What a “hole-in-the-wall” … or 5 holes to be exact. 

It’s all good news as Archive Document Storage expands into the adjacent unit.

Why the holes?  We’ll use these openings to drive our scissor lift down the aisle from one side to the other.

Next up?  Bring on more boxes!

We’ve seen just about every mistake that a business can make when dealing with the long-term storage of records.  This week, we’re focused on security.

Despite all the headlines about cyber crime, information breaches can still happen the old-fashioned way: stealing paper-based records.  Stacks of boxes, containing confidential documents, must be an irresistible goldmine for an identity thief (or simply a curious employee).  And none of us want to be on the receiving end of a data breach.

We feel that the best place to start is with a locked door and an alert employee.  It’s important that your staff has a basic awareness of confidentiality and what consequences could arise from an information breach.   

 Your staff should be aware of the significance of different types of hardcopy records:

• Personally identifiable information (names, birthdates, social insurance numbers)
• Commercially sensitive (price lists, customer lists)
• Confidential Financial Information

Case Study:

A local elementary school contacted us about moving their records offsite.  They were security-conscious and (justifiably) nervous about using self-storage.  Ironically, on pick-up day, we learned that they had been storing boxes of records in the girls’ washroom!  In hindsight, we can’t really blame them … the boy’s washroom would have almost certainly been a higher risk!

Action Plan:

Conduct a site survey of your own office.  Start at the file cabinets and then move on to your storage rooms.  Here are two questions that you want to ask yourself:

• Who should have access to these records? (Generally on a need-to-know basis)
• Who could have access to this infomation? 

Stay tuned for more on our ongoing feature on Storage Mistakes.

Archive staff helped to raise $5664.50 for the annual Christmas Cheer campaign. The funds were presented to this local charity along with a full load of toys for families in need.

Archive joined forces with the Busch Systems Group of Companies (including NetGain SEO, Armour Technology, and Integrated Moulding International) to help raise funds for Christmas Cheer.  During our recent Christmas party we held a silent auction with items generously donated by our suppliers. By the end of the evening we were thrilled to announce that we had exceeded last year’s total by nearly 50%.

In addition to the cash donation, the group of companies companies sponsored a toy drive in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Employees loaded up the Archive van full of toys for delivery to the Christmas Cheer program.

Christmas Cheer is a charitable organization, with a volunteer board, who work to make a difference by ensuring that everyone on our community has an opportunity to enjoy Christmas.

http://www.christmascheerbarrie.com/

Is “out of sight, out of mind” a good policy when it comes to records management? 

We’ve seen just about every mistake that can be made when it comes to the long-term storage of records.  This week, we’ll share some environmental considerations.

Paper has 2 immediate enemies: fire and water.  However there are also more insidious, long-term factors at play such as: heat, humidity, dampness, even light damage.

The reality is that most organizations store business records wherever there happens to be available space.  This might include some less-than-ideal locations like: basements, outdoor sheds, trailers, or rented space across town.  Now, it’s hard to argue with no-cost storage but it is worth evaluating whether this space is really suitable for long-term records!

Case Study 1: A health insurance company had been storing boxes of files in a sealed trailer in a parking lot.  Canadians know that ours is a country that experiences extreme fluctuations in summer heat and winter cold.  Within just 4 years, the boxes had deteriorated due to the repeated freeze/thaw cycles.  Before moving into our records centre, most of the boxes had to be re-boxed since they were in various stages of falling apart.

Case Study 2: A law firm, in a nearby town, had been storing in their basement.  The basement was in a century-home and more closely resembled a medieval dungeon.  The constant dampness caused 2 major problems: moulding and mice.  Neither one is pleasant to deal with when you’re looking for a file.  Needless to say, 100% of their files had to be reboxed before sending them to Archive for off-site storage.

And speaking of pests, we’ve seen our fair share.  We’ve seen raccoons build a comfortable home in a trailer full of records.  We have also encountered a wasps nest at the entrance to another storage trailer (it’s no wonder that no-one was eager to go and search for that 2009 payroll file!)

Stay tuned for our ongoing feature on Storage Mistakes.

Daryl Woytowicz

www.archiveontario.com