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Irregular document shredding means exposure to risk. Leaving gaps in your security set-up for physical documents allows unauthorised individuals – thieves – access to your business’ sensitive information, leading to damage to your customers’ trust, your reputation and your bottom line. And it’s all preventable!
Table of contents
- What is irregular shredding?
- How can irregular shredding lead to the accumulation of data breach vulnerabilities?
- Why might irregular shredding cause damage to my business’ financial situation?
- How is irregular shredding linked to compliance?
- How do I make sure secure records destruction is not an afterthought in my business’ data protection management?
What is irregular shredding?
Irregular shredding is the treatment of your business’ confidential information with less than the care and security the law demands and your customers, colleagues and business deserve. This less-than-careful approach can look like do-it-yourself shredding, which, using a small workplace machine is a time-consuming job no one wants to do and sets up irregularity as a pattern. It can look like haphazard in-office document shredding ‘on demand’ – basically, when bins are overflowing or in-trays and filing cabinets are full – and these are practices your business needs to break out of if it is to remain a reputable, compliant concern.
Even third-party document shredding can be ‘irregular’ if the company you use is not accredited in its operations or fails to run an auditable system and audited process with a compliant proof of destruction at the end of each shredding transaction. Lastly, irregular shredding can also be, quite simply, shredding that is not regularly scheduled for secure collection when it should be because of data sensitivity, volume and security challenges.
How can irregular shredding lead to the accumulation of data breach vulnerabilities?
Unlockable and unsegregated bins, unenforced clear desk or filing policies, and a poor grasp on the legal aspects of the retention and disposal of confidential data are all points of vulnerability.
Additionally, these lacks fail to set up a compliant audit trail and demonstrate a certain carelessness with customer, colleague and operational information that open you up to a loss of reputation. When this is accompanied by poor screening of staff, contractors and visitors, this expedites the potential for data theft, extortion and subsequent loss of reputation and trust.
Why might irregular shredding cause damage to my business’ financial situation?
Data vulnerabilities that are breached, exploited and leveraged by bad actors make the headlines, exposing your customers and colleagues to the full ‘bad news’ cycle and breaking their trust in you and your reputation. When they vote with their feet or go viral on social media, that causes financial damage in the short and longer term.
And then there are the fines. For serious data protection failures arising out of poor data handling, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) can hand down fines of up to £17.5million or 4% of annual global turnover. Additional layers of pain on top of the reputational damage – and financial loss – that causes customers and employees to walk away.
How is irregular shredding linked to compliance?
By relying on busy colleagues to remember to store, then shred, then dispose of confidential documents safely, you are leaving your organisation open to GDPR UK violations.
The statutory secure handling of information as laid down by GDPR UK and DPA (Data Protection Act) 2023 means you need to comply with the setting up of:
- lockable storage points/bins on site
- an audit trail that evidences when or how data is statutorily destroyed
- a shredder that reduces documents to DIN P-4 to P-6 standard micro shreds that prevent reconstruction
- an unbroken chain of custody that results in a certificate of destruction from an accredited source.
Irregular shredding, with low levels of process management and scant regard for the letter of the law, leaves businesses exposed to breach. Even though your organisation may have a relatively low turnover of confidential documents, this provides no exemption from the regulations stipulated by data protection law (GDPR UK and DPA 2023) in the UK. The responsible route is to opt for professional help that supports your business integrity.
How do I make sure secure records destruction is not an afterthought in my business’ data protection management?
Whatever your circumstance – fledgling business or low-volume paper use, for example – you want your customers and employees to think well of you, trust you. Treating their personal data, such as payroll information, banking and health details, CVs, and other HR-related documentation, with respect and in keeping with regulations means you should approach a professional shredding business, like Restore Datashred. For an experienced, UK-wide provider it should be easy to discuss setting up a hybrid approach that meets your irregular secure document shredding needs.
A hybrid approach allows you to establish and become part of a professional process, meaning that all your confidential waste will be kept at your site in locked bins provided by Restore Datashred; you can arrange a collection structure that suits your irregular needs, such as monthly or quarterly, on site or off site; you can trust that all your sensitive data will enter an unbroken, audited chain of custody from the moment of collection to the moment it hits the shredding blades at one of our high-security destruction centres.
A swiftly issued certificate of destruction is proof of compliance, and you can rest easy in the additional knowledge that your securely produced shreds will go for recycling into new paper products – a further boost for your reputation, this time around sustainability.
Reduce your exposure to theft, compliance failures and preventable data breaches by going professional with your confidential data destruction. Low-volume or irregular shredding needs are not a problem for a professional, accredited document shredding provider.
Get in touchTurn irregular shredding to your advantage
Even irregular shredding needs must be dealt with responsibly. It’s the law! And it’s easy, when you call in the professionals, like Restore Datashred.
By adopting a hybrid approach to confidential document disposal you avoid issues such as storage vulnerability, low-security destruction levels, non-existent audit trails and human error, and pass directly to all the benefits of a scheduled secure shredding service:
- lockable bins and consoles on site
- micro-cut shred standards that prevent reconstruction
- certificates of destructionscheduling and collections by vetted, accredited specialists.
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