Documents You Should Shred

A strong paper-shredding program can help you and your company comply with the various State and Federal Laws. Massachusetts Privacy laws mandate that you protect the private information of your employees, clients, and patients. In order to be compliant with the various state and federal laws and protect yourself, stockholders, employees, and customers/patients, you should destroy and shred all confidential and outdated documents.

• Shred any document that contains confidential material such as designs, proposals, plans, and drafts of such information.
• Shred any document which could be used for the purpose of identity theft like social security numbers, customer lists, credit applications, tax returns, etc…
• Shred any document which could cause harm in the hands of criminals or competitors such as canceled checks, price lists, business plans, credit card numbers, etc..

Shred any document which is mandated to be protected by privacy laws such as HIPAA (for health care providers), GLB (for the financial industry), or FACTA (for general businesses).  A small list of what documents you should shred to protect yourself and your company:

Application for jobs Audits Documents Bank Account Data Bank ReportsBids & Quotations Brokerage Reports Business Projections Canceled Checks Classified Information Client Lists/Files Competitive Intelligence Computer Reports Confidential LettersContracts Correspondence Credit Card Statements

Customer Account Lists Debit Card Numbers Drivers License Employment Information Engineering Drawing Executive Letters Financial Reports Insurance Policy Inventory Records Invoices Legal Documents Maps & Blueprints Market Research Marketing Development Medical Records Meeting Minutes New Product Data

Organization Charts Outdated BusinessRecordsPayroll Reports Personnel Data Photographs Presentations Price Lists Price/Inventory Lists Product Proposals Profit & Loss Statements Proposals and QuotesReceipts/Invoices Signatures Social Security Numbers Tax RecordsTelephone Numbers X-rays

Always destroy any item, which could cause harm to your business, your employees, your customers, or the general public. The following are some examples of items other than paper, which should be destroyed.

It was discovered that thieves were stealing empty and outdated product packages, which had been discarded for various reasons. The thieves filled the packages with an inferior product and sold the packages at a flea market. This caused both lost sales and a significant deterioration in the value of the brand name. In more than one case, it was suspected that company employees knew the empty packaging was thrown in the garbage and they took it.

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Shred Out Of Date Documents and old Uniforms

Out-of-date products and documents that are thrown in the trash can come back to haunt you! These items can also be retrieved by dumpster divers and sold on the black market or at flea markets. Uniforms (including a private security guard, police, fire, and public safety employees), as well as identification badges, should be shredded.

The day-to-day functions of any business will produce a surprising amount of information that could be used against the business by its competitors. This list includes; Internal Memos, Drafts of Documents, Quotes, Financial Printouts, Meeting Notes, Employee Records, Pay Stubs, etc.

An estimated $100 billion a year is lost to information thieves! Did you know that there is NO LAW against Dumpster Diving? After your business has disposed of its documents, it has no claim to its privacy.

Unfortunately, one of the weaknesses of any business is disgruntled employees. Countless new businesses are started by customer lists from an existing business. An easily implemented security plan is the only way to ensure that an upset employee will not make a mistake that they and/or your business could regret for a long time. Put one of our locked bins in your office and this problem is easily solved. To learn more about our secure off-site and drop-off shredding services, call us at (978)636-0301 or book your reservations online here

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