Ambulance Victoria exposed paramedic drug and alcohol test results on staff intranet

Ambulance Victoria confirmed in May 2023 that confidential pre-employment drug and alcohol test results for graduate paramedics had been sitting on its staff intranet, readable by any employee. The spreadsheets covered testing carried out in 2017 and 2018.

The exposed records listed the applicants' names, the date of the test, whether the result was negative or non-negative and, where a result was positive, the class of substance detected. Reporting described hundreds of affected people, most of them job applicants rather than serving staff. Ambulance Victoria stated in a public notice on 17 May 2023 that the documents held alcohol and other drug testing results for approximately 600 job applicants, from testing carried out between May 2017 and October 2018.

The service did not find the problem itself. The Victorian Ambulance Union spotted the files and emailed Ambulance Victoria, which then removed access. The union pressed for a full audit of who had opened the documents, for the matter to be self-reported to the state regulator, and for testing practices to be reviewed.

Ambulance Victoria said it took privacy seriously and acknowledged the distress the exposure could cause. It carried out an access audit and committed to notifying affected individuals, offering wellbeing support and meeting its reporting obligations to the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner. A second, broader intranet exposure at the service followed in August 2023.