D.J. Shredding: the Last Step in your Record Retention Plan

Why Should I pay D. J. Shredding to destroy my Business Documents?

Improper disposal of proprietary business documents may result in misuse of data as in identity theft and fraud, but also results in loss of competitive advantage when confidential, and proprietary information falls into the wrong hands.

In 2004 HIPAA Regulations were extended to all health insurers, and providers, REGARDLESS OF SIZE. Privacy regulations abound and place an additional burden for proper document disposal on your already busy staff.

• Failure to comply is punished by steep fines
• In-office shredding tends to be put off, is staff disruptive, noisy, dusty and distracting
• Adequate shredders can be expensive and even the best of them jam and over heat.

Several states have laws which make businesses responsible for identity theft when it occurs because the business was lax in protecting the personal information of its clients. Banks, title companies, real estate and insurance agents, attorneys and all other professional and business organizations are all expected to provide proper stewardship of confidential data.

Other Business Considerations

There is increased attention to document retention (and destruction) requirements driven by several pressures in the legal and business communities:

• The explosion of credit card fraud and identity theft and community expectation that businesses will comply with reasonable and prudent guidelines for safeguarding data.
• Litigation resulting from failure to provide appropriate safeguarding of documents
• Litigation resulting from failure to comply with internal record retention guidelines, including proper disposal of private and or confidential
• Sarbanes Oxley regulations
• Client expectations.

What Business and Professional Documents to Shred? What Business and Professional Documents to Keep?

D.J. Shredding recommends that you annually destroy the following categories of document when no longer required for reference or by law:

• Documents that include client or customer private or confidential information
• Documents covered by HIPPA guidelines and other privacy considerations
• Official records of your company that are no longer required for retention
• Official records of your company that are scheduled for destruction.

Because confidentiality and privacy requirements are so far reaching, some businesses have adopted a 100% shred policy.