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Get Serious About Paper Record Destruction
By Kevin Mead
How serious are you about your document destruction processes? There are steps that you can take that ensure protection from liability and embarrassment after the records are tagged for disposal. Merely saying “we shred our old records” and “we have a certificate of destruction” is an inadequate defense when things have gone wrong.
Even though a record may be of no use to you and may have met all of its business needs, it remains your responsibility. Your duty of care over records extends from the time of their creation to the time of their ultimate destruction, no matter whose hands the documents or records pass into. Therefore, the controls that you establish must be capable of ensuring that risk is addressed at all stages of a record’s life.
Taking Control
A strong system of security is one with centralized control over all records at all times. The owner assumes direct physical responsibility for the destruction of the records. Yet, in many instances, this is impractical. First, HIM professionals are educated in the efficient storage, indexing, and availability of records. Secure destruction may not be their first priority. Second, the financial investment in secure records disposal can be considerable. In all but the largest and most active institutions, these assets will likely remain idle for long time periods.
If you chose to outsource your destruction process, make sure that the vendor has the processes in place to ensure record protection to your satisfaction. Make sure that the vendor has the processes in place to ensure record protection to your satisfaction.
Destruction Location: On-site Versus Off-site
You are at risk any time a readable record in any format leaves your premises. Many organizations have therefore opted for an on-site service where a self-contained shredding unit visits your location. However, these are not inherently more secure. Inadequate storage and handling of records at your site before the shredding truck visit, the equipment on the truck, and the subsequent disposal method could all render the increased security afforded by on-site destruction invalid.
Destruction Methods
For paper documents, shredding is the most usual method. Shredding has the advantage of being portable and
easily available and is often an economical option.
Unfortunately, shredding is also easily compromised. Stripshred documents have been easily reconstructed. Crosscut shredders offer a higher degree of security, but are less available. Pulverizing has a clear readability advantage.
Documents and storage media are fed into a pulverizer that uses hydraulic or pneumatic action to reduce the materials to loose fibers and shards. The disadvantages are cost and availability, as few commercial disposers use this method. Both incineration and pulping have been used as disposal methods in a number of industries. Pulping reduces paper to liquid slurry before reusing it in post-consumer products.
The disadvantages here are the transportation, receipt, and disposal of documents before they are either incinerated or pulped. The preferred answer may therefore be to have the documents rendered unreadable through shredding or pulverization, and then made irretrievable by pulping or incineration.
Make sure you are aware of the ultimate destination of the records that you consign for destruction!
