ACC faces new privacy breach claim

The Accident Compensation Corporation is investigating another potential privacy breach. Photo / Alan Gibson

The Accident Compensation Corporation is investigating another potential privacy breach which may be similar to the gaffe that saw details of thousands of claimants sent to Bronwyn Pullar last year.

This week, a member of the online ACC claimants' discussion group ACCforum posted that they had requested their "IT Sweep" - a record of which ACC staff had accessed their electronic file.

However, with that information they also received "a list of names regarding review dates and reason for review and claim numbers".

After the post generated a strong response from other members, the claimant offered an assurance they would not share the data with anyone else and were now being advised by a lawyer.

Almost a year ago, ACC claimant and former National Party insider Bronwyn Pullar was mistakenly sent a file containing information about thousands of other claimants whose cases had been reviewed in the previous year.

ACC plunged into a far-reaching scandal after Ms Pullar went to the media with the file this year.

Yesterday, ACC's privacy officer, Miriama Henderson, responded to the ACCforum post. "If you've received information not about you, ACC needs to recover the information so we can contact the clients whose information has been released. We'll also advise the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of any breach," she wrote.

Last night, an ACC spokeswoman confirmed the corporation was investigating the potential breach, but had been unable to identify the claimant.

Since the Pullar affair came to light in March, ACC has been hit by a string of further privacy breaches.

Last month, the Herald reported that a former Auckland builder was sent a document about a Te Atatu brain injury victim among papers about his own case.