Records Management For Dummies

Chapter 12

Compliant Destruction

In This Chapter

Determining how to destroy information

Examining in-house and outsource shredding

Choosing the right vendor

Creating an information destruction policy

Records and information should be retained in accordance with the organization’s retention schedule and hold orders. However, when a record’s (and information) retention period has expired, and it’s no longer subject to any holds, it should be scheduled for destruction.

It’s important to understand how to appropriately destroy information. Consumer and privacy laws now make the proper destruction of some information mandatory. In this chapter, I walk you through the various destruction methods for different types of information, help you determine whether you need to outsource your destruction, and show you how to develop an effective information destruction policy. Although I focus heavily in this chapter on the destruction of physical (paper) information, I also review the issues involving the deletion of electronic information.

Determining the Appropriate Destruction Method

Organizational ...