Saturday, January 17, 2009

What Is Confidential Shredding?

By Hagen Dunkan

Confidential shredding of proprietary documents is a must for businesses and individuals as well. For large corporations, generally a professional shredding vendor performs this task. Most businesses designate an employee to observe the actual shredding, insuring that all documentation is shredded and witnessed. Some shredding vendors insist upon this. Others don't. If this is an important, be sure it's included in the contract or work order. Allowing a mobile shredding vendor to haul away confidential documents doesn't necessarily insure that they will, in fact, be shredded.

Confidential shredding in certain types of industries is an absolute necessity. As an example: If clients submit financial information to accounting firms, the two must agree on how financial information is disposed of. In of various chemical, mechanical and architectural engineering companies where design is proprietary and based on client information, shredding is necessary for obsolete designs and drawings. Environmental consultants do likewise, given the confidentiality agreements between consultant and client to dispose of obsolete state and local environmental compliance documents.

Confidential shredding for individuals is a significant consideration to avoid identity theft. The least expensive method of dealing with this is to purchase a personal shredder. However, there are differences in shredders. To the extent personal information has dollar value, determines the type of shredder an individual requires. There are two types of paper shredders: "Cross-cut", which cuts paper both length-wise and width-wise, insuring maximum security for confidential documents. Because the cuts are smaller, the volume of paper waste is decreased and the volume of paper shredded is therefore easier to dispose of. However, it should be noted that cross-cut paper shredders require more maintenance. These are generally preferable for more highly confidential documents where secure shredding is key.

The second type of shredder for confidential shredding is the strip cut shredder. A strip cut shredder shreds the paper length-wise, hence the name. With this type shredder, the disposal is more frequent and not very compact, but the strip-cut requires little or almost no maintenance.

Other features to be considered are the number of pages that can be shredded with one pass through. And check the shredder's manual whether the shredder also shreds more robust items like credit cards, DVD disks and stapled documents. The size of the shredder is also an important factor if space is a consideration. Confidential shredding does not mean you have to throw away shredded paper. It can be safely used from pillow stuffing to making dolls. Shredded paper also often gets recycled. You will find many companies who purchase it at a reasonable rate.

Confidential shredding is an important routine task for offices and businesses of every size. It's the safest way to be sure that confidential document stay confidential. - 15266

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