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Reducing Corporate Liability Through Document Destruction

By: Kingston J. Amadan Click author's name for more of his/her articles

While there are innumerable ways in which leaving a paper trail behind can be detrimental for business engaged in fraudulent activity (think Enron), there are almost as many ways for businesses on the up and up to suffer as well. The very nature of business is the buying or selling of goods and services from one entity to another. For most businesses, the targeted entities are everyday consumers.

In the process of doing business, information is collected about the consumer. This information can include e-mail addresses, physical addresses, financial information and much more. In the wrong hands, this information can be damaging to consumers and open the door to liability on the part of the business who inadvertently allowed it to reach those hands. Businesses have a legal and moral responsibility to protect the interests of those with whom they do business.

Paper documentation, especially documentation that isn’t necessary, in current circulation for business use or kept track of, is an invitation for external and internal threats. Misplaced documentation can easily find its way to n’er-do-wells while even protected documentation is rarely safe from internal threats. Most mid-sized to enterprise level corporations simply don’t have the resources to properly check the backgrounds of all employees who may have access to sensitive materials. Even those who do can never be sure of a person’s intentions regardless of their stature or background.

Document destruction can solve these issues quickly, conveniently and effectively. For businesses who must maintain records, documents can be scanned and placed in a far more secure electronic format prior to destruction. Electronic storage can be password protected, allowing trusted administrators access while keeping non-essential personnel out of the picture. Of equal importance, anyone who accesses files can be electronically traced so that should a situation arise, detecting the source of a leak can be easily done.

Subcontracted, off site document destruction is the best solution, though many businesses rely on the services of companies who offer in-office or on-site destruction. While on-sit document destruction may be more convenient and economically viable, it rarely offers the same level of protection that off-site document destruction entails. Cross shredding, followed by recycling or landfill delivery, won’t foil a determined criminal. Businesses that are serious about protecting the identities and financial information of their customers, whether those customers are other businesses or individuals, would do well to find out all the facts before agreeing to on-site document destruction.

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