Practically every business is creating and managing new paper documents every day and the list of documents that legally need to be shredded is constantly growing.
Bills, customer order information, contracts, employee applications, in-house memos, receipts, piles of mail, insurance documents, old tax records, payment records, account records and balance sheets, personnel files and bank records... Practically any document that has a first name last name address, and other information probably needs to be shredded.
What can happen if this information falls into the wrong hands?
Well, aside from forgery, credit card fraud, con schemes, corporate espionage, there is of course the potential for bad publicity, loss of customers, lawsuits and fines.
It is important that all businesses shred or destroy certain sensitive documents. Law enforcement, legal industries, government agencies, banks, health care providers, insurance providers, financial brokers, and real estate are just a few industries where managing paperwork is crucial. Not to mention hospitals, insurers, doctor's offices, retirement homes, drugstores, legal papers.
So how can a business manage their documents safely and effectively?
A detailed security policy for every type of document your business uses is essential and employees need to know these policies!
For example: What are the shredding requirements for the various document types that your company frequently uses? What are employees allowed to photocopy? Who has access to files with private information?
Signs can be posted in the workplace and next to trash cans and recycling bins were sensitive documents may inadvertently be thrown out, un-shredded.
Also, whoever is overseeing the destruction of documents should closely consult with the company's IT staff and any other department that works with electronic records and files to ensure safe handling.
Training employees about disposing of sensitive documents and developing a very specific policy about how long to hold and went to discard documents will go a long way. Access to company read records should be controlled and restricted to a small number of individuals and there should be rules relating to records.
And finally, use a certified document destruction company that has a good track record.
