue to the next authored lesson.