How Scheduled Shredding Can Keep Your Business Compliant

Some people live by a schedule, while others feel restricted by them. Regardless of your relationship with schedules, implementing them into business and life can greatly improve performance and outcomes.

When a shredding company offers a scheduled shredding option, you may think it’s strictly a sales tactic, but the truth is, it can help keep your business compliant with data privacy laws. Here are a few reasons to consider scheduled shredding.

Protecting Clients, Staff and your Business

Your files often have private information on them that may be related to health, financial or personal information that must be kept confidential. When this information is generated, it is your legal obligation to keep it protected from data thieves who are always looking for ways to steal it. Both state and federal laws have strict requirements with regard to handling Personally Identifiable Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI) and financial information. Federal laws include:

• The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
• The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX)
• The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA)
• The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA)

File Retention

Scheduled shredding is a natural end to the information lifecycle. When document retention dates are set, end-of-lifecycle disposition must also be part of the plan. In order to remain compliant, scheduled shredding should take place at the end of the documents’ lifecycle.

When documents reach their final retention date and placed in a locked shred collection container, they will be destroyed on the next scheduled shred date. Scheduled shredding is a great way to avoid risks incurred when documents are kept for too long, such as:

• Not complying with retention dates
• Increasing your risk of a data breach the longer expired documents sit around

Shred Collection Containers

When you discard files or prepare for a one-time purge shredding project, those documents are now unprotected and vulnerable to being misplaced or stolen, or just being left visible to anyone who passes by. All of these scenarios increase risk for your organization.

When you outsource your document destruction to a reputable shredding company, they will place locked shred collection containers throughout your facility. These containers act as protection for your discarded documents until they are securely shredded.

Certificate of Destruction

A professional shredding company should supply a Certificate of Destruction upon request when shredding is complete. This acts as proof of compliance with state and federal data privacy laws in case of an audit.

Scheduling Your Document Shredding

You may be wondering, “How do I schedule my shredding, and who can do it?” Look for a local, reputable shredding company and ask for client references. Make sure they can tailor a shredding solution that fits your organization’s needs. Be sure to ask all the questions necessary to be sure this is the right shredding provider for you.

GreenServ proudly provides paper shredding and hard drive and media destruction services in Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas. Our friendly experts can design the perfect plan to fit your needs. For questions or to get started, call us at 662-533-0940 or complete the form on this page.