Document destruction Augusta GA services are vital for many companies. In fact, document destruction is required by law for many industries. Laws such as Gramm-Leach-Bliley, HIPAA, and The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act are made to ensure clients’ privacy. If electronic and paper-based documents are not adequately destroyed, a Georgia company can expect fines of up to $10,000. In order to meet the high standards required by law, companies should employ Document destruction Augusta GA services. Does my business have information which, by law, must be destroyed? Every business will eventually have some sort of information which needs to be destroyed. Aside from the fact that Document destruction Augusta GA helps save costs due to storage space and organizational concerns, there are many documents which are legally required to be destroyed. If your business is not destroying documents in a secure manner, it runs the risk of facing a criminal or civil lawsuit in the future.
Additionally, if clients find out that their information is not being destroyed in a secure manner, you run the risk of losing your business. When should I have documents destroyed? The timeframe at which a business employs Document destruction Augusta GA services depends on its retention period. A retention period is the amount of time that documents can still be considered useful to a business. Aside from the space-saving benefits, documents should be destroyed on a regular basis to prevent against their use in a lawsuit. Federal law requires that, in a law suit, both parties must supply the other party with any relevant documents.
If a company uses Document destruction Augusta GA services, then this reduces the risk of information being used in a lawsuit and saves time sorting through information. For this reason, it is important that Document destruction Augusta GA services come with a proof of destruction certificate. Is there another way to destroy documents? For the most secure destruction of documents, it is best to employ Document destruction Augusta GA services which meet industry standards. Some businesses choose to use their own secure paper shredders. However, this presents a problem because there is no guarantee that every sensitive document is being destroyed. Using a document destruction service means that all sensitive information will be destroyed on a regular basis. Paper shredders should be used only for a daily basis with documents which are private and of no business-related use anymore. Can my own personnel destroy documents? Lower-level employees should be kept from all sensitive information. This includes payroll information as well as anything having to do with legal affairs or competition. You never know when your personnel will try to capitalize on information that it finds before the information has been destroyed. The only acceptable manner in which personnel should be entrusted to destroy documents is under the direct supervision of upper management. This obviously poses time constraints on management. In order to make sure that information is effectively being destroyed, it is best to employ a Document destruction Augusta GA service.