Use Care when Disposing of your “Spring Cleaning” Documents
Our last blog discussed the benefits of “spring cleaning” late in the year and which documents to keep and what you can toss. Having decided what items to purge, your next decision is how to dispose of them. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Does any government agency regulate the disposal of these records?
- Is the information sensitive? Some information becomes less sensitive with age, some does not.
- How could the information be exploited by unauthorized users and what would the impact of unauthorized access be?
Remember that stealing trash is not a crime! Just throwing out files is not a good method of disposal for anything remotely sensitive. Shredding is a good choice, but if you do this yourself be sure to use a cross-cut shredder as shredded strips can be taped back together.
Incineration is another possibility (although you may hear from the EPA regarding pollution guidelines!), but the process must be supervised to ensure the documents are completely destroyed.
Electronic documents may not be as much of an eyesore as paper, but if they’re not managed they can also impede your efficiency. The same guidelines for retaining paper documents apply to electronic documents and you must be just as cautious when disposing of them.
Deleting documents isn’t always an option (read-only discs can’t be deleted, and deleted documents on your hard drive can be recovered), but sometimes erasing the documents is possible. Also, a commercial shredding company can be helpful when it comes to disposing of CD’s, floppy discs, and tapes.
The bottom line goal is ensuring potentially sensitive information never gets into the wrong hands. If you’re dealing with specific concerns or situations you’d like to discuss, call us at 904-398-4747 or Email lynn@OnlineStewardship.com as we’re always happy to help.
With just a little thought and planning, you can “spring clean” now and start 2012 clutter free!
