subject: Shredding For Liability Reduction [print this page] Corporate liability is something that all companies in all different lines of work must constantly struggle to reduce, and there are many proactive steps that they can take to do that. Hiring a commercial shredder to destroy certain documents is one of those steps, and certainly one that any responsible business owner should consider. Some people not familiar with certain laws and business policies assume erroneously that the hiring of an outside paper shredding company indicates that a company is trying to cover up certain areas of their business, which couldn't be further from the truth. The laws obligate companies to protect any private information which belongs to individuals which might come into their possession. This means that if a company has in their possession information which is classified as private to someone, they do have a responsibility to destroy the document with that information on it. If not, and that information somehow became exposed and was exploited in any way, the company could be held liable for not having it properly shredded at the appropriate time.
Some people might not think that this is as much of a problem today with the vast increases in the number of files which are being stored electronically rather than in hard copy. While that certainly is the trend, there are more than enough documents that are still present in hard copy as well that can leave a company open to all kinds of liability if not destroyed. In addition to personal privacy laws there are other industry specific laws such as HIPPA, which governs patient records in the medical business, which dictate that certain documents must be destroyed.
Not only could a company be held liable by an individual for allowing their information to be released, but they could also find themselves being held accountable by the government if they failed to adhere to a set of laws like HIPPA. Because it is nearly impossible for a company to both keep up with and do a thorough enough job of shredding internally, there are these outside professional services who can come in and make sure that your documents are all totally destroyed.
Reduce your corporate liability further by only using the best possible shredding company. Find one willing to sign confidentiality agreements so that you know they won't cause a weak link to appear in your chain protecting your client's private information.
