The privacy watchdog has issued an advisory letter to a fitness centre chain following an investigation over its use of surveillance cameras.

A member of the gym complained to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data in July that he was concerned about being recorded by a CCTV camera installed near a toilet at a newly opened branch in Ma On Shan.

Revealing its findings on Wednesday, the watchdog said the fitness chain explained that a door that was supposed to be installed at the toilet entrance was wrongly put elsewhere, and the CCTV was actually intended for monitoring the public area outside.

The camera was repositioned following the complaint to ensure it does not capture images of the toilet, while a door was also finally added to the toilet in question.

The company also confirmed that the camera had not been switched on before the complaint.

Privacy commissioner Ada Chung said the firm's awareness of privacy issues had been "on the low side".

"Before they installed the wooden door, they hadn't considered the privacy expectations of their members properly," she said.

"If they had taken such considerations into account, they would have given careful thought as to the necessity of installing the CCTV in question, to the location, the angle of installation, and they should have paid more attention to whether the CCTV was mounted in the correct place."