In Focus Risk
Working from home: are you breaking confidentiality laws?
With employees working from home because of the Covid-19 outbreak, how safe is the information they are accessing and disposing of now that it is out of the office?
Mark Hall Director,
BusinessWaste.co.uk
Remote working means new headaches for companies and their data security. Even during the crisis of a pandemic,
confidential waste must be disposed of correctly in order to protect businesses and their customers from fraud or blackmail. Even if people are working from home,
they need to be mindful that any waste they create needs to be destroyed in the same ways it would if they were in the office. Companies could still be in line for massive fines if they get it wrong.
What counts as confidential waste? Essentially, confidential waste refers to documents possessed by any company that can expose discrete information about suppliers, customers, or employees. Basically, if it details any information
about the nature of your work or anyone associated, then it counts as confidential information which will need proper disposal.
However, it can be very tricky to
distinguish what counts as confidential waste, as many businesses work with different mediums of materials. We have compiled a list of different types of confidential waste: l Personnel files and contracts – including CVs and application letters. l Financial records – such as order forms, invoices, bills, and statements. l Health and social care records. l Criminal records. l Business cards, ID badges, and security passes. l Letters, memos, and other items containing names and addresses. l New business proposals and business plans. l Used notebooks. l Product samples or profiles. l Research data. l Diaries. l Photographs. If you are working from home, you need
to be aware that any of these resources could contain confidential details which could be dangerous in the wrong hands. So please make sure you or your staff
do not throw this information into the household waste! Failing to dispose of confidential waste
can lead to a variety of outcomes, ranging from prosecutions under the law to identity theft and fraud. Your company could fall victim to
industrial espionage, so it is really important to make sure that private information cannot be leaked to rival companies through improper disposal. Although it might be easier to just throw
all rubbish into your household waste bin, there are legal implications such as breach- ing the UK 1988 Data Protection Act,
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If you are working from home, you need to be aware that any of these resources could contain confidential details which could be dangerous in the wrong hands. So please make sure you or your staff do not throw this information into the household waste
which regulates the collecting, storing, and destroying of confidential data. Any companies that fail to oblige the act
can face crippling fines from the UK data watchdog, the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Actions you can take now All members of staff be reminded about company policies regarding waste, and firmly told not to throw any work materials into their household rubbish. In an ideal world, sensitive information
should not leave the office, so the best thing for businesses to do is to try to restrict what is essential and needs to be taken home. It is preferable to make as many work tasks computer-based as possible, with sensitive files only accessible from a secure device approved by your company. The best thing you can do if you are
unsure is to keep all information secure and together at your home workspace, and when it is safe to do so, take it all back to work for proper disposal. If in doubt, do not chuck it out. CCR
June 2020
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