4 Important Considerations Before Purging Your Company’s Documents in St. Petersburg

If you’re thinking about purging your company’s documents, there are a few things you should consider first.

The Right Ways to Purge Your Company’s Documents

Purging your company’s documents should be done by an experienced document management company with knowledge of legal requirements and government regulations. 

The right way to purge your company’s documents in-house involves training employees to properly handle sensitive documents and data. Before beginning any initiative, consider these 4 topics:

1. Legal Issues Associated with Purging Your Company’s Documents

One of the most common legal issues associated with purging your company’s documents is failure to comply with state laws regarding record retention. State laws vary from one state to another, but most require businesses to keep records for several years after they are no longer needed for business purposes. 

The first thing you need to do is make sure that purging your company’s documents will not violate any laws or regulations. For example, if your company is subject to HIPAA regulations, then you cannot simply destroy any medical records without following proper procedures first.

Some states have very strict rules about what you must do with private data before you destroy it, while others only require that you dispose of the data in a way that prevents unauthorized access by third parties. 

The type of information being destroyed and the method used to destroy it will determine whether you need to comply with state or federal privacy laws.

2. Know What You Need to Keep and What You Can Destroy

Alongside legal guidelines, you should review all of your current policies regarding retention periods for various types of documents and information. Some items might need to be kept for tax purposes or other legal reasons even after the business no longer needs them.

3. Inventory Everything

Before you start shredding anything, make sure you know exactly what documents are out there and where each one is located. This way, if any questions arise later on about whether something was destroyed properly, you can show proof of compliance with all regulations and laws associated with records management.

4. Purge Your Documents with ShredQuick

ShredQuick is a document shredding service that provides secure destruction of your confidential, sensitive, and outdated documents and hardware. Shredding allows you to get rid of documents that contain sensitive information that you no longer need. 

However, it’s important to ensure you are compliant with your company’s policies regarding data destruction and any federal or state laws that may apply to how and when you may purge your documents. As soon as you know you’re ready to shred, give us a call.