DATA & DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT INVEST IN A PROFESSIONAL
SHREDDING COMPANY The problem with office shredders are that they’re noisy, time- consuming and prone to paper jams and overheating. Professional data destruction companies can do the job in a fraction of the time - either on-site or off-site - and can handle staples, elastic bands of paper clips that would normally need to be removed before being run through a portable shredder.
”AT THE VERY LEAST, WASTE SHOULD BE SHREDDED.”
They’ll more than likely take care of the recycling too. Bi-produced paper material can be turned into a range of tissue related products, including newspapers, magazines, cardboard, hand towels, loft insulation and animal bedding. This helps to fulfill a business’s environmental and corporate social responsibility commitments.
disposal and recycling. It’s a big ‘no no’ then, if staff are throwing any old piece of paper in the general waste bin. Not only is it bad for the environment but throwing anything containing sensitive data is against the law; this is to protect both businesses and their customers from becoming victims of identity theft or fraud.
At the very least, waste should be shredded - although be warned that most bog standard office machines cut in vertical strips, which could be reassembled with a bit of patience. It’s advisable to spend slightly more on shredders that ‘cross cut’ to ensure there’s no chance of it being put back together. Shredding on a regular basis is good for business organisation, and frees up valuable office or storage space.
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Most shredding firms also specialise in the handling of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) such as hard drives, printers, laptops, USBs, CDs and DVDs, and branded products including uniforms. This has become a big part of what we do at Shredall after the WEEE Directive was introduced in 2007 to reduce the amount of recyclable electronic waste away from landfill.
With hard drives and magnetic media, you may think that the data cannot be recovered if they’re no longer working, but that’s not the case. The only way to permanently wipe information from these items is by using a process called degaussing. Degaussing consists of passing the item through a powerful magnetic field, which rearranges the magnetic particles, rendering it completely unusable.
CONSIDER RECORDS MANAGEMENT
SOLUTIONS If you’re looking to free up some space in the office, then you may want
to consider using a document storage company. Here’s how they typically work: First, a full inventory is made of the documents a business wants to store. The firm is then given a barcode, which is scanned and linked to the contents of each box. Boxes are placed in a high-security facility, or vault (fire and flood resistant with 24- hour CCTV), and can be retrieved and re-filed and any time. Not only does this improve a business’s efficiency, it also gives staff peace of mind that their documents are safe and won’t be lost.
SWITCH TO DIGITAL Recent statistics from the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) shows that loss or theft of paperwork was one of the most common data security incidents in Q4 2015/2016 (January to March 2016). Businesses can minimise this risk by switching exclusively to digital documents, which will also save time, money, and space as well as helping the environment. Firms can implement this by getting in touch with a company that offers electronic archiving solutions. Paperwork can be collected, scanned, stored, and retrieved within seconds. Hard copies can either be filed away or destroyed and recycled.
INFORM ALL STAFF OF THE
CORRECT PROTOCOL You should always look at what’s best for your business when deciding which course of action to take. If external shredding, scanning or storage is an option, it’s worth spending some time looking at their online reviews to check that they have a good reputation. You should also check that they vet all of their employees and are compliant with any necessary industry accreditations.
Whatever you decide to implement, you must remember to inform everyone else in order for it to be effective. It’s advisable to create a waste management and document/ data management strategy that is accessible to all staff and regularly reviewed.
www.shredall.co.uk TOMORROW’S FM | 37
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