All businesses produce paperwork, whether you’re at a local insurance company, retail store, restaurant, or other type of business. Some of that paperwork may refer to your clients, such as receipts with credit card numbers or forms with personal information. Other paperwork refers to the business itself, such as employees’ bank account information and business taxes.
No matter what type of paperwork you’re storing in your office, you need to dispose of it properly. How can you safely dispose of paperwork, though? The professional shredding is an ideal option. Keep reading to learn more about why your business should invest in this disposal method.
To Protect Sensitive Information
As mentioned above, a lot of the information in your stored paperwork is sensitive and you must protect this information when you want to get rid of physical copies. The best way to protect that information and your paperwork, in general, is shredding.
When you shred paperwork, it turns into little pieces that you can scatter for ultimate security. To take the burden of shredding off your shoulders, hire a company that can handle the work for you.
To Keep Your Physical Archives Under Control
Some businesses store their paperwork for longer than necessary because they worry about throwing away sensitive information. This causes the physical archives to overflow, wasting space in your building and wasting time when you need to find a file.
Shredding your paperwork keeps your physical archives under control while protecting the information within. Be sure to keep secure digital files of any paperwork you think you may need in the future. This way, you can get rid of piles of paperwork while keeping pertinent information close at hand.
To Stay HIPAA-Compliant As Necessary
If your business is part of the medical industry, then you must follow HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) regulations. This protects patient information from being viewed by unauthorized individuals.
When you have files containing information that HIPAA protects, you can’t simply throw them away or recycle them like normal paper. Instead, you must properly destroy them. Hiring a professional shredder to shred and dispose of unnecessary paperwork protects patient information and allows you to focus on more important tasks.
To Reduce Fire Hazard Risks
While paper alone is not a fire hazard, paper does burn easily. If you have a lot of paper in your office, then you are increasing your fire hazard risk. If something in your building were to catch on fire, such as a microwave in the break room or a wall outlet in an office, a single spark could land on a stack of papers and the blaze would quickly spread. Therefore, it’s best to shred excess paper to help reduce fire hazard risks in the office.
To Protect the Environment
Many people think the best way to destroy their sensitive information is to burn it. However, burning paper is bad for the environment since it can release pollutants into the air, which is a crucial fact you need to know about product destruction before you consider burning any paperwork. Shredding, meanwhile, destroys the paper just as effectively without creating environmental problems.
Your business should invest in professional shredding to protect yourself, your clients or patients, and the environment. Research professional paper shredders in your area who can take care of your sensitive paperwork so you can focus on other areas of your business.