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To protect your customers' privacy and prevent identity theft.
- To obey laws, requiring shredding.
- To protect your employees' privacy.
- To protect your company and shareholders by safeguarding proper information.
- Shredding is the most cost-effective and secure means of disposal.
Sensitive information, in the wrong hands, can become a serious liability.
Whether your company is large or small, you have information that must be kept
confidential such as customer lists, drafts of bids and letters, even memos,
contain information about your business activity that would interest any
competitor. Your business is also entrusted with private information about
employees and customers which you are legally required to protect. In 1974 the
Federal government enacted the Privacy Act to protect the privacy of individuals
and businesses. All government agencies as well as the private sector can be
held liable if any personal information is released to unauthorized
individuals.
In addition, there are growing public concerns about privacy and identity. Because identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, the government created state and federal mandates to regulate information security. Federal regulations regarding patient privacy, (HIPAA), impose fines up to $25000 per occurrence for knowingly compromising personal health information.
All businesses have occasion to discard confidential data. Customers lists, price lists, sales statistics, drafts of bids and correspondence, and even memos, contain information about business activity which would interest any competitor. Every business is also entrusted with information that must be kept private. Employees and customers have the legal right to have this data protected.
Without the proper safeguards, information ends up in the dumpster where it is readily, and legally, available to anybody. The trash is considered by business espionage professionals as the single most available source of competitive and private information from the average business. Any establishment that discards private and proprietary data without the benefit of destruction, exposes itself to the risk of criminal and civil prosecution, as well as the costly loss of business.
Stored Records Should Be Destroyed On A Regular Schedule
The period of time that business records are stored should be determined by a retention schedule that takes into consideration their useful value to the business and the governing legal requirements. No record should be kept longer than this retention period. By not adhering to a program of routinely destroying stored records, a company exhibits suspicious disposal practices that could be negatively construed in the event of litigation or audit. Also, the new >Federal Rule 26< requires that, in the event of a law suit, each party provide all relevant records to the opposing counsel within 85 days of the defendants initial response. If either of the litigants does not fulfill this obligation, it will result in a summary finding against them. By destroying records according to a set schedule, a company appropriately limits the amount of materials it must search though to comply with this law.
From a risk management perspective, the only acceptable method of discarding stored records is to destroy them by a method that ensures that the information is obliterated. Documenting the exact date that a record is destroyed is a prudent and recommended legal precaution.
Records that need safe destruction:
- Medical Records
- Bank Statements
- Negotiable Documents
- Customer Mailing & Prospect Lists
- Accounting Records
- Financial Reports
- Payroll Records
- Sales Forecasts
- Accounting Records
- Personnel Records
- Social Security Numbers
- Inventory Reports
- Cancelled Checks
- Credit Cards
- Contracts
- Legal Signatures
- Research & Development
- Obsolete Forms & Inacci Microfiche
- Microfilm
- Blueprints
- Business Plans
- Confidential Letters & Meeting Notes
- Budget Data
- Bids & Quotations
- Engineering Drawings
- Tax Records
- Production Reports
- Copy Machine Rejects
- Expense Reports
- Fax Machine Rolls
- Daily Correspondence
- And More .......
Purchase Records Destruction recycles all shredded materials, relieving the burden on our landfills and helping reduce environmental impact.
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