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1. No retention and disposal policy
If you don’t know how long you are supposed to keep documents and other sensitive information formats, how will know when you need to get rid of them and, more to the point, whether you’re staying inside the law? You don’t want to be accruing a data mountain, with all the risks and space issues that can create. Draw up a retention and disposal policy and your company efficiency, and reputation, will thank you for it.
2. Untrained employees
If you introduce secure shredding to your business without educating your workforce, by leaving them in the dark, you leave the door open to risk and theft. Help your company’s systems and processes run smoothly, with no legal hitch, by making the time and effort to introduce your data disposal mechanism simply and thoroughly, with regular reminders in newsletters or on your intranet.
3. Relying on the office shredder
Going it alone, or DIY, is not a productive option for a professional business. Firstly, who performs this mundane task on an underperforming machine? Secondly, how do you collect all the items and data assets so they are safe and secure if there’s no ‘official’ system set up? How much time does it take? And how do you keep track of what has been shredded, where the shreds went – into the recyclable waste stream is admirable but not secure – and audit your records accordingly? Too many questions, with no adequate answer from our friend the office shredder.
4. Irregular shredding schedules
With no routine, how will your colleagues and employees fulfil their obligations to care for confidential information correctly? A regular collection schedule to transport documents and digital media securely off site will enhance your reputation for data protection, boost your company efficiency, and contribute to your sustainability goals.
5. Failure to shred all the right documents
Linking back to a lack of retention and disposal policy, if you don’t log and track the lifecycle of your company’s confidential documents, or encourage good practice among your teams, then precious, vulnerable data will fall by the wayside.
6. Ignoring compliance with privacy laws
Data privacy doesn’t apply just while you retain or handle information, in whatever format, it applies to how you dispose of it, too. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recommends always using a professional shredding service to destroy no-longer-required data to stay within the letter of the GDPR.
7. Not using a certified shredding service
You’ll notice we mentioned ‘a professional shredding service’ in the point above. If the shredding business doesn’t have the correct physical and cyber security, data handling and environmental accreditations and standards, avoid.
8. Poor handling of sensitive information
Often, a lack of training will lead to Post-it notes, meeting minutes or secret plans being left out on a desk for anyone to see, or pinch. With a correctly set up data shredding system in place, allied with proper training in the importance of data protection, poor handling can be consigned to the bin of history.
9. No secure bins or cabinets
With the best will in the world, how can you protect documents, digital media or old hard drives while you wait for someone to shred them or collect them if you don’t have lockable bins or cabinets in which to store these items?
10. Not meeting the recycling quota of your ESG strategy
Last, but not least, on our Top 10 no-nos is the fact that if you don’t choose a professional commercial shredding service, apart from the lack of security, how will you guarantee that your paper, plastics and textiles are correctly and meaningfully recycled? All three types of material can be re-used to create a range of new products, and this recyclability contributes hugely to your business’ sustainability goals. Don’t bin it, recycle it!
Turn disaster into triumph
Here at Restore Datashred, we’re hot on compliance, security and sustainability, the key elements of any business’ need to dispose of data correctly.
- We operate a 170-strong modern fleet of collection vehicles, including high-speed, mobile, commercial shredding trucks which can reduce your data assets into tiny fragments before your very eyes. An increasing number of our fleet runs on alternative fuels.
- We operate 11 destruction centres across the UK, complete with password protocol entry, CCTV, GPS-tracked vans and security-checked secure collection operatives.
- Our commercial shredding processes and systems are backed by our accreditations and memberships, which include ISO 9001, 27001, 14001 and 45001, Cyber Essentials Plus, BSIA, and licences from the environmental agencies in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, all lending weight to our claims of meeting your industry’s compliance requirements. Each transaction is sealed by a certificate of destruction, whatever the size of your shredding consignment.
- For sustainability, we’ve got you covered there, too. We guarantee that 100% of the paper documents we shred go to a trusted UK recycler to be made into new paper products. We also guarantee to never send your digital media, hard drives or textiles to landfill, using recyclers and up-cyclers, for example, to break them down into their constituent parts, fibres and materials.
It’s not just paper that can catch you out
You can commit commercial shredding faux pas with digital media, hard drives and textiles, which all have their attached risks if you keep them piled up in a cupboard or stock room.
Time to turn those ten mistakes into triumphs, we reckon.
Our knowledgeable, approachable customer service team is ready to help. Try calling them on 0333 060 6570 to get on the right track.
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