Compliance

Every Business Has Information That Requires Destruction

All businesses have occasion to discard confidential data. Customer 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 anyone. 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 the useful value of documents to the business and 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. By destroying records according to a set schedule, a company appropriately limits the amount of materials it must search through to comply. 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.

Information Protection Is A Vital Issue To Senior Management

Top executives from 300 companies ranked the security of company records as one of the top five critical issues facing business. When asked which issues required immediate attention and policy development, the security of company records ranked second only to employee health screening.

A Certificate Of Destruction

Any company contracting an information destruction service should require that it provide them with a signed testimonial, documenting the date that the materials were destroyed. The certificate of destruction, as it is commonly referred, is an important legal record of compliance with a retention schedule.